Vox populi, vox Dei

Bejarin, Wacnang, Baac lead poll survey

TABUK, Kalinga - If elections in Kalinga were held last week, James Bejarin, Lawrence Wacnang and Josel Baac would be the winning candidates for congressman, governor and vice governor, respectively.

This was reflected in a prov­ince-wide poll survey conducted by students under the Public Administration Society of the Kalinga-Apayao State College during the last week of April 2007. The organization's advisers accordingly made use of of random sampling on respondents across multi-sectoral groups in the province of Kalinga with 290 respondents.

Although the purpose of the poll survey was to deter­mine the level of political matu­rity of the Kalinga voting popu­lace and their acceptance of in­telligent voting this coming May 14, 2007 elections their preferred choice specially for the top three posts of the prov­ince was also asked.

Survey results show James "Bond" Bejarin leading the four other candidates in the Con­gressional race. Bejarin, the chief legislative staff of two successive Kalinga congress­men was preferred by 110 re­spondents representing 43.65 percent of the total sample.

Former DPWH undersecretary, Manuel S. Agyao, came in second for the congressional choice with 54 voter preference representing 21.42 percent then followed by former Governor Macario Duguiang with 34 representing 13.49 percent. Joseph Delson came in 4th with 29 represent­ing 11.5 percent while Danzel Langkit got 25 or 9.92 percent. Of the 290 respondents, 38 or 13 percent have not yet decided on their candidate for congressman.

For the Provincial Governor position, three term Congress­man Lawrence Wacnang came in first with a wide margin in the survey. Wacnang, who pursued the cityhood of Tabuk before his last term in Congress, was the preferred choice of 146 respondents representing 76.84 percent of the total sample.

KASC Professor Floydelia Diasen, a replacement candi­date of his slain husband came in second to Wacnang. She was preferred by 26 respon­dents representing 13.68 per­cent while the third candidate lawyer Warren Luyaben was preferred by 18 respondents representing a low 9.47 percent. Of the 290 respondents, how­ever, 100 do not yet have a choice or believe their choice is immaterial to reverse a trend.

A similar wide margin for for the vice governorship was also seen in the survey. Former Vice Governor Jocel Baac was pre­ferred by 129 respondents rep­resenting 62.93 percent. Benny Duyan came in second with 40 or 19.51 percent then slimly fol­lowed by Bulanao Barangay Chairman Benedict Sugguiyao preferred by 26 respondents representing 17.56 percent of the total respondents for vice governor. 85 respondents do not yet have a choice for vice gov­ernor.

Focus of the survey was to determine the level of accep­tance of the voting public in Kalinga on the issue of close relatives running at the same time for political positions, as well as their main reasons in supporting candidates of their choice.

"Dubbed as the Pulso ng Bayan Kalinga," the survey was conducted by Public Ad­ministration students of KASC supervised by their advisers Mr. Jeremias Ammakiw, Dr. Raymond Balbin and Dr. Maximo Garming.

On the issue of close relatives running at the same time for political positions, respon­dents revealed that their opin­ion on the above issue is not significant in determining their choices of candidates. Rather, their main concerns were more on the qualities of leadership, commitment to public service, and especially on the educa­tional qualifications, experience and proven track records of the candidates. These bases of choice are indicative of a grow­ing political maturity and broadmindedness of voters, the survey said.

While Bejarin and Wacnang are relatives by affinity, the sur­vey result shows- that the issue of political dynasty is an insig­nificant factor in supporting candidates.

The survey also shows that the consistent reasons for the choice of candidates are as fol­lows: continuity of track record on good public service in the promotion of development, good governance and greater commitment to economic and political stability, and teamwork or cooperation in governance.

Among the dissatisfiers identified are: political mo­nopoly; loss of trust and confi­dence; and deprivation of op­portunities for new and fresh candidates for political posi­tions.

The researchers, however, believe that the final result will still be reflected on May 14. A political analyst said "survey results normally challenges the runner-ups for a reversal of trend".

In the Kalinga voting tradi­tion, the most critical period are the few remaining days before election and a couple of days after.