http://wp.me/povHV-mH

If it is, and it's not, so what? bakit may democracy ba sa Pinas?

A few malcontents are criticizing the INC "bloc voting" saying it is undemocratic! Talk about being ignorant.

Bloc voting?

It is not "bloc voting" per se. What outsiders think of as "bloc voting" is in truth the action of a body of faithfuls agreeing on one judgment and executing that one judgment. It makes perfect sense based on Christian precepts found in the bible that a "one body" makes one decision and moves only in one direction. That's all I'm going to say about "bloc voting".

Democracy, in the Philippines? Really?

- Joseph Estrada won in the 1998 presidential elections by a landslide! It was the second landslide victory of any presidential election in the Philippines, with Magsaysay v Quirino being the first. By one estimate, he won by a margin of 6+ million votes. As most observer say, the INC vote matters more during tight elections where the margin is between 2 to 3 million votes. This means that Estrada had the majority of non-INC votes as well, and would have won even if the INC voted for his opponent. Truly impressive! He clearly had the mandate of the people and a testament to the beauty of democracy. Philippine democracy lives!

- In 2001, "Edsa Dos, a well orchestrated scheme to steal the seat of power from the filipino people was put into action by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Fidel Ramos, elitist business including major media networks, and Cardinal Sin of course. Foreign media saw through the smoke screen and reported it for what it was: a coup. Phil Browning of the Internation Herald Tribune called not a victory for democracy, but actually the death of democracy in the Philippines. Some called it a lynching with all its negative connotation. Even Lee Kuan Yew, well respected Prime Minister of Singapore called it for what it was, "unconstitutional". Philippine democracy died again!

- 2008. Cory Aquino, the "inspiration", "joan of arc" of all Edsa apologized for her role in the ouster of Mr Estrada and basically invalidated all the reasons they used to force him out of office. All of that down the drain. I wish she apologized to the poor Filipinos who's dreams and aspiration as well as their trust of the democratic process went down the drain with Estrada at Edsa Dos. Philippine democracy still dead.

The leadership of the INC are totally opposite of those of other religion. If one would observe how the INC go about this necessary evil called election you can't help but admire them. Unlike other religious leaders who calls a press conference to flaunt their "influence" over candidates, the INC leadership do with the least amount of fanfare. I'm even convinced that if it was up to them the INC leadership would rather not meet with politicians. In fact, Mrs Arroyo was famously snubbed for crashing a meeting.

I pity those of other religious leaders, especially EDSA DOS, for allowing their flock to be used in an illegal and undemocratic ouster of a sitting president only to find out that the one they put in power was far more corrupt that the one they removed.