Curfews in Negros Oriental, (Sat and Sunday Coming)

[Possum]

2 hours ago, Lee said:

If you don't vote for the candidate while taking his $ (voters will often take cash from anyone that offers it to them) and he happens to win then you can expect repercussions. Any decision that the newly elected barangay guy makes will never be in your favor---regardless of the situation. What can you do???

When they came up with the LGO plan and distributing money to the LGUs I thought, "This is great democratized corruption. But at least we know where they live."

I underestimated the laissez faire attitude of the citizenry. For whatever reason they don't consider the misappropriation of tax money allocated to the LGUs as theft from them. They think of it as theft from the government without a thought that their VAT, property, building permit etc taxes they paid are part of it. It's an education problem or planned ignorance. That being said citizens of my home country are not much more aware.

[Mike J]

10 hours ago, Gator said:

What your MIL says is true. Each candidate has poll watchers. They will know who voted for whom and they keep a tally. There is no such thing as a truly secret ballot here

As a US citizen the only voting I am familiar with is a secret ballot.  Can you, or another member, explain how the process works here?  The idea that one or more "poll watchers" would know who a person votes for is very disturbing, even repugnant. 

[Mike J]

10 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

was sent home because she was  sleeveless and in shorts these, are the rules of course for riding a motorcycle here,

Wow, I know the laws says helmets are required and no slippers, but this is a new one for sure.  Is this for both men and women?

[Jack Peterson]

2 hours ago, Mike J said:

Wow, I know the laws says helmets are required and no slippers, but this is a new one for sure.  Is this for both men and women?

 Apparently yes

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, Mike J said:

As a US citizen the only voting I am familiar with is a secret ballot.  Can you, or another member, explain how the process works here?  The idea that one or more "poll watchers" would know who a person votes for is very disturbing, even repugnant. 

The only way in which such a system could work would be if it was an inside job i.e. the poll watcher was one of the polling staff or at least connected to them.  I am slightly dubious as to how effective this would be and wonder if there is a fear element at play - folk are led to believe their vote will be monitored and thus more likely to vote for the candidate who paid the $s. 

[Jack Peterson]

21 minutes ago, hk blues said:

The only way in which such a system could work would be if it was an inside job i.e. the poll watcher was one of the polling staff or at least connected to them.  I am slightly dubious as to how effective this would be and wonder if there is a fear element at play - folk are led to believe their vote will be monitored and thus more likely to vote for the candidate who paid the $s. 

 This is very unlikely, Polling Staff are  not from the Barangay they they are posted to, I know because my wife was/is a polling Staff Today BUT not  at our own Barangay she is assigned to a Barangay twice removed from ours, She voted first then went to her posting ( certain Job holders are allowed to vote early so there job schedule is not disturbed) 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Jack Peterson
moved the smiley

[hk blues]

5 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 This is very unlikely, Polling Staff are  not from the Barangay they they are posted to, I know because my wife was/is a polling Staff Today BUT not  at our own Barangay she is assigned to a Barangay twice removed from ours, She voted first then went to her posting ( certain Job holders are allowed to vote early so there job schedule is not disturbed)

Right...which is why I'm wondering how robust the system is to ensure that people vote for who they have been paid to vote for.  

[Possum]

7 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Right...which is why I'm wondering how robust the system is to ensure that people vote for who they have been paid to vote for.  

Not very robust from what my wife tells me. The way she explained it is they know how much money they paid out and expect it to improve their vote total at the barangay level but no guarantee. For higher level offices the money is entrusted to lower level officials to pass out and if the count in votes is way off compared to the money paid out the higher level elected officials remember this and put your area on the crap list.

As she explained to me in western terms. They don't know if all the money is handed out but they hope so. They also hope the voters who got the money vote for who paid them. I said so it's like an honor system? She started laughing and said "remember where you are"

[Jack Peterson]

52 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Right...which is why I'm wondering how robust the system is to ensure that people vote for who they have been paid to vote for.  

 well we all know that well known reply to many things here " SECRET" 

[hk blues]

41 minutes ago, Possum said:

Not very robust from what my wife tells me. The way she explained it is they know how much money they paid out and expect it to improve their vote total at the barangay level but no guarantee. For higher level offices the money is entrusted to lower level officials to pass out and if the count in votes is way off compared to the money paid out the higher level elected officials remember this and put your area on the crap list.

As she explained to me in western terms. They don't know if all the money is handed out but they hope so. They also hope the voters who got the money vote for who paid them. I said so it's like an honor system? She started laughing and said "remember where you are"

That's pretty much how I imagine it would work rather than something more 'sinister.'