Thank you from Tom Killip

To All Friends and Supporters,

My Warmest Greetings to All!

Firstly, I wish to take this opportunity to Deeply Thank All of You for the wholehearted support that you extended before,during, and after the duration of the just-concluded political exercise. I wish to say before anything else that your support and efforts did not go to waste, in fact it gained for us great lessons and victories that are significant indicators or tools to use in similar future exercises.

From the launching of the political campaigns up to elections, even upon knowing the vote-count at the end of the day, our volunteer support groups and our political leaders were in very high morale and spirits knowing that we had been consistently winning moral victories every turn of the way. We were able to demonstrate a very high standard of political campaign that other political camps were not able to display. We did not indulge in personal attacks or mudslinging, we did not buy votes directly or indirectly, and we never showed firearms that hinted of terrorism.

We can say without doubt that our political rallies attracted the most crowds as well as the fact that we were the most appreciated in all the places that we held our political sorties. If these were not able to translate into actual votes there are major reasons that we observed as we look back into that whole process:

(a) Without doubt, your candidate was a Johnny-Come- Lately in this race. Running for the first time on the level of the province I was a virtual unknown in most of the 10 municipalities and 149 barangays throughout the Mountain Province where majority of the voters are semi-literate folks who do not read papers or watch TV. What matters mainly to most of our folks is if they have met or seen their candidate. The biggest feedback was, "Saan mi met nga am-ammo wenno nasabsabat isuna".

The most that posters could project in areas I could not possibly visit is merely a shadow of the candidate which was never enough to compensate for a physical appearance. Even in Besao which I considered the closest neigbor in terms of socio-cultural relations separated only by political boundaries people were not only asking but demanding for my personal appearance. But I was glad that I won in Payeo which is the intellectual hub of Besao Municipality primarily because Manang Inez has her roots there but I would also add that intelligent voting took place in that village.

(b) Given this situation, and knowing that the other candidates who are already popular in the province have been organizing and building their political networks for the past two years, the contest was too much in favor of any of the other three congressional candidates. It was only in the midst of the campaign period as I visited different barangays in different municipalities did I find out that this was the case. Many in fact were regretful as I was that I did not signify my intentions much earlier or at least earlier than the rest. And "signify" in here means going down to talk personally to would-be political supporters in the barangays.

(c) The time frame set by COMELEC for official campaign period of 45 days was definitely never enough to cover the 149 barangays in the entire province specially for a candidate like myself whom most people haven't seen in person. Many barangays cannot be reached by vehicles and therefore required a lot of hiking to reach the remotest villages. I was able to reach many barangays but likewise I wasn't able to reach just as many. It was too impossible under the circumstances.

(d) At the height of it all, money rained like hell! Big money so to speak from all directions and sources! Money spoke stronger in the end like it was manna from heaven at the peak of the El Nino crisis which adversely affected the province and many other provinces nationwide. In a sense I would understand the situation of many communities whom I had the chance to visit during the campaigns specially in areas like Paracelis where, believe me, there are families who can only afford to eat twice a day in these critical times. I could very well imagine these people and there are hundreds of families who were in effect saying during my campaigns, or expressing through their votes, ..."what you are saying is true, but we need cash, we need food..". What can you say in such a situation?

If there was one moment that money poured like avalanche in these mountain communities this probably was one such event. And this was one reason why our leaders and supporters were all in high spirits up to the end. They all know that we did not spend untold amounts as others did and there was nothing to despair or to be ashamed of in the end.

While we know that others even the winners were thinking heavily about their huge expenses and financial losses we were all happy in the thought that we won a moral victory and that we all shared in this candidacy and what it stood for without spending fortunes. Crowds of supporters from all over came the next day to show their proud support despite the outcome of the vote-count. This plainly showed that they were both happy and proud they were part of a noble political cause. We had a joyous party that day in fact nobody got drunk out of despair (surprisingly) .

The unanimous call was to continue the fight for a decent politics in the province. We may have been that lone voice in the wilderness but that voice has resonated far and wide even beyond elections. I was in fact touched by this group of our leader-volunteers from Paracelis who came all the way to Sagada to say that the 600 votes I got from Paracelis are genuine votes that came from the heart and not bought with money because they all knew we had none. I was touched that despite the crisis and hunger that hung in the atmosphere there were 600 people who were willing to cast their votes for us. Our camp pointed out that each vote we got is the equivalent of a hundred votes that were bought with money.

During the indignation rally that took place on Saturday, May 15 in Bontoc which was triggered by the confiscation of several highpowered firearms in Paracelis, one licensed in the name of Gov. Dalog himself and in the hands of two of his sons plus other John Does who were later set free by apprehending officers, the three political camps of Mayor Franklin Odsey, Jupiter Dominguez, and our camp joined other sectors in condemning the incident, as the introduction of guns into the political arena shall give the wrong signals to would-be candidates in future elections. At this point I find it appropriate to repeat the following which I expressed during the indignation rally and in encounters with the media:

(1) We should not allow a culture of violence to develop in our province because of selfish political reasons and interests. Such a development is anti-social, anti-community, and will only subvert our high level of democratic norms and practices that we have observed in our societies up here since the birth of our republic

(2) The Covenant for a Peaceful, Clean, and Honest Elections which we candidates signed on March 10, 2010 at the PNP barracks in the presence of Col. Albas (PNP Provincial Chief), Col. Bismarck Soliba (PA), Bishop Beltran (RC), Atty. Lampac (COMELEC) among other distinguished participants and observers was simply for show. Being a major sponsor of that event representing the provincial government and his own candidacy, and being the first to sign the document I could not reconcile that covenant with what we all observed during the campaign and elections. The massive use of government funds in the guise of programs to gain political advantage, the massive vote-buying, and now the introduction of firearms into the political arena has pushed our political exercise down into the gutters. The governor has much to explain for this condition which our politics has gone into.

(3) We (the three opposition camps) may have been dubbed as "poor losers", which in fact I admitted as I could even be the "poorest loser" for the plain and simple fact that I didn't have the financial means to provide wages for my campaign leaders and to buy votes that others did during election period.

(4) That Governor Dalog and his supporters should not abuse their position and powers because he is still a minority choice and therefore cannot fully claim to represent the true and full sentiments of the people of the Mountain Province. Of the 65,000 voters who cast their votes during the May 10 elections only a third voted for him. You can say part of those votes were acquired through means not legitimate. What kind of representation then do we have?

And so my friends and supporters, this is what we stood for. We were consistent from the beginning to the end and we never wavered for a moment in the direction that we took. All the efforts and contributions that you so graciously and generously provided to sustain the campaign have been carefully noted and used according to the campaign plan and operations.

Let me take this opportunity therefore to Thank You All for such an excellent coordination of support for the entire campaign efforts. In my sleep and in my waking thoughts I come to imagine how things were if not for all the concerted, collective, and cooperative actions that you all provided to make our political campaign moving throughout those trying times.

Wa-ay nan Dios nan makasubalit isdi. But I remain confident and rested that all of you were actually true candidates in my person. I knew you all have done your best! Perhaps my person may not have satisfactorily embodied the ideals and the image that was needed for a vote-count victory for our camp but surely your support not only for my candidacy but for the cause is a great moral victory and lesson that we all shared! In this sense Nangabak Tako!

SALASALAMAT YA MATAGO-TAGO KAYO AM-IN!

Thomas "Champag" Killip