Be wiser than the candidates

By Johanne R. Macob

 

IF elections were a series, we can say that we’re nearing the last few episodes. In a few days, we will be electing a new set of leaders, with the promise of new hope for this country, for our communities. So again and again, please, my dear fellow voters, let’s be way wiser than the candidates!

Numerous reports of alleged vote-buying have been in the talks recently. While I may be young as a voter, I no longer consider myself a newbie in talks about vote buying. I know what goes on.

In our village alone, while we don’t receive cold cash during election periods, we usually receive packs of goodies, usually including instant noodles, sardines, bagoong, and even laundry soaps and dippers, among others. Sometimes, the items are personally handed over to the voters by the politicians’ campaigners during daytime, or they leave the items in front of the houses in wee hours. Of course, along with these items are the campaign materials with the candidate’s name and picture, in the form of stickers or leaflets or mini calendars. I was already used to seeing these when I was still not old enough to vote.

When I started working in the media industry, I have learned of more creative ways of vote-buying. I have learned that in certain places, people line up waiting for their turn to submit their voter’s information in exchange for cash. A recent research of the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) determined that the poor view vote-buying differently. Some view it as a bribe, still others view it as help from the candidates. No wonder people in some areas are used to waiting for hours before the election day. This is the reality, our reality. As the provincial election supervisor, Atty. Joel Gines tells it, vote buying is likely to always thrive anywhere, since vote buying as a crime is very difficult to prove in court.

When I was younger, imbibed with my super idealism, I kept on telling my mom to refuse the items the political candidates bring to our place. I kept on telling her to not sell her vote and she would always reply, “Hayaan mo lang, hindi ko naman binenta ang boto ko.” It took me a few years to really grasp what she meant. Indeed, in our society with decade-old ways of doing things such as vote-buying, sometimes, it’s easier and more practical to go with the flow but always, always with our principles in tact. It’s like having our realism and idealism at a balance.

Politician wannabes, especially those who with nothing else to offer but money, will always attempt to buy our votes. We can choose to be idealistic and reject their attempts, or we can choose to be wise to accept their money and not necessarily vote for them. Or we can submit totally to their will and accept their money and vote for them, as well. My unsolicited advice is let it be either of the first two options. And between the two, I personally prefer doing the second option but this is not saying that I condone vote-buying. The reality is even if my family refuses the items from the bets, it will not stop these candidates from attempting to buy off other families. But if on the other hand, if we accept the items or the money from the bets (which by the way are not their money, anyway) but don’t vote for them, the bribing candidates will eventually learn to cease on trying to buy our votes. I hope to see the day when our society finally reaches that where the period when trapos realize that we, voters, are indeed intelligent.

P.S. I previously wrote on how we should choose our candidates or you may choose to adopt presidential bet Miriam Defensor Santiago’s criteria for selecting our president as the standards for all the elective posts: excellence in academic, professional conduct and moral values.

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