The craziness of it all

By Al S. Mendoza

 

WE will elect only 12 senators in May 2019.

But you know what?

There are nearly 120 candidates for senator.

That is democracy for you.

In a democracy, anyone can run for an elective office, including the stupid, the idiot and the nincompoop.

Didn’t one aspirant call himself as allegedly the former boyfriend of Mocha Uson?

Another, the ex-husband of Kris Aquino?

And yet another, Jesus Christ?

Before you know it, one candidate would claim to being the illegimate son of Hitler, if not Marcos.

Democracy is so forgiving a government system that it allows anyone to speak up, to do anything he wants.

Was it Voltaire who said that “I may not agree with what you say, but I will still defend your right to say it.”

Another sage said, “Even the stupid, the idiot and the nincompoop has his own story to tell.”

The only exception, mainly, in the exercise of democratic rights is this:  Do not harm anyone with your right to free speech and free movement.

Like, do not slander, libel or defame someone when you are speaking, whether you are in Plaza Miranda or at A.B. Fernandez Ave.

Even if you are that angry, or vexed inappropriately, that does not give you the right to hit back physically as to kill or incapacitate the perpetrator.

In short, democracy is both good and bad.

It is good because, unlike in a dictatorship or an authoritarian regime, our freedom of speech, will and movement is guaranteed in the Constitution.

Democacy is bad because it breeds greed and avarice.

Politics in a democracy is the most graphic example of greediness and excess lust for power.

The Binays of Makati have siblings (incumbent Abby and her younger brother JunJun) running against each other for mayor.

Their father, Jojo, the former president, refused to break up the feud, saying:  “Let the people of Makati decide who they want between my two children.”

And Jojo himself is drunk with power.

Already soundly beaten as a presidential candidate in 2016, Jojo Binay will run again, this time as representative of Makati.

The incumbent in Jojo’s district, Monsour del Rosario, will slide down as Junjun Binay’s vice mayoral candidate.

And how about JV Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada, the bitterly warring sons of Erap?

Both are running for senator, with JV the incumbent changing his surname to Estrada in a bid to derail Jinggoy’s bid to return to the Senate.

Did Erap, the disgraced, ousted, President in 2001, do something about the conflict?

Yes.  He accompanied Jinggoy, his legitimate son, to the Comelec for Jinggoy’s filing of his certificate of candidacy.

No.  He left JV on his own.  And yet, JV is Erap’s love-child.

And Erap?  He is also running for his third and last term as mayor of Manila.

And how about the Marcoses of Ilocandia?  Isn’t Imee running for senator and her mother, the imeldific Imelda, for governor of Ilocos Norte?

Yet, in her late eighties now, Imelda could hardly move about.

But how about this?

Juan Ponce Enrile is running, again, for senator.  He is 94.  If he wins, he’ll be 100 if he completes his term in 2024.

That’s politics for you, Philippine style.

If you ask me, democracy is better spelled “demo-crazy.”

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