Friday, March 30, 2007 Roperos: Political intrigues By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
WHAT seems to be happening in the current political campaign is that intrigues, mudslinging and misinformation are giving the impression to the electorate that no candidate is good or worthy enough for their vote.
All candidates aspire for elective posts in the hope of making money and becoming rich. This is the general impression based on people’s observation of successful politicians who became wealthy.
If you ask me, I think this is a gravely judgmental attitude and grossly unfair to the candidates, voters and the country as a whole. It is a highly undemocratic notion and places at issue the sense of mission and commitment to public service nourished by many would-be politicians as they stake their name, honor and ideals for people to scrutinize.
In some instances candidates, especially first timers, are branded as this or that even before they start campaigning. If they belong to a political family, the sins of their forebears are passed on to the young as if the disease of “corruption” is hereditary.
There is the Cebuano saying that goes, “Ungo si tatay mo, ungo si nanay mo, ikaw kay anak man, ungo kamong tanan.” Carried to politics, this saying makes children of politicians involved in graft and corruption also presumptively corrupt.
This is quite unfair and unjust. But this trend of political campaigning may have come about because of instances in the past, during the heyday of political terrorism, when the so-called 3-Gs (guns, goons, and gold) were the politicians’ tools of the trade.
Truth to tell, I was quite affected by this political prejudice. When Luigi Quisumbing first joined politics and became Provincial Board member, I never mentioned him in my columns. I usually don’t do that to people I have little respect.
It is also the same with Jonkie Ouano, especially since Mayor Ouano, the father, has been linked to the decorative lamppost scam. But I received a handout about this would-be Ouano political heir that differs from what I hold.
It says among others, that he is schooled in the United States, a licensed respiratory therapist, graduate of Pierce College in Los Angeles, was a janitor and an ice cream vendor in an LA supermarket while studying there. And he is said to be a management award-winning businessman.
Now there must be many young aspirants for elective posts who are hounded by the misdeeds of their kin. It’s a pity that the current campaign has become a catty, low-blow kind of struggle for survival.
