By CHERRY JOY VENILES
Graphics by JB URIETA
IT’S that time of year when Philippine society goes on a tailspin. The 2013 summer season blockbuster telenovela that is the election campaign is now showing, powered by a multi-billion peso political advertising industry.
It has all the ingredients of a hit. Parents, siblings, spouses and in-laws will be running for or against each other. Exposés of all sorts and Gangnam Style-inspired jingles will fill primetime national TV. Colorful tarpaulins and miting de avance programs will hog every street corner. And a growing number of “citizen journalists” will be flooding social media with everything from Epal reports to mundane observations on the candidates.
Filipinos could easily get lost in this dizzying new political and social landscape. Add the fact that this will only be the second time that voters will be experiencing automated polls using Precinct Count Optical Scan machines or PCOS.
If you’re one of the country’s 52 million registered voters, here’s a quick guide by the Commission on Elections (Comelec)-Malabon to help you find your way through the maze, and make your choices matter on election day, May 13: