At last the day has come. It is the time for the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy or COC. For aspiring politicians and incumbents alike, this day is definitely like no other. What fatefully begins with an actual appearance by aspirants before the electoral commission office and their filling up of whatever forms that are necessary, that’s their official announcement to the voters of their intent to run for public office in the coming elections. Talk about beginnings, you could also clock this very moment as officially, the starting time when one will notice a strange and subtle transformation occurring in each aspiring candidate’s posturing.
For one, there’s the obvious switch to a milder and more pleasant tone when generally dealing with people, particularly towards those outside their inner circles. Then, there is this conscious actuation to suddenly become overly concerned with what service they can offer during and after their campaign sorties. Lastly, candidates will begin to have this sudden impulse to project themselves as visible and large as possible, like they were on a large stage and casting a positive image before the populace,.
Before proceeding further however, who’s not reminded of that Japanese proverb about the three masks of every person. There is one we only show to our family, one we only know too well to be as for our real selves and the last mask we reserve for other people.
As it is, the electorate should be fully aware that first and foremost, we are categorically among the ‘other people’. Even as these candidate are sometimes wont to say we are family (and in some speeches, they will insinuate that we are), this whole wooing stage called the campaign period is just that, come hell or high water, an opportunity to win us and our votes.
As is always the case, some candidates may still utilize soothing rhetoric, or a stirring and comprehensive overview of social problems and then dangle a slew of promises of logical solutions. Others will meanwhile, steamroll voters with free gifts of foodstuff and in reported cases, cash and under-the-table deals. Despite these, through the years, the consciousness of the electorate has developed and they have become smarter at seeing through all these ploys and promises. Because of all the above, I am excited at how things will particularly turn up in this coming electoral exercise.
For one, it should be noted that even before the filing of the COC, mud-slinging in the press and social media and gratuitous deliveries of rice and cash in some cities have become commonplace. For some, this type of softening up the electorate is already a form of vote-buying in itself but either way, smooth talkers and gruff vote-buyers should beware. True, the times may be rough and some may be bought, but we are undoubtedly in a different era now. The people are beginning to see through the smokescreens and more important, they’re not anymore oblivious to the real faces behind the masks.
