The poor won – and then what?

By Al S. Mendoza

 

SO, did your bets win?

Mine did.  Many of them, anyways.

Ted Cruz won a third term as mayor of my beloved hometown, Mangatarem.  Cheers, pare!

Pol Bataoil won a second term as congressman of my beloved second district.  Cheers, pare!

Louie Visorde won a second term as mayor of my wife’s beloved hometown, Calauag, Quezon.  Cheers, pare!

But two dear ones lost – Ed Hagedorn and Teddy Casino.

I don’t know them from Adam.  Haven’t even shaken their hands.

But as I said here, I would vote for them.  I believed in their causes – lost causes to many, but not to me.

I am not fretting, though.  As in past elections, too.

You vote to hope, not vote to simply see your bets win.

If your bets win, good.  If they lose, celebrate still.

You believe in your bets, take pride.  That means you vote with conviction, which counts at the end of the day.

One who says I will vote for Pedro Muryoti because surveys say he will win, he votes not wisely.

You should vote to express not only your firm belief of your bet’s worthiness to lead, but also to heed the true beating of your heart.

I’d like to believe many intellectuals are like that.  Intellectuals being a thinking flock.

But can we also say the same thing of our poor folk?

Since time immemorial in Philippine elections, politicians that win rely mainly on the vote of the poor.  Sad.

I am not saying the poor don’t think right.  That they don’t vote wisely.

It’s just that their sheer number will almost always make anyone achieve his dream of political power.

From Magsaysay in the Fifties up to the present milieu, the poor always sent a wannabe to Malacanang.

Magsaysay was the Man of the Masses and the masses swept him to victory in November 1956.

Tragically, Magsaysay died in a plane crash in March 1957.

Erap was the Man of the Masses and the masses also swept him to victory in 1998, scoring the largest winning margin ever in a presidential derby.

Unfortunately, Erap was driven out of Malacanang in 2001 and was convicted of plunder and served nearly seven years under house arrest before Ate Glow granted him an unconditional pardon.

In 2010, Erap finished second behind Noynoy Aquino in a big rebound from infamy.

Erap’s stunning performance in which he also bested such presidential heavyweights like Manny Villar proved only the obvious:  The poor still love him.

Erap proved that again on May 13, when the millions of poor of Manila made him mayor of the nation’s seat of government.

Fred Lim, a former senator himself and DILG secretary and who was robustly backed by P-Noy, was swamped by Erap to absorb the worst beating of his life – winning in just one of the six districts of Manila.

The poor will always make you win.

But do you make them win, too, once you are seated on your throne?

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