Respect ‘vox populi’

WITHIN DAYS Filipinos will exercise their right to suffrage, and thereafter we will know the winner of the presidential election. The campaign is now considered the most exciting and most expensive, and, at the same time, the most divisive and dirtiest in our history.

Indeed, mudslinging never ceases till the last day of the campaign.

It looks like the fight will be left to candidates Rodrigo Duterte, Mar Roxas, Jejomar Binay and Grace Poe. They each have their own strong following in the different demographic profiles of our society. But it is hard to say if strength in social media can be translated to votes. Among those who are not strong in social media, like Binay and Poe, Binay has strong grassroots connections and organizations. Poe, on the other hand, has a strong following from the masa. Just consider the result of the 2010 senatorial elections: Her name was not in the projected top 10, and yet she bagged the No. 1 post, to everyone’s surprise.

This election has become so divisive. I heard that some people had severed ties with family members, relatives, colleagues and friends because of fanatic devotion to a candidate. This is so unfortunate. Come on, don’t be too emotional and impractical. Wake up. Whoever will win in this election will not change your life. They won’t even know or give a damn how ferociously and passionately you defended them from critics, and how aggressively you campaigned for them to the point of losing family and friends who differ from your views.

As for the losing candidates, enough of the excuse that your loss means you were cheated. Whoever wins in this presidential election, let us support and respect him or her because “vox populi vox Dei” (the voice of the people is the voice of God).

Filipinos should keep this in mind: Politicians come and go. Don’t waste your friendships or relationships because of your political beliefs. We all want change in our country, but the most important change is a change in our attitude toward our fellow Filipinos.

As the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
—MONSI A. SERRANO, founder, Stop Corruption Philippines