Why Obama Will Not Be US President

The world wants Obama to be the next US President. This is probably attributed to more media exposures the Democrats were enjoying starting from the Obama-Clinton campaign. As a non-US citizen observing the upcoming Presidential elections of the United States of America, I could say Democrats Presidential bet Barak Obama got more media mileage than Republican’s John McCain since the pre-campaign period. Watching CNN, reading the papers - these mostly covered Obama-Clinton campaign trails, and only recently that John McCain enjoyed more or less a balanced attention by media.

While the world wants Obama to be the next US President, it is still not certain whether Americans want him to be President. While it seemed that many Americans speak of Obama as seen on cable TV - voting a President in the US is unlike voting a President in the Philippines. In the Philippines, everyone can vote, and the most popular candidate who gathered the most votes wins.

The US is using an indirect voting system - the citizens elect an “elector” who will represent them in electing the President. These electors, supposedly persons of integrity and wisdom form the so called Electoral College. Normally, these electors are associated with organizations, groups or tickets that support a particular candidate. And the ticket that wins the most votes get all the electoral votes for a particular State. Thus winning the US Presidency doesn’t need to be winning the most States but rather, win in States which have the majority of electoral votes. There are a total of 538 people elected to the US Electoral College, and a candidate has to win 270 of these electoral votes to win the Presidency. In the current stats, Obama is leading McCain 46-43, with 11% still not decided. That’s about 247 electoral votes for Obama, and about 231 for McCain. The remaining 60 electoral votes can still make either the President. The figures kept on changing lately, while Obama is advancing, McCain might be able to get a good run in the coming weeks.

Here are my personal observations why: WAR-PEACE:

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Should The President Be Given A Salary Increase?

How much does the Philippine President get paid? Currently, the Philippine Republic President is receiving Php60,000.00 (about USD1,333.33 at Php45.00 to 1 USD exchange rate) monthly. This is how much I pay for a mid-senior Developer/Programmer (PHP/Java) monthly. If compared to the President of the United States, as of 2001, the US President’s salary is about USD400,000.00 annually - or almost 3,000% higher than his Filipino counterpart.

But it doesn’t make sense to compare the salaries of a US President against a Philippine President. It doesn’t make sense at all why for just Php60,000.00 monthly, politicians are “dying” and spending millions and even billions of pesos to become a Philippine President.

Of course the reasons are obvious, aside from being the “Most Powerful Person” of the land, you get the opportunity to serve. (Laughing my ass out loud). Plus, you get to live in the Malacanang Palace, the most secured residence in the country. Also, you get Billions of pesos in Discretionary and Development funds, and other Budget Allocations at your disposal.

If you are greedy and play with the Devil, you get access to billions of pesos worth of contracts and government spendings and purchases - which perhaps could offer you some nice commission and “tong-pats.” If you are not greedy and shun Evil, chances are some of your relatives and friends and even family members do the tango and dance the cha-cha with the Demons.

There’s more and take the Poll after the jump.

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Philippine Government to Raise Salaries of Government Employees

Finally the Government is doing something sensible and smart - raising the salaries and wages of Government employees to a competitive level. The Department of Budget Management (DBM) through its Head, Sec. Rolando Andaya has endorsed to Congress a proposal to increase next year’s budget for Government Services, amounting to Php426 Billion, or 42.3Billion pesos up from the budget allocated this year.

This will translate to an increase for Grade Level 1 10 (thanks to Promdiliving for the correction) Government employees (ex. entry level Teachers, Nurses) from the current salary of Php12,000 to about Php18,000 - at least a bit competitive to entry level in the Call Center Industry.

Would this be enough? Probably not, but at least it should help. Still Government salaries is among the lowest in the Philippines - an ironic reality when in fact running the government is much more like running a business. Yes it has become a business - a business of getting kickbacks and graft on most government projects for politicians and government officials. No wonder even our Policemen and Military suffered major credibility problems - when some of their members directly involved in crimes and illegal activities just to “augment” their financial resources.

While it is an unacceptable reasoning, still low income, which is most of the time not enough to cover basic needs have enticed some policemen to be “creative” in the streets. Low government salaries made the teachers got buried in debts from loan sharks and opportunist lenders, forced government health workers (doctors, nurses) to seek employment overseas as helpers, caregivers, or nursing aids.

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The First Philippine Automated Elections

Oddly enough, the Philippines finally had its taste of automated elections in one of the most ‘troubled” areas in Mindanao, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao or ARMM.

Amid heavy security by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the first automated elections drawn 84% voters turnout, more than twice of the expected 30-40% based on previous elections. The test run of the election automation machines saw action with an added constraint - disruptions due to war. During the elections, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) launched an attack on various areas and settlements including bombing of telecommunication lines, cell site towers and bridges.

There were two types of these election automation machines deployed: the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) and Optical Mark Reader (OMR). Obviously, the former is better as voters are provided with a Voting Pad where the photos of candidates can be selected by pressing on the desired picture. Once the vote is final, a receipt is generated after pressing ‘BOTO‘. The receipt is kept by the Board of Election Inspectors just in case there are complaints raised. However, DRE Technology can only be deployed in areas where communications is available and reliable.

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