Despite the tragedy that we have a President who cheated her way to Malacañang, despite the general incompetence of the Commission on Elections (thankfully our kailiyan Commissioner Romeo Brawner has been one of the saving graces of this distrusted agency), and despite the fact that the political power in our country is controlled by a few family dynasties, the Philippines still continues to have a semblance of democracy.

This is so mostly because of the dedicated work of ordinary people: the teachers tasked to oversee the polls amidst a pressured-packed political atmosphere, the NAMFREL/PPCRV volunteers who try their damnedest best to safeguard the ballots against politicians who are tying their damnedest best to cheat, and media people who also serve as watchdogs by merely reporting election-related irregularities. Of course, we should also include the soldiers and policemen who play a crucial role in maintaining peace and order and in preventing the violence that pops up, like Sagada mushrooms after a rain, every time elections are held.

Last May 16, some of our kailiyans in the military who were in Abra to hopefully avert the escalation of violence in that hotspot were themselves the victims of violence. Read the report here. Sadly, because most of us were too pre-occupied with things such as who won, who lost, who cheated, who attempted to cheat, etc, etc., not much is being said about these soldiers who died while serving their country.

This post is our humble attempt to honor them for their work and to offer our condolences to their families. We hope that at the very least politicians, whether they won or lost, will visit the families of these soldiers. We certainly owe them that honor.

Again, our condolences to the families of these soldiers. And we are hoping that those who are wounded (Cpl. Esteban Langkay of Tuguegarao City, Cpl. Dante Estrada of Isabela and Pfc. Bobster Banatao of Pinukpuk, Kalinga) in this incident will survive their wounds.