I really am not a fan of political posts. I really don't like contradicting someone if the subject is based on opinions, because unlike cold, hard facts, opinions aren't unmoving like statistics, numbers and percentages. Opinions are so difficult to judge and can only measured by perspective.
Even as I say that, I really have to wonder how they chose their candidate. Most of the reasons I see point to how their candidate will change the Philippines.
> HE'S GONNA BE THE PRESIDENT WE NEED
> HE GREW UP POOR
> HE WAS IN THE GOVERNMENT BEFORE; HE MUST BE GOOD
> HE'S GONNA KILL THE CRIMINALS
> HE'S GONNA ADVOCATE CHANGE.
> LOOK AT DAVAO
> LOOK AT ILOCOS; IT'S AMAZING, ISN'T IT?
Newsflash: Everyone tells you that. Everyone wants a vote. You don't say "you're right you're super duper amazing you did all of these because you're awesome. YOU CAN CHANGE THE PHILIPPINES BECAUSE OF THIS!"
It simply doesn't work that way.
In an ideal world, maybe it does. Kill the bad guys, reward the good guys. Everyone gets an equal slice of the pie, an equal opportunity. Everyone gets their fair share
But as much as I want to say we're that advanced, we're that nice and that open, we're not.
These are some of the things that I want to ask the candidates to do for our country :
1.) Please choose gains over faults. This is not a country about to implode nor destroy itself. It is experiencing its best growth in decades. That's a fact. What this country needs is more stability and fewer risks. More thoughtful decisions and fewer rogue moves.
2.) Please choose the carrot over the stick. Crime cannot be solved through violence. It can only be solved through better opportunities. The more opportunities for people to have decent jobs, the lesser the tendency to lead a life of crime.
3.) Please choose humanity over brutality. I believe that the end does not justify the means. I want a country that I can be proud of. A country that can somehow show the world that it can solve its problems through means which are humane, just, and good.
4.) Please choose patience over instant gratification. Please choose small gains made over long periods of time. It's a proven method. Ask our own Taipans. There are no shortcuts to lasting wealth. There is only sustained hard work.
5.) Please choose self-imposed discipline over state-imposed discipline. We already have rules on almost everything. It is unrealistic to pin the responsibility of imposing them to one person. Try to discipline one kid. It's not easy. Try to discipline 100 million people. It will be a bloody affair.
6) Please choose building brick by brick over the sheen of a silver bullet. The problems we often complain about--traffic, poor infrastructure, crime, corruption, poverty--are moving from being hopeless to solvable. But for a country of 100 million, it will take time. Not in six years, maybe not in 20. These are complex, deeply-rooted problems. If you believe someone can solve all these within a six-year term, I'm sorry but Rome wasn't built in a day.
7) Please choose selflessness. If you have done the math. Then you have accepted the fact that we will never see this country become the one we all dream about in my lifetime. I'm no longer voting for my own future, but for my children's. I'd rather see glimmers of hope than dark, uncertain clouds over the horizon.
8.)Please choose to suppress your passion and anger. Instead please look at what is undeniable. I just saw a feature on Tacloban. It was obliterated by the most violent typhoon to ever hit a major city. In just three years it has not only recovered. It is thriving and bustling. Good job, government.
9.) Please choose what our elders taught us. That we should respect each other. This country is not beyond saving that we should resort to a savior with unrealistic promises. Nor should we begin demanding for heads to literally roll just to get things done. We are not that kind of people.
In the end I choose democracy. Whoever wins, will call him or her my president. I will hope for the best. But when democracy itself becomes threatened I will not stay silent.
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