The Philippine Elections 2007

First posted on the Coconuter Site of David Eric Poarch

Very well said.

I can say for a young man and young father, you have captured the general but silent sentiments of this coming Philippine Circus called National Elections.

Let me just add that most of these candidates, Administration and Opposition alike also call themselves the sole "pag-asa" (hope) of the people.

I am fond of watching old Filipino movies, those in black and white which they rarely show now in Philippine television. there were a lot of movies done about the Philippine Elections since the 50's whose titles escape my memory as of this writing. The gist is, the situation they had back then are what we see on the broadsheets and tabloids, radio, and on television today.

So what has changed? Back then, issues range from vote buying, massive cheating, killings, etc. The only positive change that we have as of now is the massive access of candidates of Tri-Media which candidates back then didn't have. But of course one has to have a vulgar amount of pretty pennies to spend to "SELL" oneself to be given the privilege to be called "HONORABLE", no matter how inappropriate, in this beautiful country of ours.

“I would rather have a Philippines run like hell by Filipinos than a Philippines run like heaven by the Americans” — Manuel L. Quezon

Half of this statement of the first Philippine President of the Commonwealth still holds water today. The Philippines is being run by Filipinos who call themselves makabayan, makatao, maka-Diyos, Pag-asa. Indeed the country is being run like hell and I don't need to expound on that. You can see and feel the results today, thanks to the efforts of our "honorables" in the Philippine Senate. But of course, the second part of that statement was due to the fact that the Philippines was under the Americans back then.

It is just a big puzzle for me that some countries younger than the Philippines have risen above others with their limited resources. As a Filipino, I refuse to believe that we have no future other than what these candidates dish out on us. If that is the case, we should have risen for the benefit of the people a long long time ago. As a Filipino, it hurts me to be labeleled as one coming from a third world country. What does that mean? Have you ever heard of a second world country? Who are they? First World? Amuse me, name them.

All eyes of the world was on the Philippines when we had EDSA I. No one has accomplished a task like that except maybe for Mohandas Gandhi. The only difference is that all of society was in on it, the class barriers was not an issue. We had our chance for genuine change and we squandered it The spirit of what is EDSA is no more, that is a reality. Even EDSA was prostituted by unscrupulous people who have personal interest to protect their "interests" have labeled that what they are doing is for the people. And because of that, EDSA DOS came, then EDSA Tres? Geesh.

Positively speaking, we Filipinos are a very resilient people. The only thing disagreable with this fact is that, fellow Filipinos exploit this. Ouch! How callous can one get. Tama ka pare. Crab mentality is a culprit!

To sum it all up, the Philipiines has a future, and we are IT. We need to grow as a people and we need to grow now!

Whatever the coconuter is experiencing during his soul searching is part of it. Nothing is insignificant. Everything is connected. We just have to understand that we are all part of one grand design and we have to find our niche. And when we do, Let's make it worth it and function for the betterment of us all.