Winners and Losers - Philippine National Elections

An entire day has passed, and this post will mostly be personal observations and should not be taken personally by anybody. This year's elections featured some clear winners - and when there are winners, there are definitive losers.

Winner
(New) President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III
Why
Well for one, he is the new president of the Republic of the Philippines. He is also a clear winner because he was not as well-known as the other presidential candidates such as Manuel Villar or Joseph Estrada. Apart from being very unexperienced vis-a-vis some of his opponents, he is mostly riding on the fame of his parents, Philippine heroes Ninoy Aquino and Cory Aquino.

Loser
Senator Manuel "Manny" Villar
Why
After having spent TONS of money from his billion-peso business empire, the tycoon saw himself a distant third in the presidential race and correctly seceded the victory to the Noynoy camp. His massive advertising campaigns and catchy songs are definitely now part of local political folklore.. as well as his rather obvious snips at the Noynoy camp which ultimately proved his downfall.

**

Winner
(New) Vice President Jejomar "Jojo" Binay
Why
Apart from being mayor of Makati City (and apparently doing a good job at it), he has edged out Noynoy camp vice presidential bid Mar Roxas for the VP position; something a lot of critics believed he would not have won. Makati wins on this as well; their former mayor is now VP.

Loser
Senator Mar Roxas
Why
He saw his President win his respective office, and he loses out. Not something to feel good about, especially losing to a city mayor. Also, he didn't lose by much; the results were showing close statistics all the way, but Jojo Binay edges him out in the end.

**

Winner
Villainous Individuals
Why
Political conflicts arose all around the country as Election Day started, violence erupted in several areas (especially in hot-spots such as Mindanao), and vote-buying still stayed rampant, with voters allegedly receiving groceries and/or cash to vote for another candidate (or not vote at all), as well as armed thugs raiding polling booths in an attempt to scare honest, responsible voters away.

Loser
Filipino Voters
Why
Apart from extreme weathers (extremely high temperatures or pouring rain), many voters could not even vote: their names disappeared from registries, processing of votes was snail-paced at best, and the automated machines (being used for the first time) were breaking down all around the country. In the end, many patriotic Filipinos were denied their right to vote for their future, all because of a lack of properly managed voting system, a novel method of voting for many, and impossibly long queues before they could actually vote. Also, instability in several districts prevented many from really voting, willingly or otherwise.

**

In the end, the new administration has a lot to work on. With way less than the 50 million registered voters voting, it needs to gain the trust and confidence of the Filipino people; reducing the national debt, increasing attractive employment opportunities in the country (the Philippines is suffering massive brain drain annually), revamp a struggling economy, and of course, repair the political system that has made many Filipinos discouraged, distraught, and disappointed with their own homeland.

Mabuhay, Pilipinas kong mahal.

Jay~