#TPOPINION
Tis the Season to be Wary
By Francis Amiga | October 28, 2021
There is little doubt among our communities that the spirit of the election campaign season has arrived to awaken us all — algorithms changing, headlines shifting, and daily discourses of people turning towards candidates they will pick and why.
Choices reflect the qualities that individuals think should be valued in a democratic society, as every citizen creates his standards of what an ideal candidate should be. Should the lucky pick have the capacity to understand the law and to appoint competent officials who will uphold it? Should they behave like philanthropists and treat every domestic policy as a donation towards the unfortunate? Should they act, think, and speak like the masses? The people that these candidates attempt to appeal to will most likely become the same audience that will give them the sweet position, with high hopes that they can lead the country towards prosperity.
With this in mind, it should always, therefore, be considered that the mantra of “voting wisely” is synonymous with one’s reflections and principles, that help create the standards. In essence, everything that a person believes in is built upon fundamental issues which he believes a politician can solve. Take for example Bong Go. During his campaign, he visited fire victims and gave them cash assistance, while flaunting his “Malasakit Centers” [1]. These were some of the factors that helped propel him in securing the third highest number of votes during the senatorial elections [2]. From the numbers, it could then be said that the standards of his voters were that they should be publicly visible in disasters, and that they can help the common Filipino. Go fits these categories, and as such from his followers’ end, he was the wisest choice. Was he?
Bailiwicks also exist. An important measure of such voters is loyalty to their desired candidates. Take for instance the difficult decision of voting for someone who does not live in an area and prioritizing him over a native of the place. Terms like the concept of a “Solid North” would perhaps be an important demonstration. Imee Marcos, due to the strength of her surname in Region I, amassed a total of 49.85% within the region [3]. This is dead close to half of the total votes in that region, which indicates that the high-status symbol of her surname within the area was very much alive. So, non-native candidates that would want to convince the population to vote for them will need a huge amount of effort: especially if they are direct rivals of the candidate that the population is loyal to.
Another key factor in this upcoming election is moral compass. Discussions about morality are futile if no consensus about what is right or wrong is deliberately made. People will be bound to disagree on how morality should be interpreted and applied in every situation. Take for instance the belief that it is “wrong to kill” but at the same time, certain people still have the capacity to justify shootings and killings or at least sympathize with their perpetrators. Return to what Duterte said during the presidential elections, “If I become president, there’s no such thing as bloodless cleansing. I propose to get rid of drugs within three to six months.” [4] Now remember how many people voted for him despite the process he undertook to fulfill his quote: 15,970,018 [5]. These numbers suggest the standards of his voters. They are willing to pay the price of blood for growth. Interpretations of morality can, therefore, be either a unifying or divisive force, so it is essential that there be a uniform concept of human rights; otherwise, extrajudicial killing cases of this administration will be considered the next time another election takes place.
Standards, hence, are outputs of a person’s personal and political ideologies. These ideologies, however, should be enhanced to help individuals make the proper decisions come election time.
Close-minded people do, and will always exist. In fact, many of them have had ideologies cemented in their minds over time. These prompt them to rarely find a reason to change their votes. But while it is true that every person is biased to a certain degree, it also up to every person to use that subjective bias or quench himself with objective truth. The latter can guide people towards truth, including whom to vote for and why.
References:
[1]: Ranada, P. (2019, April 6). Spotlight on surveys: Bong Go’s rise and how other HNP bets are faring. Rappler. Retrieved October 15, 2021, from https://www.rappler.com/.../bong-go-rise-how-hugpong...
[2]: COMELEC. (2019b). #PHVote 2019: Senatorial Race [Dataset]. Rappler. https://ph.rappler.com/.../Philippines/1/Senator/3/year/2019
[3]: COMELEC. (2019a). MARCOS, Imee | Senatorial Results | Eleksyon 2019 [Dataset]. GMA. https://www.gmanetwork.com/.../MARCOS%252C+IMEE.../...
[4]: Terada, T. (2021, July 22). Five vows, five years later: A lookback into Duterte’s major campaign promises. CNN. Retrieved October 15, 2021, from https://www.cnnphilippines.com/.../SONA-2021-Duterte...
[5]: COMELEC. (2016). Election Results (Philippines) | Eleksyon2016 | [Dataset]. GMA. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/eleksyon2016/results/
