Punchline
Gutter level
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
FINALLY, it can be said that Garci-Cheating templates have seen their last days. Automation buried it well and deep, at least for now. The votes this year have been cleanly and quickly counted, that’s the good news.
Now the bad news. How the votes were made to cast became more horribly scandalous. The vote-buying (and now vote-selling) in our towns and cities hit their worst levels in this year’s elections!
What was utterly appalling, pathetic and disgusting was not as much as who and how the candidates sought to buy the votes, that was predictable, but by how voters went out unabashedly “to sell” their votes to candidates, and eventually delivered their votes to the one who gave the most.
In all instances, there were no negotiations. There were no talks of promised projects or employment. It was all plain “Let Your Money Talk” affair! Thousands of voters sought and took indiscriminate offers to buy votes, and pocketed P20 to P1,500 from every sucker-candidate who believed them! They pretended willingness to vote for a candidate and quickly turned around “to sell” their votes to other wannabe suckers.
While cheating in the polls has been licked, making elections orderly and peaceful, our society has failed miserably to elevate our elections to an honest and decent level. Going to the gutter level of selling one’s vote and treating it like a pastime, a game, says a lot about our people’s character and moral fiber.
It takes a group of racketeers to subvert a system but it takes a people’s racket to subvert a nation’s values.
In Economics 101, one learns that when there are more sellers than buyers, the price of a commodity dips. What price do we peg our integrity and dignity as a people today?
We have gone so low this time. Shameful.
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A NEW BSL? So people have spoken loud and clear. We have a new set of political leaders to lead us… some fresh faces, some recycled, still some from political families that refuse to fade away.
I must say I am particularly impressed with the election of Dagupan City’s balikmayor Benjie Lim. The main legitimate issue, never mind the ugly talks about rampant vote-buying that most everyone resorted to, that worked in his favor was the people’s recollection of how he set order in the city and how that was thoroughly missed by many throughout Mayor Al Fernandez’s term. To his credit, that was his strength over his six-year administration.
As our readers may recall, the PUNCH bored in on the unprecedented levels of unmitigated corruption during Mr. Lim’s two-term administration, from the sanitary landfill to the streetlights, from the market construction to the dredging machine to the leasing of the Magsaysay Park, etc., with the reliable support from a corrupt crew at the city council. Remember the onor-onors?
But apparently, the city residents were wiling to forget all these in exchange for the return of a semblance of order in the city’s streets. They now look forward to a skillful and a no-nonsense management of the city’s affairs with a lot of optimism. That’s fine. So let’s turn a new leaf for the city. For the sake of those who continue to believe in him, I hope the new BSL will take his new mandate as an opportunity to redeem himself and move on to be the best mayor yet that the city ever had – a wish that I had for him when he first won in 2001. My wish remains.
This corner will be happy to give him his 60-day “honeymoon” (Note: Only 60 days because he’s not new to the job) to hit the ground running as he sets out on the new lease on his political life, this time hopefully and finally, for his own legacy. Ditto for the new set of councilors. May they forever kill the ghost of the onor-onors and become the new icons worthy of emulation as public servants, deserving of the word “honorable” that’s appended to their names.
And to our hardworking and reliable moles in the Dagupan city hall, take a break for the next 60 days beginning July 1 unless the stench of another tainted project permeates the air sooner than everyone expected. Frankly, I would rather see my moles bored to death, with nothing to report.
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WAR OF MINDS. Ho-hum. The gubernatorial election this time around was anti-climactic. Most everyone had expected Guv Spines to rake in the votes. There were no serious bets on the table.
However, there were some concerns about Guv Spines’ demeanor in a political public confrontation, specifically, they cited the debate with Cong. Victor Agbayani. People who witnessed the event thought he lost considerable brownie points when it became evident in his body language that he had lost his cool in the face of a precise and studied offensive. For this faux pas, I believe it’s his political advisers who should take most of the flak since they failed to prepare him well for that event.
Fortunately for the Guv, the congressman only succeeded to show that Guv Spines is a pikon debater. He could do little to discredit the Guv’s accomplishments but the Guv could have easily come out an easy winner even in that debate if only his advisers had told him what campaign debates are really all about.
Such debates are not about scholarly and studied arguments. A campaign debate is about an opportunity to disseminate information about accomplishments in an entertainment mode, underscore entertainment! So for a man of performance, all that Guv Spines had to do was to lighten up and humor his adversary with his accomplishments.
He also lost an opportunity to laugh at himself, to show wit and humility when Cong. Victor naughtily alluded to his toupee. Guv Spines may have felt the congressman’s irreverent insinuation was irrelevant and insulting but he should learn, in hindsight, that jokes about his hair piece could very well be an object of endearment that he could use to the hilt, and be admired for it. Take a lesson from Erap, and his handlers, who took delight in being known as the English-basher and genius-wrecker. He was and still is a masa favorite, an important ingredient in Pinoy politics!
But hey, who can argue with success? He’s been reelected so he doesn’t have to worry about another debate till 2013!
So for whatever it’s worth, here’s an unsolicited tip to the governor (and other similarly inclined pols) on the art of mind wars: When under fire, the best retaliation and defense is to humor the enemy with a witty sarcasm– and, yes, smile. This trick always wins hearts!
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The PUNCH welcomes Ging Cardinoza back to its fold. A former PUNCH reporter, he rejoins us as News Editor. He’s also Aksyon Radyo station manager today.
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