Elections in this country are not won on party ideology and program, not even on a candidate’s uprightness and competence. They are won on name recall that money promotes through political gimmickry, mainstream and social media ads, and, on election day, food, transportation, and cash for voters.
Bongbong has both money and political machinery. This and the fact there are many candidates for President make his win by a plurality of votes a clear possibility. God forbid, if he wins by plurality (more votes than any of the others), no way he can be the unifying leader he claims to be. Not when he is not the majority President.
If it has a shred of honor and decency left, this nation has simply to prevent a Bongbong victory. That would partake of the nature of a canonization of his infamous father by an unprincipled nation. Why canonize the patriarch of a family that is totally unrepentant of his crimes? Why, when it not only does not admit to the ugly truth about its father and husband but also blatantly revises and paints it beautiful.
If he wins, it could be with money the whole world knows his father stole from the Filipino people. To add insult to injury, stolen money could put him in a position not only to no longer bother returning it but also to steal some more.
Worst of all, a win will signify that we are allowing the family to complete the historical revision of the savage truth of Martial Law. It will signify a weak-souled nation’s disgraceful permission to insult and put in extreme prejudice the honor of thousands of victims of Martial Law.
Still, I must admit that through the sociological lens I am looking at the coming elections, I do not see much hope of a better future for Filipinos from any of those that have so far filed their candidacy for president.
Leni Robredo is as weak, tentative, and shallow as the color pink signifies. I doubt if she can be her own woman on the president’s seat. Manny Pacquiao is sincere in his good intentions but is politically unprepared and will just be used (for his money and popularity) by hardened politicians. Isko Moreno is a cocky neophyte who is biting off more than he can chew. Lacson is hounded by a much too controversial and questionable past.
To top it all, no one is running on any credible anti-poverty program. They are bereft of any ethico-social direction and running on vacuous statements of helping the poor or unifying the country.
But only one can win. Thus, it must be anybody but Bongbong. Electing any of the others will be par for the course of a politically illiterate nation. But electing Bongbong would be an utter disgrace. It would be the bitter irony of selling our soul and getting paid for it with our own money.