47 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
47 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
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MANIA IN MANILA
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If you think presidential campaigns are strung out in the U.S., you ought to
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visit the Philippines--these islands are spread so far and wide across the
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Pacific that in certain remote locales people are still waiting for WWII to
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end.
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Widespread semi-literacy only complicates matters. Information is so thoroughly
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manipulated by the power elite that the probability of a fair election is
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small.
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There are two sides to the presidential election scheduled for February 7. The
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strings of both are being pulled predominantly by supporters of the status quo
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and Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos himself called for elections not six weeks ago in
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response to an annual wave of discontent. His tactic of allowing insufficient
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time for opponents to gather momentum has paid off handsomely the last four or
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five times. Is there any reason to suspect he would fail to be reelected?
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Perhaps. Marcos himself is now charging that his opponent, Corazon Aquino, is
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playing dirty politics.
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We gained access to a "victory scenario" from Marcos' camp and, in the spirit
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of free elections (meaning voters don't have to buy their ballots), have
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excerpted it for you, below:
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VICTORY SCENARIO
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"...play the injured party by casting dispersions at Aquino's tactics while
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attempting to better them..."
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"...keep on hand approximately 16 million 'absentee' ballots just in case..."
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"...organize extravagant parties for international election observers..."
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"...follow the advice of those guys you brought in from Chicago..."
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"...announce new reform policies and publicize them heavily two or three days
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prior to the election..."
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"...tell everyone you're thinking of retiring anyway in a couple of years..."
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"...should a loss seem incontrovertible, play for time by impounding all
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ballots, imprisoning election officials and engaging in 'transition talks' with
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the other side..."
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