THE SONG’S title escapes me for the moment but part of its lyrics goes like this, ‘that’s just the way it is, somethings will never change…’. With all that’s been happening today in the campaign period for the coming national and local elections, those lyrics just might as well be playing on everyone’s mind. Almost everything we witness is but a rehash of old strategies and tactics. Starting simply from candidates’ chosen jingles, to their eww-catchy campaign slogans, down to the play-by-numbers mudslinging tactics, who can deny we haven’t seen and heard them all before?
Let’s do some time traveling and go to good old 1969, the time of the presidential elections with the senior Marcos running against Cebu’s Sergio Osmena. (Gens X, Y, Z & A grab a seat)
That was my first ever on-ground experience at an electoral exercise. As seniors in high school, we were assigned poll duty, being PMT cadets at the time. We stayed the whole night at our assigned poll booths to assist in “safeguarding of the ballot”, as superiors put it. (I recall we all wore an armband printed with the word “Pagbabago” or Change on our uniforms.)
I too remember the frenzy of the day before. Under the deafening soundtrack of radio jingles and last-ditch pleas and speeches from all sides, the day was both exciting and scary for us newbies. From all over, there had been persistent reports of vote-buying and people with guns threatening would-be voters in far-flung commodities. Naturally, we were on edge and I remember one reaction I had was that of disbelief; thinking this sort of thing happened only in the movies and the comics.
As a young boy, who could miss the parade of local leaders from our balcony along Ponciano as they conducted sorties. I even saw some envelopes passed around. But what does a child care? Then after elections, one would hear adults talk about how dissatisfied people were with their choices. Anyway, back to our poll duty on D-day, bless us all, nothing untoward happened at our precincts.
However, if one read the archives, 1969 was deemed the dirtiest presidential election ever, with guns, goons, and gold being its identifying traits.
Back to the present time, with modern tech everywhere and with cameras and recorders practically all around, still nothing much has changed. In fact, corruption has even become more sophisticated and fine-tuned. Despite all these, people still cling to the hope that there will be changes up ahead. I sometimes wonder if this is nothing but a delusion, that out there yonder is a greener pasture. For the moment, the question of the day for me remains: how do we break free of these chains?
