Archive for April, 2010

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” so went an old commercial of a major tire company. For something that was coined to describe a brand of a tire, the saying is unusually profound. It describes not only tires but human beings as well, especially those who show guts when the challenge is at its hardest.

With election day just ten days from now, the true character of candidates will become more obvious. The situation itself often exposes the mice among men, the cowards who were pretending to be brave warriors, the liars who tried to appear like honest people, the selfish who claim they only want to serve others. There are rare moments when truth cannot be suppressed. Now is such a moment; we only have to be observant.

Rats jump to the waters when the ship is sinking. Well, many rats jump the administration ship everyday. Many candidates simply cannot go with losers, often tantamount to committing political suicide. Turncoat-ism used to be a shameful act when political parties know what they stood for; today, it is a major tool for survival.

When there are no party ideologies or principles, political convenience and electoral victory become the primary motivations of those who belong or who want to join a political party. With political convenience and electoral victory substituting for party principles, turncoats are not traitors. They are simply going by their principles – go where the grass greener, better or safer.

But it is not only turncoat-ism that defines the grossly pragmatic, where political pragmatism is another term for self-interest. In a field that is described as public service, the most successful players are those who are the most selfish. Hypocrisy is truly a vice that is most tempting to those who want to make false claims, or who cannot afford to let the light inside their dark rooms. But then again, even Jesus had to direct his harshest rebukes on the hierarchy of the church at His time. Apparently, hypocrisy among the religious is more detestable that hypocrisy among politicians.

When the going gets tough, the cowards scamper for survival. However, the dark forces do not first resort to flight. Under pressure, the evil in men simply resorts to more evil. The desperate get more desperate, and their acts of desperation reveal their capacity, or propensity, to let loose their dark side rather than challenge their higher selves to emerge. More than hypocrisy, politicians in trouble look to black propaganda, vote-buying, and violence as their emergency strategies. To those who are interested, now is the moment to watch intently at the character traits of candidates who are in trouble. The weak will cling to the coattails of the strong, the cowardly will run for cover, while the evil ones will employ dishonest or even violent means.

The desperation in man can make him quite stupid, and attempts to reverse the inevitable often produces the opposite effect. Recently, attempts to create a false scenario of psychological disorder in a leading presidential candidate is backfiring as soon as another episode of a contrived zarzuela is laid on the feet of media. Even a despised warlord accused of the massacre of 57 human beings in Maguindanao is captured wearing orange wristbands depicting support for a particular presidential candidate. To reverse the negative impact that the video was producing among the people, that same accused was able to magically arrange a press conference just to declare his support for the leading presidential candidate. It seems money can buy many things, but definitely does not guarantee intelligence among the highest paid.

But if rival candidates have their own dynamics with those who trail getting more desperate in emotion and in action, members of the same political teams also have their share of the pathetic or the absurd. A presidential candidate had to go out in media just the other day to declare that he has only one vice-presidential candidate when he had never campaigned for any other. It was a classic case of insecurity and lack of trust from a his vice presidential candidate whose camp that had been strutting around for months about his invincibility and the higher ratings he enjoyed over his presidential running mate. Other vice-presidential candidates have a worse situation – they are largely ignored by their presidential running mates.

There can be dramatic shifts in votes at the homestretch, not so much from voters’ preference but because of politicians who jump ship and board another. That is why it is always important to grab the momentum towards the end. A classic example was Trillanes in the 2007 senatorial elections. From almost nowhere, he shot into the winning column campaigning from detention and without funds. A strong sympathy vote for a soldier who defied the powers-that-be rode on the resentment of a people against those same powers.

The most expensive electoral campaign ever in Philippine political history results with the biggest spender fall from a very competitive perch to a slow slide towards third place. This early, enough of the Filipino people are expressing their stand, “Pinoy ako, not for sale!” Of course, everything is not about superior funds, it is also superior power, the kind that carries authority with it. Corruption is not all about plunder, it is even more so about perverting power. Money and power are like bride and groom in an ugly marriage, arrogant, condescending, exploitative.

Who has been in position of power but did not abuse it? Who has been in power but did not exploit it? Who has made great claims, or great promises, and has actually done it? And who have been in privileged positions and magnified their wealth instead of reducing hunger under their watch and influence?

The end of a cyclical journey nears. If change is what the people seek after being governed by the most unpopular president in history, then the Filipino must take the effort to rise above blinding prejudice and judge their peers with clarity and courage. For truly, by their actions, you shall know them.. ***