OUR people have spoken. Their voices have been heard. The province decided not only to keep many of the performing incumbent officials in office but also chose to vote for more qualified candidates as their legislators to serve in the Senate and in Congress.

Notably, when the country feared of a growing trend of electing more popular TV/movie and sports celebrities, as the next breed of legislators in the country, it turned out that our people have become more discerning and less impressionable of a candidate’s popularity.

As the results of the voting showed, the condescending label of a “masa” crowd in our midst that would have led to the election of merely popular entertainers is lost. The traditional profile of the masa had been deleted, thanks to the advanced technology that enabled almost everyone to have access to more information through our smartphones.

Today, more people have become more enlightened in their validation of public issues and have been quick to label absurd and incredulous information as ‘fake news’. Translation: Singing, dancing on stage and TikTok and paying mere lip service to public service no longer work to impress voters that they are qualified to be elected.

But the tipping point can be viewed from the way people responded to “ayuda” from public programs. Our voters have taken to the distribution of peso bills in thousands as a long-overdue benefit from the government, but not as a compelling reason to vote for administration candidates. Voters took the money and entered polling centers with their individual choices of candidates.

At the local level, news of vote-buying abounds, but the distribution of cash and grocery items by local candidates did not take the “pakurong” as the decision-maker. Most voters took to receiving ‘envelopes’ not as having sold their votes but as an opportunity to receive cash gifts with no commitment, regardless of amounts.

Indeed, gone are the days when candidates believe they can sway voters to their side with “ayuda” and TikToking. Qualifications and performance are finally the critical factors.

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