STEM 203

February 20, 2021

01 ASSIGNMENT 1
There is a lot of issue ongoing now here in our country. But for this specific
task or assignment, I chose to tackle the political issue between Leni Robredo and
Bongbong Marcos.
On 24 Oras news on February 16, 2021 (GMA News, 2021), after almost 5
years, former Senator Bongbong Marcos’ electoral protest against Vice President
Leni Robredo was neglected by the supreme court because of lack of merit.
This petition all started when Marcos lost against his rival Robredo for being
the Vice President back in Election 2016. This electoral protest of Marcos was filed
on June 29, 2016, one day before Robredo’s formal position on being the Vice
President. He filed this protest to request PET to declare that he, Marcos, was the
one who won. Marcos said that he should’ve had won because Robredo’s victory
was an anomaly. For reference, on the Election 2016 for Vice President, Bongbong
Marcos gathered 14,155,344 votes while Leni Robredo gathered 14,418,817 votes.
It was certainly a close fight, but it clearly shows who really is the winner. Because
of this, Marcos clearly have not moved on from his defeat. And that is how he filed
the electoral protest.
Inside that protest, there is what Marcos called the 3 causes of action where
he stated that the Automated Election System was compromised so that thing
should not be trusted for declaring the winner. But the PET neglected this excuse
and called it nonsense. In the 2nd cause of action, Marcos requested for the revision
or one by one counting of the ballots. Marcos might be hoping that after the
counting, it will result of him being the true winner. But that does not happen.
Instead, the former 263,473 ahead points of Robredo to Marcos was now 278,566.
It is funny to think that it resulted to Robredo gaining more votes opposing what
Marcos expected. In Marcos’ 3rd cause of action, he requested to neglect the Vice-
Presidential result in Maguindanao, Lanao Del Sur, and Basilan because he said that
a terrorism and pre-shading of ballots happened there. But the COMELEC said to
PET that there was no failure of election in the said provinces.
In this political issue, we can say that Bongbong Marcos was not able to
accept his defeat. I mean it is not actually bad to fight for yourself. We can clearly
see that Marcos tried to save this position which is being the Vice President for
himself. He filed an electoral protest with tons of causes and excuses saying that
he should be the winner. For me, I do not see anything wrong about that because
in the end, the truth will always come out. But if you know to yourself that you
actually lost yet you still insist that you won (referring to Marcos), then that is a
waste of time and money and I do not care. In myself, if something similar like that
happens to me, like when running for a position in a class and lost. If I think
something does not sit right with me, it is not bad to actually seek for justice. See
for yourself what was the whole process of the election. But if you know to yourself
that it is clearly all well and there was no corruption or cheating, then I think it is
time to accept defeat. I mean that is how it works. If you can not accept defeat,
then you should not participate in an election or any game out there because there
are only 2 outcomes for it, you win or you lost.
If you really want to win something yet you lost, then do something much
better. It depends on situation but if you want a sure win on an election, then
reflect on your people. Gain their trust and do what is right for your people. Be a
role model for your city and own your words not only on election campaign where
most politician spit promises then not doing it when they got what they want.
Just like I said, it is not bad to not accept defeat in the first place, I mean I
know what it feels like because some of us for sure give all of their efforts, yet they
still lost. We all know how injustices and corruption are so common these days. So,
it is not bad to ask how the ‘game’ worked. But if it is what it is, then do better, sis.

References
GMA News. (2021). 24 Oras Express: February 16, 2021 [HD]. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from
https://youtu.be/VgAU-lgvYuU