Another hero in disguise: Philippine Politics
If you’re not scared of the National Elections, you should be.
Recently, I’ve been overly consumed by politics, by the elections; and whether I like it or not, this is the reality that I have to face.
From the popular posts on my Facebook timeline or the aesthetic posts on my Instagram feed, I’m starting to think that nothing is enough. I try to stray away from chain messages saying “this is what they’re gonna try to do to your ballot!” because it won’t do anything but cause me anxiety and I’m feeling exactly that.
There’s no other way to describe the intensity of this election, sure, we could blame it on the fact that this is the first time we’re voting anyway. We could blame it on the fact that we were merely even teenagers when the last election happened. However, it has become clear to me that this feeling of eerieness has come to stay.
From the two leading candidates or even the overall ten candidates, I have to say my vote is not for them but for what they stand for. To be frank, my vote is for me. My vote is for the families who have long suffered from the system, for the children who never got the chance to study, for the OFWs that are being systematically abused and covered up by calling them “bayanis”, for the frontliners that aren’t being heard. I may be 19, but I refuse to believe that I was ever “too young”, I refuse to believe that I’m still “too naive”. These are mere excuses to be ignorant.
It would be an unexplainable joy to see Robredo win, but I won’t deny the fact that I still entertain the idea of Marcos Jr. winning. Even my family members—who were and are privileged enough to be educated— have long gone ignored the truth. We have to understand that there are bigger issues at hand, it was never about the Aquinos and the Marcoses.
The fact that the people who are voting him into power will be the first to experience the atrocities that are yet to happen under another Marcos administration is simply unfathomable.
Hindi kayo ang kalaban, kayo ang pinaglalaban.
These “solid BBM” fanatics that we, so easily, call “stupid” and “uneducated” are simply victims of the system; the system that has failed them multiple times, these are the people that will be the next victims of another Marcos administration. Yet, they have done nothing but campaign and support the mere candidate that will starve them.
And if that doesn’t scare you, what will?
Just like Imelda Marcos had said, “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” The Marcoses have failed us numerous times and we have to stop saying that Filipinos are forgiving. We have to stop letting this family ruin our country over and over again. We have to stop letting this family erase our history and let us forget the debt and atrocities they left for the Filipino people to fix.
The call for “unity” may have been treated as a joke and a meme all over social media, but believe it or not, it’s as scary as it gets. Marcos Jr. doesn’t call for unity because he doesn’t have anything to say but because this is what appeals to the Filipino people. Alas, it is working. The populist agenda of telling people what they want to hear without a solid plan behind it has worked numerous times, and there’s no saying it won’t work again. If Marcos Jr. wins and gains that seat in the Malacañang Palace, there is no doubt in my mind that there will be unity in silence. Press freedom is once again targeted and shut down, just as it happened in 1972.
How is it possible that we are watching history repeat itself and yet we are still committed to making the same mistakes?
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Two more days before we cast our vote and I encourage you to be critical. Be aware of the mistakes that our government makes. Be vigilant. Protect your ballot, and most importantly, vote wisely.
