Frenzy

I cannot remember exactly who first used the word “frenzy” in Leni Robredo’s rallies. It was fairly recently, maybe three or four weeks ago, but it was a bullseye description of the spirit out there in Leni’s volunteers. Frenzy means a state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behavior. Frenzy, what a beautiful word and meaning, so perfect for the times.

To think that the root word of frenzy is the Latin term “phreneticus” meaning delirious. I am not an addict for illegal substances like cocaine or shabu but have heard too often about that other word – “high.” Coming from the term “delirious” gives us a better idea of what frenzy is. And sorry, Pulse Asia and SWS, because frenzy is hard to quantify and qualify by means of statistics. You will know it only when its impact disrupts the audience you so carefully choose to survey.

It is incidental, secondary, that I happen to have cast my preference for Leni a long time ago. Around 20 years ago, in Naga City, I met Jesse Robredo who had already won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service. And, yes, he was in tsinelas. I was new to Gawad Kalinga and Jesse, in fact, had an earlier engagement with the neophyte program in its earliest days. We were looking for land where we could build a Gawad Kalinga village in his city or province.

I did not meet Leni until the summer of 2015. At that time, she was a GK partner and adopted key parts of our program for the marginalized among her constituents. She knew that we were about volunteerism and I learned then that she, too, shared the same aptitude for volunteerism. Her present campaign is natural to her but disconcerting to traditional politicians.

There was no struggle in me to quickly cast my lot in her presidential campaign, only a waiting. She was hesitant and I never thought of pushing her along with others. I only had to know if my leader-to-be was committed to pursue her vision of what our people and nation could be. I needed her to commit herself and her life because many of us, as simple volunteers for our own causes, know about life-long commitment.

When she decided, and me as well, only then did I think how best I could help her at my age. I carried only my learned lessons over fifty years of successes and failures, of keen interest in behavioral and social patterns, and a solid memory of what worked and what did not in political exercises. And, of course, I write.

I did not think too much about winning and losing. Leni had no money, no machinery, and no politicians enough to jumpstart a presidential campaign. Yet, I did not think she would easily lose because her cause is noble. What was important to me, then and now, is that I am working for a shared cause, a shared way, a shared dream. As I help Len, I am helping Filipinos that I know must be helped urgently and intelligently.

My political experience alerted me very quickly to unusual things that, later, emerged as a pattern to me. Learned lessons give me, and other veterans, a sensitive antenna and an even more sensitive nose. Inspiring things are bright and you can see them from afar. Dirty things are not quickly visible but they cannot hide their bad odor. And I smelled it first in the surveys.

I have worked for campaigns that were won from the opening bell. I have worked for campaigns that were hopeless from the beginning. Experiencing these extremes and all in between, I sensed a subtle and insidious messaging from the surveys. The projection was that the game was over and everyone might as well accept it. I felt a script had been written and we were all only going through the motions.

Now, four months later, it is March and I know there is a script. It is like a bad odor. You do not see it but you smell it. And the bad odor is getting worse. It will not need a seasoned political observer to reach this conclusion. In fact, surveys have become almost meaningless to the Leni forces because their reality contrasts deeply with survey results.

Leni’s chances to me were never from strictly political factors. I saw that her character, her perspective, and her collaborative manner harmonized so well with a young global consciousness rebelling against overarching control. This same rebellion gave birth to cryptocurrency, an experiment against financial institutional control.

I sensed and believed Leni’s character and disposition would accommodate the youth, their aspirations for a brighter future, and their insistence to build it themselves, their way.

Leni, then, had no way to lose in my view, and my time and effort for her would be truly worth it. The presidency would provide her with control and authority over vast resources, but she also is more than the presidency.

Why is there a frenzy? How did Leni generate a frenzy that makes a million or more Filipinos go extra mile after extra mile to contribute something to her campaign? A frenzy happens when a special core of the human heart recognizes an inner answer to unspoken angst. What makes some go wild, and why?

Have we forgotten what it was to be young and in love?

The frenzy today is uncontrolled excitement. It is not yet wild behavior. But it is only a thin, almost invisible line between them. I fear the script will force this line to be crossed, soon.

Because Filipinos by the droves are falling in love with Leni. The Filipino youth who have never been a factor in elections will be the biggest difference this time. In the remaining weeks of the campaign, we will see if the frenzy will combine with their idealism and release a nuclear power never experienced by the Filipino people.