Katjan blog

It is here on the streets and in the buildings. One and half weeks to go. Elections. The other day when driving to Bayawan from Dumaguete we were again talking about that crazy road construction in Negros with my colleagues. It seems that there are more connections than one deliberated before, beside providing employment and therefore happy voters it also brings pure money to run the campaigns. If it is open secret that earnings can be as high as 40% even one kilometer will serve as funding for many posters to put on the roadside and easyride to go around in barangays with big enough loudspeakers to bring the message between entertaining popular songs

…..and back into our car…..now we are passing the piles of concrete in Siaton lying on the roadside and driving on the narrow half of the road still undamaged, being perfectly good condition asphalted road, that is soon to be torn apart and replaced with the concrete. One more exemption from election ban of using government funds for development project just prior to elections remarks one of my colleagues. This time it is the era of concreted roads in Negros Island. And then eventually this loan will be paid back, the taxes will flow to the international development banks, last time it was Japan this time WB, and maybe again just before the elections the new loan is taken from another bank and that time it is time for asphalt again. By that time the concrete roads are becoming too ordinary, although still in good condition it is time to move to a new era! And circle is completed, Negros will have asphalted national roads for a change (when many in the upland areas are still using carabao and horses to haul their goods on seasonal dirt roads) and new set of politicians will then in turn take care of paying back the loans with taxpayers money…and eventually take the loan of their own when their time is to campaign again.

The campaing has been going on for some time, first posters of mainly national level candidates appeared on the roadside sometime in February, and many of those are now already faded in the sun and rain. But only during the past two weeks the whole town has transformed to one big smiling crowd looking at you when you are riding along the roads, and it is impossible not to read again the names of the smiling faces. Recognizing here and there already familiar faces from previous work related events. Already as early as in the first half of last year I was in Valencia to inaugurate Forest Land Use Plan, more than hundred representatives from all the barangays of the municipality were participating. The invited guest and star of the event was our vice governor Petit Baldado. In running front from the second seat is hard and so he had to start early his campaign for the position as the leader of this province. Now his truck is confiscated and standing in the local environment office with few logs of bagalunga, fast growing native species, good for some inches of plywood…and he is accused of illegal logging. When you aim high there are also enemies around every corner.

The elections are colorful time. In January we were printing T-shirts for the project and there was some careful consideration to do in selecting the color that would not represent any main party and candidate running here. In the end white and light blue were selected and I think that was a good choice, the posters on the roadside are more in the series or yellow, orange, orange-blue and yellow-red and some still in red-blue category.

I can hear lively conversation from half open window. Youths of the barangay have again got their evening entertainment, while having the summer holiday it is easy to go around and take advantage of events that can provide snacks, pens and leaflets even T-shirts in the best case. And it is quite sure that tomorrow morning we will again wake up on the music from the easyride, something like nobody nobody but you together with Visayan slogans on that only possible candidate that can provide employment, stop corruption, green the environment, provide quality education, reduce taxes, do our life better.

And remember Monday is declared as official working holiday, so that we can observe the laborday, without needing to work ourselves. Let’s observe.