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Thursday, January 29, 2004
Estremera: Politics
By Stella E. Estremera
COMMENTARY
HAH! So, FPJ now has the freeway after his bid for presidency was cleared of all those nincom-poopish attempts to prove his Filipino citizenship or non-citizenship, ek-bloom.
And then we all groan.
Politics is no longer what our parents knew it to be. Elections are no longer how our grandfathers remember it, and we all blame our bastardized politics.
We do tend to do that a lot, blame the institution for what it has become. It’s like
blaming Christmas for becoming the commercialized yearly celebration that it has become, and yet spending thousands of pesos to treat our children, godchildren, friends, and relatives, to nurture a tradition.
So here are two quick questions: How many spent time to validate their registration as voters? How many times have you missed casting your vote?
That only a small percent validated their registration and an even smaller percent registered shows why politicians are what they are now and why politics has become the entertainment industry that it is today.
We groan, we curse, we smirk, and yet we don’t take our right of suffrage seriously. Then we blame the institution.
And yet, there are still a few who remain firm in their belief on what Christmas, and yes, politics should be.
They who perpetuate simple traditions and remember what the celebration should be. They who dutifully register, validate, and vote. They who are not swayed by the promise of dancing candidates. But they are only the smallest of the minority.
The high brow among us would only smirk or smile patronizingly at the low brow and even middle brow who scream and shriek upon seeing FPJ and his coterie of entertainers.
The self-righteous among us would recall the days of statesmen and groan and yet not make the effort to cast one well thought of vote.
And the greedy would be plotting to create yet another “XXX for President Movement” in the next elections, ditching whatever idealism they have been espousing before and jettisoning intelligent choices and delicadeza for that sweet scent of victory and power.
(Stella Estremera writes for Sun.Star Davao)
(January 29, 2004 issue)
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