Preparing for the elections

Cheers to the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) for its timely focus on next year’s elections, which are only a little more than  a year away.

ANC started looking into issues related to the 2013 midterm elections with its ANC Presents: Road to 2013 special which first aired last April 3 and is hosted by veteran journalist Lynda Jumilla.

“On May 13, 2013, the country’s estimated 54 million voters will again troop to polling precincts, to cast their ballot in the midterm elections. Up for grabs: 12 Senate seats, thousands of local government positions, the leadership of the ARMM and party-list representation in Congress. What’s in store for the country’s second automated elections? Have we resolved technical issues that bugged the PCOS machines in 2010? And how is the senatorial race shaping up so far?” ANC wrote about the special. (http://anc.abs-cbnnews.com/shows/21/anc-presents-road-to-2013/)

The April 3 episode of the special was on the newly-formed United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), a coalition convened by the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP/Force of the Filipino Masses) party of former president Joseph Estrada who is reportedly running for mayor of Manila, and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban/ Philippine Democratic Party-People’s Power) party of Vice-President Jejomar Binay who is eyeing the Presidency in 2016.

The April 10 episode was on the  political advantages  of being from a well known political family.

The airing of an election special more than a year  before the election is hopefully an indication that the leading news organizations are preparing to inform and educate  voters on the possible issues during the midterm elections and beyond.