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.”

Why Mar Roxas?

First off, let me just tell you that I am not a registered voter.  I have not registered, and no matter what I do or say here right now, I will not be able to put it into action this upcoming election.  I will not try to save face and blame it on some external factor, or the lack of time, or even the unbelievable long lines for NCR district 2.  I was lazy and not responsible enough to go through the procedure and I regret it.  So yes, I am part of the problem.  I am part of the road blocks preventing the nation to fully develop.  And I regret it.

So why am I writing this despite my obvious lack of credibility? Because I am a writer. And this is what we do.  We write. We write the things we think are worth writing down.  So this is not some attempt to glorify my candidate of choice; or to encourage other people to vote for him.  This is merely me exercising my skills as a writer.

Lastly, before I begin, let me just clear out that I am in no mood to argue/debate on the things that I have written down here.  These are my opinions, and I believe there is no need for me to justify or defend them.  Whatever is written here is the result of my research, experience and personal analysis.  So if you are not matured enough to understand that, why don’t you click on the address bar and go back to google and search for articles that glorifies your candidate?

Ok. Now that we have all that behind us, let me just reiterate that I would probably be voting for Mar Roxas had I registered to vote.  This is a very unpopular opinion nowadays because people are so inclined to choosing Duterte or Grace Poe.  So why Mar Roxas? To be honest, I consider it very difficult to explain why.  One, because Mar has become a walking meme. And two: because Mar is so f*cking honest he always ends up pissing off the Filipino people.  You may be raising an eye brow now after reading that I consider Mar to be honest.  As a matter of fact, I think he is the most honest (if such a comparison even exists) among all the candidates.  Just imagine, Mar Roxas told the press on national television that people who do not believe that the Philippine economy is developing are either hypocrites or lazy (because they are probably not working).  On another occasion, he was asked to comment about a netizen’s remark stating: “If the economy is really growing, then why are beggars still begging?” How did Mar Roxas respond on national television?  “A growing economy can only be felt by people who are working, not by people who beg.”

Those type of answers are the ones that are true but hurt nonetheless.  You see, we as a nation don’t like that kind of response.  What we want is everything handed to us in a silver platter.  That is why you have unemployed friends whose first response to a job offer is: “Baka naman mabigat trabaho dyan ah.”  We don’t want to admit that the road to progress is difficult; and we as the people of this country will have to do majority of the leg work.  That is why we’d rather favor politicians who says: “I will get rid of crime and corruption in 3-6 months.” (Emphasis on “I”).  Rather than the other one who says “We” or “You”.  This is the type of mentality that sent us spiraling down the drain several decades ago.  We ask for so much, yet we are so unwilling to give ourselves.  Let me ask you, when was the last time you donated an hour of your salary to charity?  When was the last time you offered your services/expertise to a weekend workshop in your barangay?  When was the last time you signed up for a cleaning drive, or feeding program for the poor?  Was it last week? If so, then good! I salute you! But I’m betting that is not the case for the majority of us. Hey, even I can’t remember the last time I did something for my country.  Oh and don’t get me started with paying taxes. You don’t pay taxes so you can demand from the government in return.  You pay taxes because there is a Government.  You pay your due because the government has setup basic human rights that prevents local warlords from binding you to a chain and turning you into a slave while you sleep.  You pay your taxes because you can strike off the possibility of a foreign country dropping another Fat Man on top of our heads while we sleep.  You pay your taxes because the law allows personal belongings in our society.  The country doesn’t owe us for paying our taxes.  We pay taxes because we owe the country! 

So going back… was Mar Roxas’ response correct? Of course it was! Was it appealing to the masses? Definitely no! That is why majority of the non-working/partly-working people would rather go to Binay.  Because Binay promises a comfortable future even without the people doing anything.  But we all know that that is a big fat lie.

So why do I really like Mar Roxas? Let me look back at 1999.  Mar was then just a congressman and I was just 12 years old.  He, together with Ralph Recto authored and passed RA 8756 in the congress, otherwise known as the RHQ and ROHQ law of the Philippines.  That law provided tax incentives to multi-national companies conducting their operations, manufacturing, administration, recruitment, and training within Philippine soil.  This was an improved version of PEZA which placed the Philippines on the map for foreign investors.  I mean, PEZA had the same objective, but it was not competitive enough to persuade multi-national companies from turning their backs on India or China.  RA 8756 however, turned all of that around.  I am not saying that all the businesses solely signed up due to this law, but laws like these are big factors in choosing the ideal country to invest in.  But it wasn’t really the law that led me to admire the man who co-wrote it.  It was the ability to see so far into the future.  Just imagine, 1999 was a time when majority didn’t have computers or mobile phones.  Heck, I remember being introduced to Compact discs during that year.  And yet, here is this guy, sitting in his secret corner, doing some unfathomable math to figure out what our country needs to become stronger for the next 15 years.  Why would I not vote for such a guy?

I know that we are all entitled to our own choice.  But let me just scrutinize that for a moment here.  I honestly think that majority of the Filipino people (including myself) are not intellectually ready to vote.  I mean, yes, they are of legal age and in their right mind.  But this is the presidency we are talking about.  The person who will represent us to the rest of the world.  The person who has the capability to turn down future laws agreed upon by the very same people the masses have elected to represent their voice.  This is the one person who has the capability to take away our Civil liberties.  The election affects everyone, not just those who voted for one candidate or another.  If I made the right choice (if there is one), and the remaining 99% of the country made the wrong one, then I will equally share in the consequences.  So is it fair that my future rests at the hands of the majority? I don’t know.  Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.  But one thing that I am sure of is that the majority does not possess the intellect to make the right choice for ME.  Let me better explain it with the current situation.  Everyone likes Duterte because of his promise of getting rid of crime and corruption.  People of course jump on to that and say: “Hey, that’s one thing we definitely need! I’ll vote for this guy!”  But let’s take a step back here real quick.  Is there even a problem with crime in the first place? I know that people are getting killed on a daily basis and women are raped all over the world.  But honestly… When was the last time you were a victim of a crime? When was the last time you were robbed? When was the last time your car was car napped?  When was the last time someone tried to murder you?  I am not saying that we should dismiss the cases of crime happening around us just because we are not the victims ourselves.  But you have to understand; crime is a byproduct of human interaction. It has been there since time immemorial.  We cannot get rid of it, there will always be a margin of crime that will always be there.  So is there a problem with crime? Definitely no!  It is a situation! And you don’t solve situations, you adopt to them until they change.  That is why I am not buying Duterte’s promise of getting rid of crime and instead supports Mar Roxas’ bid to provide a more stable economy so people will have the chance to afford themselves a more secured life.  Because like it or not, safety comes with a cost.  It is not like a magic blanket you put over yourself to hide from the Boogeyman.  It is a commodity that you have to work for day and night.

Election is just around the corner.  I am not trying to convince you to vote for Mar Roxas.  He may be the right choice for me, but he is definitely not the right choice for everyone.  No one is.  My goal here is to simply give a wake up call to those who are blindly following their idols.  If you ever find yourself having to sweat simply to justify your candidates actions or words.  Then there’s a big chance you may be on the wrong side.  Just throwing it out there…