The LAIKO election was clean but not fair

On the second day of the 15th Biennial Convention, the election for the Board of Trustees of LAIKO was conducted.  The election was clean because the delegates wanted and ensured a clean election under the supervision of the Committee on Elections headed by Pete Villanueva. During the actual voting and the counting, Bishop Gabriel V. Reyes, DD was also there.

But the election was not fair. I was elected as a member of the board primarily because of the impact of my personal sharing the day before.

During our group discussion on the morning of the second day, my groupmate said that the setup of the convention is only advantageous to the incumbent members of the board who are aspiring to be re-elected. It is also advantageous to the moderators and the emcees because of the maximum exposure they are getting during the sessions. (In conventions of other groups, the emcees and moderators are disqualified to run for election because of the given advantage and exposure).

But the other candidates were not given the same opportunity of exposure. One candidate was not even given the chance to ask a question during the open forum.

The candidates who were not "known" were not given the opportunity to be heard. After the presentation of candidates prior to voting, they should have been given at least a minute to even state their name and be heard.

As members of the church we always demand for clean and fair elections for our public/government officials. I hope we can also walk the talk....