A FRIEND is so disgusted at the pre-election drama going on, he could scream.

But the Filipino doesn’t scream, he makes jokes. And the wife laughs, a bit proudly, happy for the hubby’s “sense of humor” shown off before the other guys. And it’s said that it’s the guys who have it---the sense of humor; the women are those who should be demure in the “audience” and what’s expected of them is a giggle

Hey, but no, not these days. My hair dresser asks out loud, “What’s happening now? Everything’s a joke. Noynoy is running for president? I think I change my mind about voting for the opposition, I will vote for Noli na lang. When I go crazier, I’ll vote for Estrada,” she laughed out loud.

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Why doesn’t Bongbong Marcos run for president, she asked just before a guffaw.

Haven’t you noticed, we’re in the Noy2 and Bong2 era, the son or grandson epoch, Mar Roxas should also be called Mar2. We’re stuck with candidates who are sons and grandsons of….

If you were to stand on the sides, it’s like watching a joke. And so you know what Binay is doing up there?

Is humor our way of fighting off pain?

“Why worry, be happy.”

Take the familiar “ating bayan” or “para sa mga tao” and other motherhood phrases---nothing like the Filipino candidate’s oratory on a rally speech.

In a recent Reader’s Digest issue, the Philippine joke listed for The World’s Funniest Jokes contest is about the conversation among three men and a girl regarding their dream jobs. Joe said he wanted to be a lawyer “to defend my country men.” Mike said he wanted to be a congressman for the benefit of “my countrymen.” Mary said he wanted to be a doctor to “cure my countrymen.” Tom took a moment and said he wanted “to be a countryman.”

There was humor in the old elections. I remember what Grandma told me about electoral events during her time. After the voting, it was always very clear who the winner was, no one went to court for a recount. The winning team in the old city would display a coffin on top of a vehicle supposedly carrying the body of the losing adversary on his funeral. It was a joke and no one reacted violently to it, Grandma said.

The Filipino does have a sense of humor he misses it when he’s away in another culture. It’s in every conversation you catch along the roadside, in drinking pubs, in the nearest tienda where the jokes ring out one after the other---and there’s color in the choice of words.

And a sense of humor is probably such that it softens the heart, seals disunity, encourages oneness; it’s a humanness that’s familiar among any kind of people, as demonstrated by the Reader’s Digest issue (rdasia.com). The cover is a young girl trying to hold back her laughter and the issue is mainly on laughter.

When we talk of the true sense of humor, it makes me wish I took up psychology, instead of journalism, and would have gone a bit more deeply into a man’s “sense of proportion concerning his own qualities,” as sense of humor is sometimes defined. The Filipino has it, sure. Or is there a difference between the Asian sense of humor and that of people in the West?

Perhaps you won’t have enough of it but begin looking up Pinoy jokes in the Internet and they’ll be all over you.

It’s said that humor is starting to get the attention of those who study human character. As expected, humor was first considered flippant and not taken seriously in psychology study. But now it’s admitted to have quite a role in the study of human relationship. And the Filipino, for his sense of humor, should be part of the script.

(ecuizon@gmail.com)