Mama Mary vs. Musa

Manolo Quezon was right. There has been "a last minute miracle of the sinister sort". Of course, Migz Zubiri was also right when he said that "Quezon was not aware of all the strategies, both new and time-tested, employed by my team." Now we know. After today, no one can deny that a mere mortal like Musa Dimasidsing was indeed no match to Mama Mary. This is obvious once we compare their respective track records in driving voter turnout in Maguindanao.Voter Turnout*
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The diagram above shows that in the municipalities under her control, Mama Mary achieved a voter participation rate in the high 90's, well beyond the 68% national average. Next to this, Musa's anemic 23% voter turnout rate in Pagalungan is hard not to notice.

Encouraging voter participation is one thing, but that's only the start. What really matters is the ability to compel these voters to write 'Zubiri' on the ballot. As shown in the diagram below, while Musa can only manage a 42% success rate, Mama Mary was able to convince no less than 96% of the voters in the Maguindanao Precincts under her responsibility to do so, again much better than the 72% achieved in Zubiri's home province of Bukidnon.

Percentage of Votes Cast for Zubiri**

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Just to leave no room for doubt that Zubiri's victory is not of this world, Mama Mary left miraculous signs reminiscent of her Son's miracle of the loaves and fishes as manifested through the ballot fill-up rate.
Ballot Fill-Up Rate***
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As the diagram above shows, not only were the electorate of one of our poorest province able to achieve ballot fill-up rates beyond that of the members of the A, B & C Classes, with the help of Mama Mary, they even managed to break through the math barrier and fill up more names than the form would allow. The fact that there was a maximum of twelve blanks to be filled up was not an issue when it came to the municipalities of Ampatuan, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Paglat, South Upi and Sultan sa Barongis. By contrast, Musa can barely manage to fill in an average of three names per form in Pagalungan.

All this means that Zubiri is correct when he says that he owes his victory to Mama Mary. In the Maguindanao municipalities where Mama Mary was present, Migz was ranked Number 1. It was only in Pagalungan where Migz ended up in a respectable but nevertheless unspectacular 7th place. While as the PCIJ states, it is true that "the Pagalungan voting results also more closely reflect the outcome of elections in the five other provinces of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao", this can also be taken as proof that Pagalungan's results reflect its total lack of supernatural origins.

The above facts speak for themselves and as Wittgenstein would say, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent".

*Source: Why You Should Doubt The Maguindanao Election Results, Avigail Olarte, July 3, 2007. Voter turnout percentages in the diagram is computed by dividing NO. OF REGISTERED VOTERS WHO ACTUALLY VOTED by NO. OF REGISTERED VOTERS (Comelec May 3 Memo). National Voter Turnout computed from National Tally Sheet SENATORIAL CANVASS REPORT No. 30.
**Source: Why You Should Doubt The Maguindanao Election Results - 5, Avigail Olarte, July 12, 2007.
***Source: Why You Should Doubt The Maguindanao Election Results - 4, Isa Lorenzo, July 12, 2007. The Ballot fill-up rates as shown in the diagram for Nationwide-ABC, Nationwide-D and Nationwide-E Classes is from The educational and class vote for Senator, Social Weather Stations (SWS), May 12, 2007. Lady of Manaoag image from http://www.chabelle.com.