Hours-long power outages have plagued Visayas and Mindanao for a few weeks now. Locally, the situation has worsened to the point where brownouts happen daily in at least one part of the city. I’ve observed that the city is divided into two general areas. If at 600pm there is no power outage in Area A, then Area B is definitely without power (and vice versa). The brownouts occur alternately, too; on Monday, Area A gets no power, Tuesday, Area B, Wednesday, Area A again, and so on. It’s almost like the interruptions are scheduled. Many have suggested that they are, and that these outages are part of some administration ploy to somehow influence the outcome of the May polls.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines says the outages are caused by low water levels in hydroelectric power plants and not a disgusting and insatiable hunger for power of the political kind. Apparently the country is suffering a dry spell of some sort (it rained as hard as dog dung this afternoon and yesterday, so I wonder how they can say that), and as a result the power plants are producing much less electricity than we need.

I find it hard to buy this explanation. It doesn’t help that the rotating brownouts began right around the time when the presidential race was beginning to really heat up. In other countries, it might seem implausible to think that power interruptions would be deliberate and that they would have something to do with elections, but this is the Philippines, a nation that has, for nearly a decade now, been under an unbelievably, pitifully self-serving administration. This is the Philippines. Our ancestors fought to free us from abuse by foreigners, only for our own countrymen to abuse us generations later. This is the Philippines, where politicians have one hand gripped tightly on a rostrum in the Senate as they passionately condemn dishonesty and corruption, while the other hand helps itself to the nation’s coffers. This is the Philippines, where a promise made to the people on national TV means absolutely nothing. This is the Philippines, a country that boasts that it is well on its way to becoming a first world nation by 2020 while one of its highly urbanized cities suffers daily power interruptions. In the Philippines, everything has become possible, from votes magically multiplying to public funds quickly and inexplicably disappearing.

Sometimes, I go through the newspaper and have to wonder if we’re absolutely sure we’re not living in a psychedelic Alice-in-Wonderland universe. In the darkness of my bedroom, during the frequent nights when there is no power and nothing to do, I’ve begun to wonder more and more.

Oliver Robillo, Mindanao Blogger-in-Chief and organizer of the first ever WordCamp Philippines, recently came up with yet another timely project in light of the general elections, which are coming up in two years’ time. Presenting RP2010, the election watchblog.

The blog’s “About” page pretty much says it all:

The RP2010.com blog endeavors to be the poll watchdog for the Philippine Presidential Elections in the year 2010. As such, we, the bloggers behind it, commit to helping ensure clean and honest elections through non-partisan coverage of election-related news and commentary.

RP2010 aims to bring to the Web what Namfrel has been doing for decades now. Its objective is to be a watchdog (“watchblog”, as Kuya Blogie puts it) for the upcoming elections, ensure that they are fair and clean, and expose any anomalies related to the electoral process.

What’s great about it is that it’s a community effort, so there’s none of the shady business of mainstream media. What RP2010 needs right now are eager bloggers dedicated to the same cause to fill the blog with news and opinion regarding the 2010 elections. If you’re a Filipino blogger who’s interested in keeping the upcoming elections clean and honest, read this post and become active in the project.

Please get involved now, so we can ensure clean and honest elections in 2010. [RP2010 Website]

In only seven short days, the American people will storm the polls to cast their ballot for their next president, the next leader of the Free World.

There’s been all this mudslinging between the Republican and Democratic campaigns. Nasty namecalling, adamant arguing about one another’s policies’ incompetence—all the stuff you’d expect to see on the campaign trail.

You can argue all you want about whose policies are better for the country.

But come November 4, it doesn’t matter whether you vote for Obama, McCain, Nader, Barr, or whoever you may be voting for.

What matters is you make your voice heard on November 4. What matters is you vote.

Please vote.

I’m not an American, but I know enough to know that whatever happens there will affect what happens here.

Which is why I’m asking you to vote, for your sake, for mine and for the world’s.

Let’s stop arguing who to vote for. What matters is that we vote. Suffrage is a right, but far more than that, it’s a responsibility. Rock ‘n’ roll.

[BTW, Dean Lozarie endorses Barack Obama for President of the United States. Obama, for a Deantastic America and a Deantastic world.]