‘First Family of Americans’

Next year’s presidential race has indeed put me in a difficult, three-bladed dilemma as to whom to vote.

First, Vice President Jejomar Binay is a kababayan.  This might be the last chance for a Batangueño to hold the highest post in the land and, perhaps, for Batangueños to see our province as prosperous as Makati.  But then, Binay has been riddled with unending corruption allegations in the Senate.  Although not one has yet been found to be with probable cause, which would put him before a truer hall of justice, the charges are definitely not something to sneeze at.

Then, comes former interior secretary Mar Roxas whose winning appears doubtful on many counts. One, he miserably fails to project his real image and political platform to the public; the only thing he can boast of is P-Noy’s shadow, at the very best. Two, he is not far from the proverbial boxer who, after losing in the welterweight division, is now facing the same opponent in a heavyweight fight.  And three, as things are from the standpoint of plain common sense, Sen. Grace Poe may most likely take more vote from Roxas than from Binay. That, alongside everybody’s natural inclination to go with a winner.

Finally, if sheer popularity were all it takes to win in an election, then Poe should be a good choice.  It is just that I am deeply bothered, as a Filipino, to wake up one morning seeing a former American ascending into Malacañang along with her spouse and children, all Americans. Some may outright argue that there is, after all, no law prohibiting this rather awkward situation.  But this is not so much a matter of legality as of propriety!  As a matter of fact, it is the lack of such legal prohibition that precisely makes the whole thing monumentally ironic, even tragic. For example, can you imagine a situation where so many people employed at the Palace—each one drawing salary from Filipino taxpayers’ hard-earned money—serving, day in, day out, a First Family of nearly all Americans?

I do not know how others feel about this, but for me this is kind of difficult to accept.  With all honesty and candor, I do not intend to sound as ruthlessly blunt.  I just cannot help sadly visualizing that which once upon a time was so farfetched a happenstance—indeed so unthinkable even for the framers of our Constitution that they had not provided anything to forestall it when it comes—that is now beginning to take shape before our very eyes.

Of course, there looms some good news in voting for Poe: This country may soon land in the Guinness World Records.  Well, whether that is going to be an honor or a disgrace is anybody’s wild guess.

Alas, what more can I say?  Ah, whosoever of the three wins, this nation will need all the good luck there is on Planet Earth—for the next six years.

—RUDY L. CORONEL, rudycoronel [email protected]