Flying Voter

        

image from thebloggingjuan.blogspot.com

              It has been two weeks since I flew to Iloilo so that I can exercise my right of suffrage. I was too busy during the registration period last year that I was not able to transfer to a voting precinct nearby. Besides, I have four relatives and a friend running for local government positions and I would like to add one vote -- my vote -- to each of them. I also wanted to support my partylist and senatorial candidates. These points and my desire to visit my aging parents who have been living on their own, without any house help, I thought were good excuses to be a flying voter.

         Taking the bus to Passi is always relaxing. In this trip, I was on the lookout for the sunset. It didn’t show itself that long because of the clouds but I was still able to feast on its beautiful colors.  Since the province has vast farm lands, I also liked the smell of farm soil from rice paddies and the sweet scent of the sugarcane plantations. It indeed brought in clean air from my usually pollution-irritated lungs. It is dark as we near Passi and it also began to drizzle. Closing my eyes, I enjoyed the feeling of cool air and bits of rain shower touching my face. It is good to be home! Except for a brief moment, I didn’t pay much attention that the trip home took much longer than usual.

            Monday, May 13, I cast my vote for my favored candidates. Fifty percent of those I voted made it to both the local and national positions. As I listened to and read people’s reaction to the proclaimed winners, I made my own considerations:

• Personal dealings is still more effective than virtual. Many people still vote because a candidate did a specific personal act to them – a smile, a wave, a handshake, a hug, a photo op can win you votes sometimes more than your qualifications
• Utang na loob has more influence than the integrity and honesty of the politico. 
• There is still a lot of work to be done in educating the voters so they choose candidates according to principles and their conscience and not just because of popularity or worse, because of their notoriety, or because their amo told them so.
• In politics, it is not enough to have the best qualifications, intention and spirit of service. One needs to have enough machinery and the cunning to fight for a post.
• Money still talks. It is disheartening to note that corruption continues.

            At the end of the day (senator elect Nancy Binay’s favourite line. hehehe), the truth is, our newly elected leaders will be running the country for the next 3 to 6 years. Thus, I hope and pray that our leaders fulfill their promises. For the incoming provincial, district and town officials of my palangga nga Iloilo and Passi, I just have three requests:

1. Please work on the roads and bridges faster. The trip from Passi to Iloilo is taking us forever because of the re-routing and the rough roads. Despite at least 3 hours of lead time travelling, I still feared that I’d be missing my plane back to Manila because of the roads and unfinished bridge.
2. Please solve the problem with floods. I spent a good part of my short Christmas trip last year cleaning our house because water now enters it when there is flood. Think about the loss of property and the fear for our lives every time it rains heavily. Don’t use the calamity to gain pogi points and gain utang na loob from your constituents through the relief goods and funds that you will be distributing.
3. Those first two requests, I know, are quite gargantuan. That is why, my third request is that you cooperate and work together. Such huge projects need a concerted effort from each one. Please don’t block or make it difficult to carry out, noble projects initiated by another official simply because you are coming from opposing parties or you didn’t get his or her support during the elections. Enough of these nonsense and prove to us that you deserve being in your position.