Philippine Election: Ten Days and Counting

Exactly ten days from now, as election fever hits high range, we will surely feel the chill and frenzy accompanied with it. Sure the freebies are great as almost everyone will benefit from the commercialism brought on by election campaign with those free shirts, caps, baller ids, fans, food, monetary allowance, etc. but may we all be reminded that public service is not only during the campaign period and it is not all about the free stuff that we could get, elected officials have greater things to do to reconstruct a nation submerged in corruption and poverty. Just think of those million Filipinos who are deprived of even the basic necessities (without food, water and shelter). Yes, some good things come with a price but I hope that our vote is not among them. A few hundred or thousand pesos may not suffice to last for more than six days. Another six years of the Philippines’ future is at stake here and it is only fitting that we thoroughly think about it and be intelligent enough to choose who among those candidates is best suited for the position. If someone offered money for a vote, that candidate is not worth even a drop of ink on your ballot. We will benefit more from a clean and honest election and much more we will gain if we elect the decent and responsible ones who will not give us a lame excuse and fool us into saying “I AM SORRY!” for all the irregularities and inadequacies of the government.

We might be too saturated to see the candidates’ faces on their TV advertisements and too numb to feel the sincerity of their dialogues, our ears bleeding with their speeches on political platforms and promises, our eyes sore with all their banners and political colors but somehow we knew that this election is neither a popularity contest nor an acting award ceremony. May 10 will be the day, when this nation will decide who among the candidates deserve our most coveted vote of trust and confidence. This will be the day when we will decide who among them seem to be sincere enough, responsible enough, and capable enough to be the leader of this country. Are leaders really born and not made? I don’t really know but whether he is born or made, I hope the outcome of the election will not lead us to doomsday. May GOD bless the Philippines!