Elections in Cavite-4

Events in the Philippines, including Cavite City, seem so distant to me at this point, now that I'm out of the country for a short trip (to Canada and the U.S.).

At any rate, just before I left, it seems that Caviteños were talking about the Dino Chua debacle. Chua lost the vice mayoralty race to opponent Romeo Ramos in the May 14 elections.

My uncle said it was the topic of conversation at a family gathering last Sunday, and talk had it that "nagtipid daw (si Chua). Nagalit ang mga watchers. Bumaligtad. (Chua scrimped on funds. The watchers got angry and turned against him).

Another version from family friend Bong has it that Chua may have been too complacent and sure of himself. It seems there were allegations of vote buying as well, and the military had to step in.

The real story behind this issue may never surface, because it could mean exposing not just the candidate but also poll watchers, who are supposed to be paid for giving their undivided attention in elections.

But I wonder. Pera pera lang ba talaga ang eleksyon sa Pilipinas (Are Philippine elections just a matter of money)? Can Philippine elections ever reflect popular will if this is the case?

(Photo at right shows ballot boxes stacked inside the Cavite City Hall in the aftermath of the elections. Photo by Kris).

Cavite City Election Results

The elections in Cavite were not as uneventful as I thought they would be.

While Bernardo "Totie" Paredes managed to win re-election, voters junked his vice-mayoralty candidate Dino Chua and opted to elect Chua's opponent, Romeo Ramos. Paredes and party, the pro-administration Kampi-Magdalo, would have swept the elections, except for Chua and one other councilor.

Chua's loss seemed to take Caviteños by surprise since he was visible enough during the campaign and actually garnered the most number of votes when he ran for councilor in the 2004 elections. Because he was the # 1 councilor, he was in line to assume the vice mayoralty post when then vice mayor Tony Nazareno passed away.

Chua's family owns the Cavite City branch of Padi's Point restaurant, and he himself made national news as a member of the party list group Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA), which also didn't do well in the party-list voting, at least based on the tally so far of both Namfrel and the Commission on Elections.

More on the Cavite election results in a later post. Meantime, for other election updates, visit Philippine Eleksyon 2007.

Cavite City from the Sky

Here's an aerial view of a part of Cavite City from Google Earth, a satellite picture which shows some landmarks of Cavite: Fort San Felipe, Philippine Naval Base, Cavite City Hall, Samonte Park and Marcos Valentin Jr. St.

I searched for Fort San Felipe in Google Earth after attending the lecture of Fr. Rene Javellana, SJ, who is documenting Spanish fortifications all over the archipelago. More on that later. For now, here's (part of ) Cavite City from the sky.

Elections in Cavite - 3

Reelectionist Bernardo "Totie" Paredes has been proclaimed winner in the mayoralty race in Cavite City. There's mention of him in the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Election Page where there's a link to local tallies but you'd have to download the results in pdf format.

Elections In Cavite-2

As of this writing, the canvassing of votes is still underway at the Cavite City Hall but it seems that it's a foregone conclusion that the Kampi-Magdalo Party, headed by incumbent mayor Totie Paredes and vice-mayor Dino Chua, is headed for a return.


The electoral contest in Cavite City wasn't really a very hot one, and unlike in other towns and cities in the province and throughout the country, was mostly uneventful.

Anyway, we were at the Garita Elementary School in Cavite City when voting centers closed at 3 pm on election day. Garita is near where our family used to live when we were kids. It was also near where my maternal grandmother grew up.










Posted near the Garita gate was the table of the volunteers from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voters.



There were not as many people as there were in the morning, but there was evidence of an earlier crowd, pamphlets and sample ballots strewn all over the school grounds.


Candidates and their supporters were warned against posting campaign materials within the school premises and it looked like candidates did heed the warning.










We saw election posters near the house of our old neighor, Ñora Lily, on Zulueta street, as well as on the wall in front of what used to be Cine Perla. These images are now a memory, what with a clean up surely underway in Cavite City.

Elections In Cavite-1 (Or Conversations with my Grandmother)

My grandmother has always voted in Cavite City, even if she no longer lives there. Each election day, she wakes up early to be among the first to cast her vote at the Garita Elementary School (photo at right) in what is known as Cavite's Rosario district.

She makes the effort although she is 94 going on 95, and her arthritic hands can barely fill in all the blanks.

I asked her how election day was for her, and of course, her replies were mostly in Chabacano:

My Grandmother (MG): Temprano yo ya anda na Cavite. Ya kumbida Lauring con niso alla ya lang daw almusa. Al llegando alla, que mucho genti. Mucho ya atraca comigo, hija daw de si quien. No ma yo ta conoci. Muchong mucho genti, kalat na kalat, ta lluvi de papel. Pobre naman ilo si no gana (I went to Cavite early. Lauring [my niece] invited me to have breakfast at her place. There were so many people approaching me, children of whoever, I don't know them anymore. There were so many people, so much trash everywhere, it rained paper. What a waste if they didn't win).

Me: Ya escribi tu plojo (You wrote slowly)?

MG: Plojong plojo yo. Ya haci yo claro para pudi ilo le (Very slowly. I tried to make it clear so they could read it).

Me: Con quien tu ya vota (Whom did you vote for)?

MG: Con Aquino siyempre Diyes nombre lang. No hay kasi ta habla comigo si quien pa (For Aquino, of course. Just ten names. No one told me who else to vote for).

Me: Con quien pa tu ya vota (Who else did you vote for)?

MG: Con Lacson din. De Imus aquel. El tata no se de Imus. Paredes pa rin di gana. Recio pa rin no se eli alla. Pero bueno kaya quel? (For Lacson also. He's from Imus. I think his father is from Imus. Paredes [mayoralty candidate] will win. He's still strong. Is he a good mayor?)

Me: Ewan ko (I don't know).

Fiesta Style Philippine Elections-2

Again, I'm interrupting regular Chabacano blogging to give way to election stories.

There are three first-time voters in our family, and they took this duty very seriously. Last night, on the even of elections, they sat down and carefully read the official list of candidates mailed to them by the Commission on Elections.








Then they highlighted the names of their chosen candidates, discussing with each other the pros and cons of every candidate on their list. They did not impose their candidates on others and made it a point to say they respected each others' choices. They consulted me on some of their choices and I must say they had names on their list that weren't on mine.

They looked forward to today with eager anticipation. After all, it was a feat just to have been able to register last December, when they braved the heat, the crowds and the notorious inefficiency of the Commission on Election just to get their names on the voters' list.

Today's exercise was supposed to have been, in their eyes, something like an exam, something they prepared for and mulled over for weeks, if not months. Before they went to bed, they had their stack of pens and Comelec list ready for the big day.

And so I imagine it must have come as a shock to them that the solemn duty they were to fulfill was to take place in an area that like this:

And all along the street leading to the public school where they were to vote, campaigners for various candidates were handing out sample ballots and leaflets, causing a veritable carpet of campaign materials around the voting areas that looked like this: But then again, these scenes are not surprising considering that this place happens to be one of Quezon City's most densely populated districts.



I know my three first time voters must have had some mild shock at the voting scenes they witnesses, but then again, the atmosphere was festive, the teachers and volunteers were all working hard at it, and somehow everyone connected with each other and with the bigger citizenry as a whole, which made the experience fulfilling enough for them.

Fiesta Style Philippine Elections-1

We interrupt regular Chabacano blogging to give way to Philippine elections.

I have just taken part in what is one of my most important duties as a citizen and that is to vote. The significance of the act, however, has always been diluted by Filipinos' tendency to treat it no different from a fiesta.

At the school where I vote in Quezon City, the atmosphere was relatively subdued, the place being more or less a middle class community where the debris and the din made by campaigners, kibitzers, and vendors stayed outside the school gates (which is not the case where my children voted, which is one of the most populous districts in QC).

Blame that on the fact that the Philippines has yet to implement the automated system of voting which was supposed to have been partially implemented in this election, but has not been which means it's still a totally manual voting system. Everything has to be done by long hand, ballots filled out with names of candidates, hence the need for candidates to have supporters to distribute sample ballots near voting areas.

The impending abolition of this manual system is one reason I think the stakes will be very high this time around. It's the last time for cheaters to cheat using the old system of padding and shaving, and there will be many hotly contested races all over the country.

It was relatively hassle-free where I voted, though. Church-based groups like the Catholic Women's League and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting helped voters locate their names and voting precincts in the Comelec list of voters, then they directed voters to the classroom the precincts were located.

It couldn't be avoided that there were complaints with the way teachers manning the precinct handled the voting process itself. In my precinct, I had to line up to have my name verified as a voter, sign my name, get my ballot, fill it up and then go through the process all over again, this time affixing my thumb mark and having indelible ink poured over my forefnger.

But the line where voters queued up was also the line that those who finished could butt into, because the teachers were using only one set of documents for everyone. Oh well. I just hope my vote will be counted properly, which I'm sure will happen because I live in Quezon City. Pity those who live in places away from the limelight, where warlords rule and voters have limited choices.

Cavite's Sister City

Chabacano may be a dying language in Cavite City, but there's one other place it's probably alive and well. Hopefully. That place is San Diego, California, which has a community that traces its roots to Cavite City.

I was reminded of this by a reader from Virginia, Dr. Navarro, who wrote in his email, "Ya ma pansin yo na mas mucho del Caviteño ya sali ya na Cavite. Siguro mas much pa Caviteño na San Diego que sa na Cavite (I noticed that there are more Cavitenos leaving Cavite. Perhaps there are even more Cavitenos in San Diego than there are in Cavite). "

My mom and my aunt say it is possible there are more Caviteños who speak Chabacano in San Diego than there are in Cavite City itself. Their late sister, Ochie, and her family lived in San Diego for many years. There are also a number of graduates of Cavite National High School living in San Diego who hold their counterpart reunions there, and it's where the feast of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga is celebrated every November, if I'm not mistaken.

And besides, in Wikipedia's Cavite City website, way down below, is a line that says, "Cavite City has one sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International," which happens to be San Diego.

What's the link? It's the Navy connection, I would presume. Many Caviteños joined the US Navy and settled in San Diego where a navy base is located. And Cavite itself was host to a US military facility, Sangley Point, and is also home to the Philippine Navy.

Conversations with my Uncle

There are only two people in this world who still speak to me in Chabacano. One of them is my 95-year-old maternal grandmother, the other is her eldest son, my Uncle Luis, who is turning 72 in a few months.

My uncle is hearing-impaired and has to wear hearing devices in both ears, which means he can hear well when he has them on, something which we often forget. This is why we tend to talk about him when he's around (as though he couldn't hear us), or we take to raising our voices which we eventually realize is an unnecessary effort since his hearing is normal with the hearing aids on.

Conversations with him center mostly on news about his Cavite High School reunions, or about who among classmates, friends or relatives have passed away. Often, the talk strays to things we all know about, sort of like a recitation of family facts.

One such conversation ran this way, with my husband Boyette butting in:

Uncle Luis: Ya muri quel mi co-graduate Ben, esti Domingo lang. Ta ci nood lang daw boxing na TV, ya ma atake ya. (My co-graduate Ben died last Sunday while watching a boxing match on TV)

Boyette: Bakit di mo kuhanan ng blood pressure si Uncle Luis, baka mamaya high blood yan. (Why don't you take Uncle Luis' blood pressure. He might have high blood himself.)

Me: Wala siyang high blood. Ang payat payat niya eh. (He doesn't have high blood. He's too thin.)

Uncle Luis: No, yo nuay high blood. Aquel mi classmate, tiene. Ung dia ya susta ya lang niso inchao el cara di eli. Aquel pala tiene high blood. (No, I don't have high blood. My classmate did. One day we were surprised to see his face swollen. Turns out he had high blood.)

Me: Inatake dahil sa boxing? (He had an attack because of the boxing?)

Uncle Luis: Oo. Siguro ta mira eli quel laban di Boom Boom Bautista. Eh ya gana. Ya ma atake ya. Amigong amigo di Boy aquel Ben. El mujer di eli classmate di Mommy. Ben 73 ya. El mujer di eli 72, mas vieja pa cun Mommy. (Yes. Maybe he was watching Boom Boom Bautista, who won. Ben was a close friend of Boy [a cousin], his wife was a classmate of your mom. He was 73. His wife is 72, much older than your mom).

Me; Eh kasi ya gradua Mommy kinse anyos lang. (Of course, because my mom was only 15 when she graduated).

Uncle Luis: Si, Mommy 15 years old di quel ya gradua high school 1953. Ya mira yo con aquel ung co-graduate di niso alla na Copena's [Bookstore]. Di anda daw niso todo luego la noche na lamay.... (Yes, Mommy was only 15 years old when she graduated from high school in 1953. I met one of our co-graduates at Copena's. He said we are all going to the wake tonight....)

He has a tendency to repeat what he said, over and over again. But I guess that's something that comes with age.

"El Pipit"

I hardly ever hear Chabacano spoken in our part of Cavite City, which is San Antonio. However, one place where it still does thrive, aside of course from the Gangley district, is the Cavite City market, usually in the mornings when the market is teeming with people.

On a trip there recently, I overheard a number of tinderas speak to each other and to some customers in Chabacano. (Or was it just my imagination?) If not, they spoke with the unmistakable Caviteño accent and intonation. It was hard to hear snippets of conversation above the din. Still, in the quiet section at the back of the market near Aling Pat's bakeshop, I heard two women in a conversation and one asking the other, "Cuanto año ya esi? (How old is he?)" obviously referring to a child one woman brought along.

Anyway, I am certain there will be less and less Chabacano spoken in Cavite, and words that will disappear from the vocabulary because the langauge is not as much in use as it was before. My aunt in Califnornia says there are many Chabacano words she has forgetten, words whose meanings are buried in the back of the mind.

So to jog our memory, here's a Chabacano piece culled from a Language website which labels Chabacano as a Spanish creole language. The piece was contributed by Dante Ferry and came from Ms Joy Picache dela Rosa of the Cavite City Library and Museum. Here's the piece, entitled El Pipit, in full.

Di aquel, tieni maya pipit qui ta haci pugad na un garaje. Parejo ya ya pudi bula el mayores pajaro – para saca cumida para el mga inakay – poresu ya deja solu cun ilos.

No ya talda, ya ritira el Tata Pipit.

“Cosa ya pasa aqui?” ya habla eli. “Quien ya gulpia cun ustedi, mga hiju? Miedung miedu ustedi todu!”

“Naku Papa,” ya habla ilos, “tieni ya lliga malignu ahora hora numas. Cara’y bruscu y pang-miedu! Ya haci aldi ojus niso pugad. Miedung miedu niso!”

“A, ansina,” ya habla el Tata Pipit, “donde eli ya anda?”

“E alia na banda alia eli ya anda,” ya habla ilos.

“Espira ustedi!” ya habla el Tata Pipit, “di anda segundo yo cun eli. No ustedi culda nada, mga hiju. Pobri eli cunmigu.” Y ya bula ya eli para anda segundo cun el maligno.

Na tieni birada, aquel leon pala el qui ta camina alia.

No aquel ya dale miedu cun el pipit. Ya baja eli na detras del leon y ya umpisa regaña cun esti. “Cosa derecho di tu anda na mi casa,” ya habla eli, “y ya asi miedu pa tu cun mi mga hiju?”

No ya asi casu cun eli el leon y ya continua di camina.

Ya irita el pipit y mas pior ya regaña cun eli. “Ta habla numas yo cun tu, nuay tu derecho anda alia! Y si di rivulvi tu,” ya habla, “di mira tu! No quieri sana yo haci esti,” ya habla eli mientras ya haci subi el un pies, “pero di quebra yo tu espinazo por medio de mi pies na un segundo numas!”

Y ya bula ya eli para retira na su pugad.

“O talli, mga hiju,” ya habla eli, “ya dale yo leccion cun eli. No mas eli di rivulvi.”