With a little over a week left in the campaign before election day, the playing field has become a dizzying scene of organized chaos as candidates and their surrogates are employing all kinds of tactics in trying to outshine each other, creating election hysteria.
At a time when social media and information (or misinformation) are just a few clicks away, and shared almost-instantaneously, black propaganda and underhanded tactics against political opponents have become easier to execute on a wider scale.
The campaign period is peaking, and as expected, the political strategists have saved their hidden aces and best tricks for the most crucial last weeks before election day.
No wonder the senatorial candidates supported by the Marcos administration continue to make up the majority of the projected “Magic 12” , according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey commissioned by Stratbase Group.
The nine bets are made up of ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo, re-electionist Sen. Lito Lapid, Pia Cayetano, and Bong Revilla; former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Tito Sotto, Manny Pacquiao, Makati Mayor Abby Binay, and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar.
Stratbase President Dindo Manhit attributed the continued success of Alyansa candidates in pre-election surveys to a combination of strategic advances, such as strong name recall, and amplified visibility.
The Alyansa-dominated list, however, was topped by Sen. Bong Go of PDP-Laban, Sen. Imee Marcos who climbed up to 10th place.
Former Sen. Bam Aquino and former Sen. Kiko Pangilinan took the 15th to 16th ranks, respectively.
With only a week left before the elections, voters are urged to focus on the track record and plans for the country of the candidates, rather than popularity, media exposure, and party affiliation.
Recall the 2004 Fertilizer Fund-PDAF scam was first exposed pointing to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles as mastermind which eventually expanded to cover her involvement in a wider scam involving the misuse of PDAF funds from 2000 until 2013. It is estimated that the Philippine government was defrauded of some ₱10 billion over the course of the scam, having been diverted to Napoles, participating members of Congress, and other government officials, including 23 senators (some of whom are running this year!) who managed to steal approximately P10 billion aside from the PDAF and the fertilizer fund maintained by the Department of Agriculture.
Furthermore, because PDAF allocations were released by the Department of Budget and Management, they were often dependent on the relationship between the legislator and the sitting President.
Some of these unscrupulous candidates and politicians seeking to win in the midterm elections are now painting themselves to be the “saviors”, offering quick fixes to daunting challenges such as poverty and inequality, and mouthing promises that if they get in position, our lives will suddenly turn for the better.
By rewarding the genuine public servants with our precious votes, and by punishing those who are only in for themselves and their families’ narrow interests by voting them out of power, we, the voters, stand a better chance of changing not just our own lives but also that of our communities.
Please. Let us vote wisely.
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Author’s email: whelmayap@yahoo.com
