elections, shmelections: or, why I couldn’t sleep last night

I'm of the very strong opinion that to be fully human, one has got to be involved in political action.

And I'm sure it hasn't escaped anyone's notice that this year's an election year. Telephone poles and walls are plastered with candidates faces, When you watch primetime TV, political ads can be seen sandwiched between a commercial for laundry detergent and yet another outlandish shampoo commercial out to brainwash women that straight, long hair is more beautiful than other kinds of hair.

Everything's been saturated with election-related material that much of it goes unheeded, at least that's the way I feel about it. Angara's TVC is just as long and just as boring as that new Pantene commercial. It's not something that I pay attention to, much less use to base my answer to the question "Who am I going to write on that ballot on 14 May?"

So, how ARE we going to choose who to vote for, when most candidates just give us one liners ("Pichay, itanim sa senado!") or some really smooth PR gimmicks (see Chiz Escudero's TVCs). Is that enough material to base a decision on?

I guess that's why I ended up tuning in to GMA7 last night, to watch "Isang Tanong," a special show which, according to the network, features the Senatorial candidates answering the toughest and most urgent questions.

In the end, I had mixed feelings about the format, which consisted of the candidates answering 3 questions: first, a question "from the people," second from a distinguished journalist, third drawn from a box and written by a fellow candidate. Sure, the questions were tough, but were not enough, and the incisiveness really depended on who was asking the question. Some questions were too vague and allowed room for politicians to stay within the empty meaningless election rhetoric that we've seen enough of through their TV ads. Others were very incisive, even placing some candidates on the spot, leaving them at a loss for at least 3 seconds.

Of course, the ones asking the good questions were the journalists who have really been through the fire: de Quiros, Maritess Vitug, Malou Mangahas. They asked specific questions that couldn't be parleyed by vague generalizations.

But I realized it was not so much the format of the show, or the show itself that bothered me and kept me from sleeping well. It was, rather, the frightening prospect of seeing some of these people sitting in that Senate Session Hall. My father, who is not one for discussing politics, actually told me: "That Escudero is really a debater, no? He has a way with words, he's really slick [in the derogatory sense]. He's scary." And it's true: some candidates reminded me of people I knew in college, or students I've encountered as a teaching assistant: eloquent, well-spoken, undoubtedly intelligent…

…but willing to use their skill, charisma, and brilliance for anything that would get them ahead.

I'm pretty worried for our country.

. . .

There'll be another one next week, with another set of candidates, I think it will be those who were not present yesterday subjected to a round of questioning.

. . . 

I'm also including something a friend of mine wrote, you can read it if you like.

ISANG TANONG (One Question)

Usual Sunday night viewing is CSI marathon, that’s from 9-12 midnight. Most of the time though I only watch up to 11PM, CSI New York, as I am not a big fan of CSI Miami. So as I was changing channels, I came across the GMA 7 special “ISANG TANONG:The Senatorial Forum.” I wonder why I didn’t know about the forum earlier. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a teaser of it. Then again, I haven’t been watching much local TV except for the news and I flip channels when advertisements come. DVD marathon of “Prison Break” and this new series “Dexter” has been eating my TV time.

I was excited to find out that there’s a show that will try to help me know the candidates for the senatorial post. So far I only have about 6 people in my list of senators to vote for so there are still 6 more slots to fill. I haven’t done my research yet, on the background of the other candidates - I scheduled to do it this week.

SAYANG. Too bad the show couldn’t be aired earlier. I know a lot of people who are voting this May, who don’t know much about the candidates and are only voting for the ones that are “well-known” or have managed to get themselves well-known over the last few months as part of their campaign. It would have been nice for them to have listened to the answers of the candidates present but I know some of them are already asleep at that time – 11PM. Take my grandparents for instance; they are asleep by 830 or 930PM the most. Or my mom, my uncles and aunts who go to bed at around 1030PM. Papa (my maternal grandfather) is all set to vote for Cayetano, whom I totally despise(!!), because newspapers have been filled about him since late last year, “uncovering” anomalous practices of the Arroyo administration. To Papa, he’s one of our hopes to toppling down GMA. But if Papa heard how he couldn’t even directly answer the 3 questions that were thrown to him last night, I’m sure he’d think twice about voting for him. He just kept on using election campaign terms –“pahirap, para sa mahihirap, itigil/sugpuin ang corruption, ako man ay laki sa hirap.” etc. but can’t even give concrete, tangible plans. Seriously!?! Go to the rural poor communities who do not have access to clean water, to proper medical facilities, who can’t get the most basic/elementary education – that’s laki sa hirap! And “sugpuin ang corruption,” seriously, don’t even start with me on that. I was working for an anticorruption program which has been of existence for about 4 years only and I’m pretty sure they’ve done more about the issue than you have. And the leaders of the program are not even in Congress! You don’t know what you are talking about! (I told you I despise him!) Enough of that, some people who just choose to vote for underdogs might just vote for him.

Too bad not all the Senatorial Candidates were there. It would have been such entertainment to hear what Richard Gomez and Cesar Montano have to say or not have the ability to say. Hehehe. Where were the other candidates who spent millions on their TV ads, that show could have been good publicity. Or were they too afraid we’d find out they are incompetent and that their nervous eyes would sell insincerity? They shouldn’t have been really, because using Boy Abunda as their VO and using corny taglines like “Itanim sa Senado” at “Libreng Preschool” already told us there are just like actors.

Bakit ISANG TANONG lang? (Why only one question?) Some of them got lucky enough to get a good question they probably know a lot about. What about the other pertinent questions? I’ve been to job interviews and they asked a lot of questions related to the post I was applying for. They look into work experiences, character references and give situational questions and circumstances. And that’s only for posts that will handle about 30-40 people or 1 small rural community of 100 people. The Senate post is a national public post, for the entire people of our nation. I wasn’t accepted in a couple of jobs I applied for and I’d like to think that I wasn’t chosen not because I wasn’t good or that I wouldn’t be able to handle the job – I wasn’t chosen because I probably wasn’t THE BEST for that position and somebody else can do a better job. And so I don’t take it against the company (ok that’s not exactly true, I sometimes take it against them ofcourse-only human and rejection is not a very happy experience, hehehe). So goes for my standards for the leaders of our country. I truly believe my country deserves not somebody who’s just good, but someone who is THE BEST for the post!

Our country deserves more than one question to be answered. The post they are applying for is so important that it deserves a lot of questions to be answered. And not only in words, but just like in any post, we need to look into their past experiences which will make them qualified for the position; we need to look into their character and work references; we need to hear tangible/real experience based answers and tangible plans.

So here’s my “Isang Tanong” (for myself and maybe for you): Are you ready to search, research and choose the Best, most Qualified leaders for your nation using the same standard that you choose the people who work for you in your offices/businesses or in your homes? Because like I always say this is your only home, your only country and you are therefore a key instrument to either its development or its doom.

KRISHNA "KANG" SONZA (APRIL 30, 2007)