Apparently, it went almost without a hitch in this Province, and yet, jubilation is hardly in order; maybe except for those who really gave it their all, and were elected.
Yes, happily a few progressives made it at the national level, though likely not enough to make a significant difference, for generally, the electorate remained mired in pre-modern mindsets and voting behavior.
It’s the déjà vu conduct of elections that gives rise to the lingering discomfort with the whole exercise: the usual silliness, excesses, violations of election laws, and even incidents of coercion and corruption. All of which were observable in the microcosm of my own area of residence.
It’s hard to see what will lead one day to a more thoughtful, responsible, law-abiding, and credible process for this recurring contest for political position and power.
Candidates surely feel the pressure to resort to traditional, questionable, and in some cases, illegal, practices if they are serious about winning: the famous/infamous envelopes, gifts of rice, over-sized campaign tarps, hired entertainers, the jingles, the array of campaign Tshirts, caps, fans, etc for distribution.
Surely, a considerable organizational and supply operation when, in perhaps more innocent times, it might have been enough to persuade voters with concrete ideas and visions of the common good.
You could almost feel sorry for this pressure on them, not to mention its enormous financial cost. (Especially as I remember living in a country where voting was not accompanied by such circus-like practices.)
Then there was my local Comelec to also almost feel sorry for.
I admit to having made a nuisance of myself by repeated visits to them. Why did almost all barangay halls have campaign tarps on them? What about the giant-sized tarps? What about RA 9006?
It was obvious or at least likely that they were cowed by the powers-that-be as their action was delayed; in one case, an early campaign tarp on the municipal hall hung for months before being finally removed mere days before the election.
Clearly, national policies have to change to bring more seriousness and intelligence to the political process, but do lawmakers have an interest in working towards that? And does the electorate?
Does anyone care that the mayors and vice-mayors of half of the local government units of this Province have the same last name?
Does anyone care about the myriad Party Lists with questionable backers or ridiculous “causes” like LPG or WiFi?
Does anyone care about the huge environmental toll of tarpaulins and their potential chemical pollution?
Can and will any agency tot up the cost and drain to the national economy caused by the unconscionable conduct of elections, and set spending limits?
Sadly, perennial questions with hardly any answers.
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Author’s email: h.cecilia7@gmail.com
