The campaign period for the midterm elections has yet to start but political ads are everywhere. Call that the schemes of traditional politicians.
This is sad because the trapos will be elected. These scheming people will lead us because in a democracy like ours majority wins.
So those billboards with their huge names will lead voters to recall them when they enter the polling places, while those who cannot afford to do the same will surely lose when ballots are counted. The poor will have no chance to be elected. The rich will be elected. And they couldn’t care less if prices of basic commodities are high.
You see tarps huge every on corner of our highways. Politicians spend in making those propaganda materials and pay those that install them.That is a lot of money already.
And the campaign has yet to start.
Then look at the TV ads where huge amount is used to pay tv stations even when the campaign has yet to start.
Let us start with the campaign. For sure old names of trapos have already spent huge amount of money to prepare the campaign materials..
They have to splash the city with their names and faces for recall. They will hire people to mount them. On tv they will hire ad firms to make those ads and pay those tv stations to air the materials.
Very expensive to run for public office.
Millions of pesos are already spent on the first wave of colored posters splashed all over.. After the first wave, the second wave so the posters are new and attractive. Then the threerd wave and finally the fourth..
Very expensive to run for public office.
At home run tv ads are a plenty in millions of pesos. Can the poor afford it? No sir.
Shall they dream for a position? They should. After all dreaming is free. But I admire the poor for continuing to believe in our systems. Saludo ko nimo sir ug mam kay dagan gihapon ka. Basin diay.
But reality is disappointing and crippling. The poor cannot even do the step one. They can only talk about it in the “kanto” of the sitios, on the makeshift bench in front of the sari-sari store.. Sadly while drinking beer.
After the drinking spree, the poor can now dream of being the president. After they come to their senses, they realize they have no more money as they eventually notice that the sardines are priced higher than before, something that they cannot afford anymore.
Sad that this reality is still with us. Poverty remains. And no president has ever solved this. The poor are everywhere and they are increasing in seconds.
Now it is election time. Can you blame them for receiving money from the trapos? Politicians have allowed poverty to increase. These men and women are experts on rhetorics but not in decreasing poverty.
So did you notice, they are the same names in the positions of power. They have been there and instead of decreasing poverty, they have increased it.
Why are they there? And why do they want to be elected? Your guess is as good as mine.
By Ed R Fernandez
