What voting for Lapid’s chicharon bulaklak mean

By Al S. Mendoza

I vote wisely.  Always.

That I’d been doing since I started voting.

In one of our drinking sorties, just very recently, Jake P. Ayson and I talked about it—voting wisely—for the umpteenth time.

“Like you, I believe I always vote wisely come election time,” said Jake, gently shaking his single-malt filled whiskey glass.  “But how come my bets do not usually win.”

I raised my glass to him.

“We are in the same boat, brad,” I said to him.

“Sadly, my candidates in many past elections did not deserve to lose because they were supposed to be upright and appeared not prone to corruption if they got elected,” Jake said. 

“Sadly, too, Brad Jake,” I said, “many, if not most, of your bets will lose again come May.  Like my list of hopefuls.”

It’s been that way for the longest time.

You vote, Jake votes, I vote, for people that you, Jake and I believe are worthy of the seats they are aiming for.

Sadly, many of them will lose.

The reason?

You, Jake and I all vote wisely.

And to vote wisely means we don’t vote on the basis of popularity.

We don’t vote on name recall.

We don’t vote for movie stars.

We don’t vote for trapos (traditional politicians).

We don’t vote for losers in presidential elections despite their political pedigrees.

We don’t vote for those accused of wrongdoing.

We don’t vote for those caught lying through their teeth.

We don’t vote for the one that tirelessly promises happiness for the poor the minute he wins.

We vote for Lapid’s chicharon bulaklak but not for Probinsiyano’s Lapid.

But, sadly again, all, if not many of the cited examples above, are favored bets by the majority of our voters every election year.

If we say the majority, we are referring basically to the Filipino masses.

They voted for Lapid then, they will vote for Lapid again on May 13.

Jake is a Kapampangan like Lapid but never did Jake vote for Lapid.

If that’s not voting wisely, what is?

I am an Ilocano like Imee Marcos but never will I vote for a dictator’s daughter.

Why should I?

What has she done for our nation to deserve my vote?

Her family stole 14 years of my growing up years, killed nearly 4,000 freedom fighters and looted our economy of billions.

She told us lies about earning degrees in Princeton and UP-Diliman and, when she got pinned against the ropes, she said: “That’s what I know.”

Diplomas are made that easily at Recto, but Imee, in shame, didn’t produce even one to back up her claims

Good job.

Liars love losing face more than pride.

Voting wisely isn’t lying to one’s self.

It is doing right for our country, for our pride, for our heart.

For sure, your bets, Jake’s bets and my bets won’t win again two weeks from now.

But it will make our conscience intact.

That’s all that matters.

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