Another Day, Another Campaign

While walking to school this afternoon I had to stop in this little island in between the lanes of Taft Avenue while a caravan of horn-blasting vehicles that had bright, pink flowers painted all over them passed in front of me. This, clearly, was a campaign device very ingeniously crafted by Presidential candidate Raul Roco (sarcasm intentional). Don't get me wrong - it's not that I have anything against Roco (in fact I think he's an okay person) it's just that the streets of Manila have been saturated by the campaigning of so many would-be politicians and I'm sick of it. Ever since campaign period started I have heard popular jingles converted into campaign slogans pumped out almost daily by mobile loudspeakers, I have seen posters of artificially smiling candidates plastered on every available corner, I've endured political ads full of glowing promises that make me cringe.

I am tired of the blatant lack of creativity displayed by people running for office in this country. But I would have been willing to tolerate all that if that were their only offence. The problem is that most of the time these candidates prey on the ignorance of the masses. I heard on the news that Gloria Arroyo, current president and running candidate, attended several high school graduations in which she promised free education for the poorest among them, granted, of course, that she gets elected. This, I think, is just plain stupid. First of all, she made no attempt to quantify her statement. Who exactly are the poorest of the poor, and how many of them exactly will the government subsidize? Also, this will ultimately lead to people vying to prove that they are poorer than the next person. As head of state, I don't think this is something you want to happen to your citizens. It's like this policy I read about in the United States where dirt cheap apartment rates were provided for the poorest people, with the result that it was even harder for people with minimum wage jobs to get housing than those on social security!

Another Gloria boo-boo I read about in a newspaper is how she gained voters among the Tricycle Drivers' Association because she supported them when the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) was about to outlaw them. Tricycles are these small, modified motorcycles that carry passengers who don't want to walk short distances. They are also safety hazards on the road because they very often do not have safety lights (much less seatbelts) and are usually parked in the sides of roads, clogging up the sidewalk and even taking up road space. I see her move as another selfish bid to secure her victory.

While my dad and I were on our way home one night in Davao, we had to take a different route because a triangular intersection in the middle of the city was completely taken up by a wooden stage, large posters of the candidates of Arroyo's party, and a crowd of people witnessing the campaign. That was just wrong. To think that Gloria kept on bragging of possessing the 'moral high ground' in the elections. Yeah right.

It might seem like I'm doing a Gloria-bashing here, but I'm really not. It's just that I happen to have a collection of examples of her stupidities. Most other candidates have done much the same. The point I'm trying to make is that Philippine politics is in a depressingly low state. They are no better (and are even worse) than the media, who shamelessly use the masses to further their own moneymaking ends. Filipinos have been promised a better future, one where we can hold our heads high and know that we are actually heading somewhere. But this will never materialize unless there is a radical change in our political system. Right now, while the bid for public office is one big popularity contest, where no move is too low that will secure the most number of votes, where even in the highest places the prevailing attitude is 'be content with little and do the bare minimum in all situations', and where morality serves no purpose except as a front to provide an illusion of goodness to the witless herd, the Filipino nation will remain as it has always been: fragmented, backward, a farce perpetrated by the people on top, our brothers, those who should know better. This is the ultimate betrayal, and it seems we shall always be bound by it.