There’s way too much ‘vox populi, vox Dei’

Chin Chin Katigbak underestimated the number of Filipinos seriously hooked on the “AlDub” phenomenon (“Truly unmitigated ‘kababawan’ in ‘kalyerserye,’” Opinion, 11/3/15). It’s not only 30 million; in a matter of days, it hit more than 40 million and still counting! Seriously, is that good or bad?

There are those who say it’s good because it means close to half of the Filipino population is happy and content despite our country’s Third World status where things can always go wrong at every turn! Their ability to laugh in the midst of miseries brought about by unstoppable corruption is truly phenomenal, too. The Department of Tourism’s come-on, “It’s more fun in the Philippines,” has found a new meaning in this latest TV hysteria.

An AlDub fan, Zen Abiera, commented, just like Inquirer columnist Rina Jimenez David, matter-of-factly that it’s truly a welcome “respite from the deluge of profundity” to avoid stress (Opinion, 11/4/15 and 10/27/15, respectively). What “profundity”? Did Abiera mean those 40 million-plus fanatics were so stressed out after taking in an overload of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, et al. that they deserve to have a break? Puh-lease!

David’s take was more spot-on: nothing philosophically profound, just relief from sheer boredom! And there lies the real problem. The particular need of more than 40 million Filipinos to be regaled with all kinds of tomfoolery is frightening! Politicians do nothing but pander to their fantasies about a world of make-believe. That’s how most of them get elected. Needless to say, that’s how they get to screw up our country. The best leaders we never had often remain cellar-dwellers in any surveys and actual elections because it simply is not their style to make fools of themselves before a crowd of mindless voters!

Thus, with the “idiotization” of such a huge chunk of our population, it’s without doubt circus time for almost all candidates jockeying for various public offices in May 2016. The mind-boggling number of candidates who have filed certificates of candidacy for president alone (130!) is proof that elections in this country are no longer taken seriously!

Chances are, whichever political party can bring AlDub to its own circus is almost assured of support from such a mass base of 40 million-plus fanatics, thus putting the much-vaunted bloc voting of some 2 million Iglesia ni Cristo members to shame! Clear evidence of that is Tito Sotto’s topping in the surveys for the senatorial race. Sotto really has nothing to commend himself to such an exalted office except that he is one of the three comedians who own the AlDub franchise!

Sure, we were told about “vox populi, vox Dei,” but this is way too much!

—ANGELI O. MARCONI, [email protected]