the political animal

every night after getting home, i always see eat bulaga on tv. i don’t really care if we have kapuso or kapamilya channel but hearing the tv broadcasting in my first language is something pleasant. i seldom use our dinner table to eat my dinner and usually settle comfortably on our sofa. if i get home early, i even catch a few minutes of 24 horas, and learn more of what’s happening in the philippines. but still, we’ve been more patronizing eat bulaga that we even play our own version of pinoy henyo with consequences like cooking meals for all of us. i lost once (with mike) and we had to buy ingredients and cook arroz caldo with tokwa’t baboy at 3 o’clock on a saturday morning! i know all the contest and games they have starting with KSP (Kahit Sino Puede!, translating to Anyone Can!), Pinoy Henyo (Pinoy Genius), Bababoom! and most recently Stop My Hirap (Stop My Suffering).

of all the games, the latter intrigued me most. the reason? the game mechanics proved that a contestant is a sure winner. the player is suppose to win either: Php 10,000, Php 15,000, a cart of groceries, or all of the mentioned prizes which is cash totalling to Php 25,000, and the groceries. the roulette to be spun is subdivided in pies of different colors and uncustomary to other games, the largest pie, which is colored orange, gives the grand prize. so, the odds of getting the jackpot is apparently given the highest probability.

it intrigued me because on some nights, players get the orange pie at first try, and there’s really not much story in that case. but i was always waiting for the player who, after spinning his 2nd or 3rd try, still can’t get the orange pie. not that i don’t want them win, in fact, i genuinely feel glad for these people whenever they win because i know the money is good for their welfare. the game is extraordinary because i realize after watching a few episodes, no matter what happened, they always give the grand prize anyway whether the player gets the orange pie or not.

it is not rocket science to realize that the show is sponsored by Sen. Manny Villar, running for president in the upcoming national election. the theme color orange and slogan, sipag at tiyaga (hardwork and patience) easily betrayed his identity. i’m not against his campaign strategy, afterall, media plays an important role in the philippine political realm. the last time i checked the poll, villar placed 2nd to aquino, and estrada lagging at 3rd place. for christ’s sake, even estrada seems to have a chance. haven’t we learned from our mistakes? aquino garnered almost half of the surveyed population, and some tiny percentages were distributed to escudero, madrigal, teodoro, bro. eddie, and others.

i want you to know that i don’t have hatred against the aquino clan, i even like kris’ frankness, but didn’t the fall of philippine economy started during the reign of aquino? perhaps thirst and longing for democracy and freedom after marcos’ dictatorship, cory aquino led the country in total laxness. there was no death penalty, agrarian and land reformation was her main call yet their own family hacienda luisita has been safe. even to date, the running for president noynoy aquino holds a stake of it.

so what brought noynoy to the summit? if you don’t believe it is because of his mother’s recent death, the late president corazon aquino, you are one big breathing hyprocrite. the people of the philippines is known to be emotional, i know that because i am a filipino. people desire to be closer to a person who departed more than anyone else. just like how the number of palahniuk’s casey rant’s friends and followers reached through the roof after he died. when somebody dies, people who barely know the dead or had a most basic encounter with him, perhaps as trivial as being behind the departed once in a queue for cinema tickets, will suddenly come out and talk earnestly in great detail how close he was with the poor soul. come on, everyone dies, and with all due respect, she didn’t even die in some heroic manner or something. it was all natural and organic.

i’m 26 years old, i’ve registered to vote once, and it is with humiliation to say i haven’t exercised my right to vote even once. to say that voting is one’s right is actually shameful, i always thought it should be one’s responsibility and i know i haven’t been responsible citizen. if there’s someone who knows the insides and out of philippine politics, most certainly that person would not be me. i am not even capable of voting this coming election, so i’m not pretending to be a righteous citizen or some nationalist wannabe. and so, what i am talking about here? i’m merely saying my opinion that if there’s one thing i’m certain about philippine politics, it is sad to admit that it’s corruption. no matter who sat in the president’s seat, he will be influenced just by how the current government is working and greediness will overpower him. that is sad, but that is also the reality.

going back to the game show, the lady who won of course, the jackpot, last night was bleary-eyed. she got white on her 1st spin, which is supposed to be Php 15,000. but they didn’t even asked her to spin again, and just decided to give her the jackpot. Php 25,000 in cash plus groceries. she was pretty much alike with previous contestants, happy, nervous, excited, and emotional, until she said something that struck me most. “ngayon lang ako nakahawak ng ganitong kalaking pera”, roughly translating to, “it is only now, that i held money as big as this”. 25 grand. it is just two-thirds of my monthly income the first time i worked as a professional, and that was 6 years ago.

we are indeed a poor country, there’s no denying in that but somehow, i still hope that we are not a country of stupidity but of rationalism, patriotism, and has sense of prioritization of national interest. afterall, man is a political, social animal. i am not endorsing villar, but if i were to vote, it will definitely not go to aguino. pick the lesser evil. are you sure you would entrust our nation’s future to someone completely based on your intuition? emotion? because if you think it could save our dishonest, impure and turmoiled country, you better think about it again.