Two seemingly-identical pictures are placed side by side in the comics section of your
daily paper. The only difference, there are one or two minute alterations in one of the
pictures. It’s a puzzle clearly, and it aims to test the viewers, let’s see how good your
skill is at spotting the differences.
Alas, one could say the same with politics and the elections in our country. Observed
through the years, we likewise spot very little changes in them. If one might add, upon
closer scrutiny, there too, is a tinge of irony in this, our current situation. It might as well
belong to the comics section. Just consider the endless participation of entertainers,
actors, comedians and sports people. With little doubt, all are wannabes, leaning on
their popularity alone in order to garner a seat in politics, the Philippines’ most honored
and sacred milking cow.
Of course, let’s not fail to mention that aside from this cartoon bunch, there’s also a
handful of real patriots and do-gooders who are in the race to make a dent in the
system and are armed with the purpose to genuinely serve and to make a difference.
However, their kind is eternally at odds with the last to complete the cast in our political
drama. These are the remaining traditional politicians whom one might think hold on as
though politics and the electoral process were nothing but a longevity contest.
Incidentally, the reason behind why and how long these dogged padrinos stay in office,
may be unsaid, but it’s in the back of everyone’s mind. They’re perennially dodgy too,
passing on the baton to younger kin when they couldn’t run any longer.
Anyway, for the electorate, one would think it’s easy in choosing a representative. Once
you begin to sift through their various platforms (often already adorned with motherhood
statements) , expect to be bombarded further by battle cries and sound-bytes like
‘change for the better’, ‘down with the old and on with the new’ and (my all-time favorite)
‘equality for all’. As a finale they like to put on the table, detailed solutions to present
social problems are served before the voters. (This time however, for some political
aspirants, the said presentation is conveniently preceded and supported by distribution
of bountiful “ayuda” in the form of both cash and goods.)
In the end, solutions to problems as well as other election promises may have sounded
good to the ears but once many politicos are elected into office, these will seldom see
fruition as the winning candidates pursue different agenda. As one concrete example, I
was still in high school when improvement in agriculture had always been used as battle
cry by countless trapos (short for traditional politicians, but with a playful tweak in the
local dialect to mean “dirty rag”) down the line. Very little has changed. If you look now,
that call is still being used, with slight variations. And we still buy it.
At the end of the day, it does not matter what these rogues or heroes dangle in front of
our faces. In this reality comic page of life, the difficult part of solving the election puzzle
simply boils down to this: we’re throwing caution to the wind whenever we vote and we
will always be prone to ask, did we choose wisely or not?
Long ago, a friend who has since migrated, had posted a shoutout, dumbing us all as
rightfully deserving whom we put into office. I still find that a bit unfair because nobody
really knows how a candidate might fare once elected. On the other hand, I also see
context in such accusation.
In the same way we view two images in the comics section, it’s ironic we are also like
those two pictures in the puzzle. As voters, we and our predecessors may look so much
alike, save for a few minor changes. If they had tolerated idolatry, nepotism, regionalism
and vote-buying back then, the reality is not much has changed with us today. What is
pathetic about the whole thing is, while most of us pride themselves to be woke,
progressive and knowledgeable of history’s lessons, we only have to venture a few
steps back to our past to see we’re still stuck in the same double image.
