Tomorrow a new set of officers for our school student body will be conducting their miting de avance. Such is the occasion where candidates sell themselves to the voting populace, square off with candidates from other parties, and display their oratorical skills, or lack thereof.
Frankly, elections in the Philippines, be it in the school level or at the national-local scene, is replete with the same themes: the importance of money, the importance of more money, and the power of money. And so it is that elections become a platform where wealth is displayed, powerlessness is magnified and personal connections are glaringly shown its importance. Issues and platforms are mere anecdotes, important only in so far as it adds media mileage. The talk is the purse, the rest comes to line behind it.
On the other hand, the electorate is essentially indifferent, practically a witness to a spectacle of gladiatorial displays of sophistry, sarcasm, hilarity, reminiscent of a noon time daily show, except this time its a prolonged orgy of entertainment, money and sweet nothings. The electorate is there to be wooed, swooned, caressed and later on, practically abandoned, a mere relic of the rise to power.
There is a bittersweet irony to Philippine elections, the pretense of both the prospective candidates and the voting populace, to see only the superficialities of electoral exercise - the appearance of choice in voting and the cloak of make-believe dedication for public service.
There is no surprise in democracy, the fate of the people is decided by the state of its electorate. As they say, in a democracy, the people deserve the government they get and with that, the future they will face.
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