The latest Bohol Poll results released by the Holy Name University Research Center spoke a bundle of statements on the socio-economic and political conditions of the province that government and private sectors, especially candidates and voters in the coming elections can learn from. What is saddening is that for many years the same issues were practically identified but apparently very little was done to overturn them. Otherwise the equation would have changed already had the statistics been properly analyzed and used for planning. Important statistics: 66% of Boholano voters rate themselves as poor, meaning they don’t earn P10,000 a month that is needed to meet the daily requirements of existence. With more than 700,000 voters province-wide that is something like 462,000 Boholano voters. In Districts 2 and 3, the figures are higher – 73% and 70% respectively. No wonder inangayan has increased from P50 when I arrived in Bohol in late 80s to P500 per voter in the last election of 2010 according to the survey. How much will it be this coming May 2013 elections? Stretch your imagination voters and may be that is how much you will receive. The same poll said inangayan in the 2010 elections for the young voters was somewhere P1,000. Yet we always considered the young to be the repository of idealism. If this is the case now, what will they be when they take over leadership in the future. What happened to the young as the hope of our fatherland? National Hero Jose Rizal must be squirming in his grave.

When asked how they see their life 12 months from now 33% of the voters said their life would become better while 46% said it would be the same. Only 18% said it will worsen. But when asked how their life was 12 months ago only 12% said it was better, 37% said there was no change, while 39% said it was worse than before. This is a reflection of the true nature of Boholanos – always hopeful and hoping for the best yet to come. It can also be a reflection of how good our leaders are in inspiring, encouraging and motivating our people especially during election time. Political leaders think they know all the problems of the people and they have the solutions in their hands when they win. After the elections the people still have the problems and the winning candidates may still remember the problems but now they have no memory of the solutions. So is it surprising that the 66% have remained poor? Here is one tip for candidates to remember. About 70% of the population is farmers. It is safe to say that majority of the 66% who rated themselves poor are also farmers. The farmers should therefore have the bigger slice of whatever program there will be that is meant to reduce poverty. Any framework of development by a candidate for executive position should carry this in his or her platform of government and a legislative agenda if he or she is running for the legislative position.

This too should be what voters should be looking for when choosing their candidates to vote for. Not only should voters look for candidates with the right program to address recurring and new problems but also candidates who show sincerity and bigger hearts. The Bohol Poll also showed the satisfaction rating of incumbent government officials occupying high positions in the national, provincial and city government. Now they know where they stand. But is the rating enough to keep the post they are running or aspiring for? They can make their own analysis. The poll also showed how much percent of Boholanos have visited government offices and the top offices that gave satisfactory service to them during those visits. We suggest to the Holy Name University to find out next time how many officials of government offices visited the people right at their barangays or puroks and what services have they been provided. “Bringing the government closer to the people” should not be an empty battle cry of government officials. Better still leave the government with the people. As to the result of voters’ preference, we leave that to the strategists of each party or candidates to deal with. They still have a month to make miracles.