Make a list and check it twice

By Marifi Jara

By now, we would have had enough of the campaigning from both the national and local candidates. Party is over. Time to get serious.

On election day tomorrow, May 14, let’s turn the spotlights on ourselves as voters.

Allow me to dish out some unsolicited practical advice.

Before going to your precinct to cast your all-important vote, first find your own personal space. It could be under your favorite tree, by the river or the sea, or even the comfort room if that is the only place where you can have some real privacy. Have some actual me-time, all by your self, away from family and community.

Bring a pen and paper.

There, search your soul. Talk to your conscience.

Then make a list of the people you will vote for the 12 senatorial slots, your congressional representative, party-list groups, and the local government leaders that could include a governor, vice governor and board members  (for those not coming from chartered cities) as well as mayor, vice mayor, and councilors.

Those who cannot read or write in no way have less of a right and responsibility to vote, tell them to make a mental note in solitude. Think of the names and faces to whom we will be giving our trust to become part of our government for the next three years.

Don’t depend on the sample ballots that will be distributed at the polling centers by the candidates’ supporters. That will most likely influence you into making hasty decisions. Don’t resort to impulsive voting. This is too important. Our democracy, no matter how tarnished it is by the kind of politics that we have, is still something that we should give utmost value to.

There would be easy decisions, like probably listing the first 10 senatorial candidates. The last two slots would perhaps require a bit more discerning because the choices are aplenty.

Other harder decisions would probably be those tainted by the prevalent vote-buying. Is your vote worth but a bag of instant noodles, a can of sardines, a kilo of sugar, and a kilo of rice? Would you trade your self-respect and our future as a nation for a money bill with the face of a man who said “The Filipino is worth dying for”? And should blood be always thicker than water?

And the hardest decision would most likely be for positions where your choices are all, er, evil. Ask yourself: Should I vote for the lesser evil? Or would I have a lighter conscience if I just left that space in the ballot blank?

At the end of the day, we are alone in that voting space. It will be your thumbmark that you’ll be pressing on the ballot.

First and foremost, we will be answerable to ourselves. And ultimately, to the community and this country.

So make that list. And check it twice. The politicians have come to town.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/)

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