Some of my friends are running in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan or SK elections on Oct. 30. But frankly, I have so lost interest in the elections that I have forgotten the election date. I had to google it to find out.
In Cebu City, one thing is certain, though. Mayor Rama leaders won’t be contending with leaders of an Osmeña party. Former mayor Tomas Osmeña and his wife Margot are old and are therefore not as enthusiastic as before in marshaling their forces for the elections. Some Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) candidates have chosen to run as independents against Rama candidates. That weakened their positioning for the elections.
But the election bug has bitten even some of my nieces who are running for SK posts in Sambag 2, the barangay where we live. In Inayawan, the barangay of my wife, her brother, Gener Jaca, is running as an independent. On the other side of the fence, my friend, Vincie Monterde, is running for barangay councilor under the admin lineup led by incumbent barangay captain, Kirk Bryan Repollo, who incidentally has Jaca blood.
Gone are the days when innocence blanketed the elections, and you could run without thinking much about logistics. Now, you think about the costs of running for a post, especially during the elections when some voters sell their votes to the highest bidder. When I ran for the Kabataang Barangay council in Sambag 2, you simply wrote your preferred candidates on a sheet of paper. The list of candidates was scribbled on a sheet of cartolina posted somewhere in the barangay chapels of every sitio. By the way, the Kabataang Barangay was formed before the SK took over.
I don’t know if my friend, who lost two elections before he decided to spend money to buy votes and won, will be running again for barangay councilor. But I am sure that he, just like my brother in Asturias, has learned his lessons about Philippine elections. Even in the campaign period, your leaders won’t move if they are not given money for the bother. Volunteerism is non-existent everywhere. That reality jolted me when, in one campaign period, I was told to follow the “cabo system,” a setup that is primarily like running an organization in a factory where “no work, no pay” is the law.
But I am still not convinced that change can never be effected under the current electoral setup. I believe that things can still change for the better. It’s just that we haven’t found the correct formula, the right timing, and the best people’s organization.
Which brings me to the question on why other countries have a better electoral setup than what we have now. Where do you think did we go wrong?
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I have just received news that my high school classmate, Evelyn Rebaya, has passed on. Talk about her falling ill already did the rounds earlier. So she finally has given up. Sad. Bayang was among the active participants in the reunions that we held earlier. Rest in eternal peace, Bayang. Godspeed.