A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

Okay the initial panic has worn off I think. I’ve just been over Jobert’s blog post and Mic’s at Antifaust about FPJ, announcement. Please read them. I’ll wait.

Done? Okay here’s my take…

Let me say this first:
I only know of FPJ from what’s written of him; ie anecdotal reports from outsiders.

That said, I’m taking the point of view of a Filipino middle-class male who wants to start a family in the Philippines. I was born Catholic but I’m more into the message than the rituals. I have diligently voted in every election. I pay my correct taxes. I have not committed any serious crime outside of jaywalking.

I didn’t vote for Ramos. I didn’t vote for Erap. I was at EDSA 2 because I felt Erap and his cronies were running the country to the ground. I was relieved Gloria became president because she was after all, the logical successor. As they say, nature abhors a vacuum. I guess it goes for government and power as well.

I become very hopeful every time it’s election year. I’m happy we get to see another exercise in democracy, despite what our neighboring countries say about our form of government. I’m happy to exercise my right to vote. Happy. Like a worm getting up early in the morning, poking his head out of his worm hole and then…

…see a shadow swooping down from the skies.

That’s how I feel every single time we have an election. The results, however inevitable it may seem as indicated by all those supposed independent pre-election surveys, still surprises me.

With the winners proclaimed, I then try to get on with my life. Sweating it out in 8 hour brown-outs, reading about one-alleged scam after another, trudging through traffic to get to the office while saying how lucky I am to have work but not shaking that nagging suspicion that the people in government might be pocketing the money they take out of my salary to buy gas-guzzling luxury vehicles despite their constant pronouncement in road-diggings that my taxes are working for me.

If I do get home, thanking God that I didn’t get shot by a demented son of a politician or an arrogant policeman in some petty traffic altercation, successfully hurdling not being in a bank during a holdup, or not getting in the way of a kidnapping, I still need to look over my shoulder as I bolt the gate, keeping an eye for any suspicious characters or drug-addled maniacs lurking around who may be trying to enter our home and kill us in our sleep.

I try to eat dinner, reminded that our rice and chicken are imported, the pork and beef might have foot and mouth disease, hoping that they’ve washed most of the pesticides off the vegetables. I wash it down reluctantly with water — if I’ve had a chance to gather enough when we do have water in our taps. I turn on the TV to learn of more scams, crimes, the latest idiocy of famous people who are famous for being famous, corruption and politics as usual. I turn off the TV because electricity has become way too expensive to waste on more bad news.

It’s hard to find something nice to say about the country.

The country deserved Erap. The majority of the Filipinos voted for him. We went in with our eyes wide open. Sure, they said, he may not have finished college but we’ve had educated presidents before and they didn’t do well either. So what if he’s an artista? He’s a good artista. He’s his own man. “Walang kai-kaibigan, walang kama-kamag-anak.”

These are the same arguments being made for FPJ.

I’m sure FPJ is a good man. He at least is literate or at least reads. He reads Henry Miller novels. He runs a profitable movie production outfit. He has only one wife. He is dignified and has garnered respect from his peers. He doesn’t waddle and is not ashamed to speak in Tagalog. He might not have experience in government but no one has experience in becoming president before they’ve been elected to that office.

But I won’t vote for him.

I need a statesman to look up to. I need a statesman for president. Someone I’d follow into war if need be. I need someone who I can feel confident that every time he visits another country, he’d make a very good case for the Philippines. I need a president who can assure me that when I go to sleep at night, I won’t wake up with the country stolen from me by his trapo friends, the businessmen as self-proclaimed kingmakers, the showbiz personalities who would want to prove they are more than actors and actresses in stupid comedies and hysterical melodramas.

I’m not sure who I’d vote for just yet. I’ll do what I can to make sure that at least the elections are fair and honest. I resent FPJ’s camp for saying that if he didn’t win, he’d been surely cheated and that there will be a revolution. Screw you. You have no right to say that.

I’m still hopeful the Filipinos would make the right choice for president. I’m still hopeful no one would need to die because of the elections. I’m still hopeful it’ll be a clean and honest elections. If FPJ wins in an honest and fair fight, then so be it. If it happens, the Filipinos deserve FPJ. If FPJ goes on to become one of the greatest presidents of the country, then great. I was wrong. I may have not supported the right candidate but at least the country is doing better.

If however, there’s a need for another EDSA, another extreme measure to correct a mistake, count me out. I’m not going to risk my life again. I won’t fight for this system any longer. Live with it, I say. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, and you deserve to see German Moreno’s face on TV every day lecturing you about national policy.

But I’m still hopeful we shouldn’t come to that. I become very hopeful every time it’s election year.