The last 30 minutes

It is 30 minutes before 12.  The last half hour before the official day of picking the next group of people who will sit behind the steering wheel for the next six years.  And even though it has been vicious and dividing, I am glad that my personal relationships made it through this season unscathed.  No broken ties, no alienated friends, and most importantly: no humiliating conversations.  But before I officially leave this part of the year behind, I would like to make one last post about the election and politics altogether.  Well maybe just for elections.  I don’t think I can stop blabbering about law and politics at all.

So here we are, the clock is winding down, and people are prepping to make one of the most important decisions of their lives.  I have said this, and I will say it again, I regret that I cannot vote this election.  I am ashamed of myself and I will definitely blame myself if the country takes a nosedive towards anarchy and shit.  But for those who don’t fully understand why I consider voting to be one, if not the most important decision of our lives, let me explain it a bit. 

We all have to make decisions in our own lives; which course to take in college? Which girl to marry? Or perhaps which house to buy?  All those are important; but none of those has a magnitude of impact like the one you are making when you cast your vote.  When you vote, you don’t just affect the direction of your life.  You affect all the other 98.39 million Filipinos around you.  Just imagine: there you are, shading several circles in a sheet of paper, not knowing that every shade you make could possibly make or break the next big name in Astrophysics, or the next Elon Musk, or perhaps the future CEO of a Tech company that rivals Alphabet.  All of the infinite possibilities will be affected by the several minutes that you’ll be spending in your respective voting precincts tomorrow.  This is not just about making a choice for yourself.  This is about making a choice for your sick Grandmother, your OFW dad, and perhaps even your future children.  Because whatever the outcome of tomorrow’s polls will be, we all have to go through the consequences of it.  There will be no exemptions. You, me, registered or not, regardless if you voted for Duterte, Poe, or Binay. All of us will have to live with the consequences of the results for the next 6 years.

Thus, I would like to appeal to all of you for one last time.  Vote intellectually! Not Wisely! And not with your hearts! But with your heads! Think about it! That is the only way we can make the right choice (if there really is). This is not the time when you let emotions, ego and empathy take control.  This is the time when you have to prove to yourself, and your country that you are capable of making an intellectual choice.  This is the time when you have to vote for Mar Roxas (*shielding myself from tomatoes).  Because believe it or not, he has done good things, and he is capable of doing so much more.

You may be fed up with his failures in DILG and DOTC, but who didn’t fail in those areas? (Otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about this now) Or better yet, who did better than Mar? Is it all his predecessors? Or can you even name 4 of his predecessors excluding Robredo? (Firing up google now?)  The thing is, we judge too quickly.  All it takes is for us to see just one meme or a roughly written blog to rain shit on whoever is being accused.  Let’s face it, we conclude without rational thinking.  And that is what this election has come down to.  The tireless social media efforts of the people behind Duterte definitely paid off. And we let that happen to us.  There is no silent majority here or DDS.  It’s just a whole nation that allowed lies, exaggeration and baseless accusations to proliferate without resistance.  Is this the kind of world we want our children to inherit? Do you want your kids to feel afraid of speaking up in public because someone may take a video of him and shame him on social media?  Do you want the next generation to perceive social media and blogs as reliable sources of information?  If no, then why didn’t you take part in stopping it?  And if yes, then may all the gods in all the pantheons out there bless you and your kin.

I have said this before, and I will not think twice about saying it again.  Mar is the right choice for me.  We may not fully agree with all the other things, but I think very few will argue that Mar is second, if not equal to Miriam’s intellect and academic achievements.  That is what we need our next president to be.  He has to be someone who went up stages to receive awards and medals.  Someone who passed the admission procedures of an Ivy League school.  Someone who is beyond doubt educated in matters of economics, law and finance.  That is what we need!  Not someone who had grades of 75s in high school, bullied schoolmates in college and had no academic achievements whatsoever.  I know this sounds harsh and discriminating, but we cannot let people of average intellect lead 98 million people.  That is an irrational decision that no experienced adult would make.  That is why promotions are though to attain.  Because you only want the best of the current pool to lead the rest.  Mar is not a hero; but he is the choice that can lead to a better country.  Because whether you accept it or not, security is not the problem that needs to be solved (as explained in my previous post).  It is the declining level of intellect in our country.  We are no longer producing as many bright people as we did in the past.  That is why the current government worked so hard to change the way our educational system works.  Because they know that majority of students graduating high school will not be able to finish, let alone go to college.  That is the very reason why Kto12 is needed.  Yes, it may be a burden to parents at first.  But the real purpose of this program is so that those who graduate will be able to work their way through college without needing extensive assistance from their parents.  But all this will not be attainable if the next president suddenly shifts the focus towards an imaginary problem.  All it takes is just one wrong statement, just one contradicting law, just one missed opportunity to steer us away from progress.  The Philippines will never develop unless a systematic approach is taken to fix the actual root cause.  It won’t work the way Duterte boasts. (Sorry, but he is the man to beat) So you just say “stop”? Then all the criminals and corrupt officials suddenly go away?  Is that your plan? Just say “Stop” on national TV 24/7?  If not, then what is your plan?  Because I have been watching you since this whole fiasco started, and you have never mentioned anything that is close to a plan (one that is made by thinking adults).  All of your statements so far are either vague, not measurable, or not attainable.  Make the Philippines like Davao? You mean identical? Or just similar? And how long? And is it even sane to use what you did on a city that is just 0.81% of the size of the Philippines? Is this even a logical comparison? Oh and don’t even get me started with your plans on China.  Rail way in exchange for the islands? Really? So you’ll once again use your charisma to influence people into thinking that those islands were useless anyways?  I really can’t stomach that people are buying this kind of talk.  It is beyond reason and definitely not the words of an educated man.  Is this really the one we want to follow for the next 6 years?

I am sorry if I sound like a grumpy old man.  But these are not baseless rants.  These are my honest observations of what is happening to us right now.  I meant no offense here, just plain truth from my point of view.

Anyways, despite all the things that I have written down here, I have made peace with the idea that Mar will not become president.  I have accepted the fact that Duterte or Binay have bigger chances of winning than Mr. Roxas.  All that I’m simply asking is that we all learn from this.  There is no candidate who can drag you out of the puddle of poverty and provide you a comfortable life.  None of them can.  No matter how loud their promises are, you are the only person who can put money in your pocket and food on your child’s plate.  All that these candidates can do, is provide the framework of the direction you should take.  They can build you roads and railings to lead you to a better life, but none of them can walk the road for you.  The president cannot reduce the incidents of crime.  But you can work hard to afford a secured life.  No president can abolish poverty.  But you can take the first step towards not being poor.  No president can stop gender discrimination.  But you can stand up and fight for yourself.  Lastly, no president can magically make you smarter.  But it is your choice whether you want to open that God damned f*cking book in the library or not!

Because like my favorite quote says:

“Being born as a poor man is a circumstance.  Dying as a poor man however, is a choice.”