On May 14, 2007, the Philippines held its elections for the senate, congress and local officials. Just like the past elections, this election is also tainted with violence, vote-buying and cheating. I don't think that the Filipino people will ever realize the consequences of being so careless when it comes to choosing the right people to do the job correctly.
In the remote provinces, especially in Mindanao it's not surprising to hear news on violence. In fact, Dapitan City, a place which is considerably peaceful had its own improvised bomb explosion near a polling precinct on the night prior to the election day. The only good thing was that nobody got hurt in the incident.
The ruthless politicians are always there to carry out their own agenda to ensure a victory. They are all willing to march into hell, for their personal interests. How about using the typical 3G ammunition? Goons, guns, gold. Whoever has the 3 Gs almost always cement their way to victory.
Millions of Filipino people out there were happy for a day because of the vote-buying. Everyone had a nice meal for a day after being paid P1,000 (about $20) for their votes. It is a sad fact, yet it is the Filipino nation's reality. The impoverished nation, basically, cannot think properly and cannot even weigh-in on the pros and cons. And there is no such thing as a peaceful, clean and honest elections in the Philippines. Why? The political evils are deeply rooted in the system. Corruption, bribery, harassment, assault, political dynasties, name it and it's not news anymore. It's like an age-old disease that has no cure. And the Filipino people doesn't seem to mind. Protest after protest, nothing beneficial ever resulted from it. Well, does the Filipino people have a choice?
As far as candidates are concerned, there are only a few who are there for the right reasons. The rest of them are only there for the political gains accorded with the office, like the pork barrel and other government funds at the disposal of the immediate authority. Add to that all the other perks afforded to a politician who holds a top post, and any political position is very well within everyone's dream for a career.
Including the 12 senate seats, and the 275 congressional seats, there are 17,889 posts up for grabs. Multiply that to the expenses that each politician spends during the campaign. How much do you think is the Filipino people indebted, if let us just say 80 per cent of these politicians will collect back through whatever means, their expenditures during the elections? Do the math. Add to that the fixed 200M annual pork barrel for each of the 275 Congressmen, and we have a very fat bill on our way, for all Filipinos to pay. Woe is the Filipino.
Well the cards have been laid on the table. It's no longer in our hands. And whatever happens to this nation for the next couple of years will be shaped by how well we exercised our right to vote.
Let me just say in passing, that some politicians have thicker skins than you think. I mean, whatever happened to 'delikadeza' (a value which implies the decency to inhibit oneself for ethical and moral reasons)? A mother and a son, a brother and a sister, a husband and a wife, a cousin and another kin--all to take the same seats in the same election year? Two senatorial seats for one family; two congressional seats for a brother and a sister; a province to be dominated by a single clan; a city to be lead by a single family. Don't we have enough talent out of the 75 million or so Filipinos? Why must a family have to occupy more than one seat? Ah . . . political dynasties, they're so sickening!
The next few days will be critical because any politically motivated violence could erupt. With all the cheating accusations between camps, protests are more likely to be staged by the losing parties. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed in the hope that there'll be none of such untoward incidents.
And to all Filipinos out there, it's never easy to get out of a deep, dark pit especially if we are starved and blindfolded, but we have to push ourselves up and not be crabs. We have to rise to the occasion if need be. Or should we just resign to the fact that we are a hopeless case, and just say, "Woe is the Filipino, woe is me!"?
No comments:
Post a Comment