A mock election in Misamis

Although Randy David mentioned no names, his “Four models of political leadership” (Opinion, 12/3/15) brought to mind five candidates in the 2016 presidential election: Vice President Jejomar Binay, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Grace Poe, former interior secretary Mar Roxas, and Sen. Miriam Santiago. So for fun, I “conducted” a “micro mock presidential election” at a hardware store in our town, Jasaan, Misamis Oriental, with customers as respondents.

The first group was composed of three—two women and a man. At first, they were evasive in answering the question about their preferred candidate, saying they hadn’t thought about it. But when told that it was just for fun and “walang personalan,” the women blurted out the name of Poe and the man named Duterte. The ladies immediately warned him that Duterte won’t give a second chance to criminals. And they all laughed.

Just then, another lady entered the store and joined the fun, saying that she was inclined to vote for Roxas who was the “most ready” among the candidates. Then another man appeared; because he was wearing an old “Binay shirt,” the atmosphere became more animated.

Next came a middle-aged couple; when asked for their choice, the man chose Duterte and in a booming voice proclaimed, “I want all criminals jailed and rehabilitated.” But the wife opined that a president has to have a “balanced mind” for he has the whole country to think of; she batted for Roxas.

In a short while, there were more of us. Two new voters had different choices—one preferred Poe, the other was for Duterte. A 16-year-old girl claimed she and her classmates in their science high school were for Roxas, but then as they were not qualified to vote yet, everybody laughed.

The last one to join was a sixtyish-old woman; she said she was considering two candidates: Duterte had her heart, but Roxas had her mind because of his grandfather, Manuel Roxas, who, she heard from some local World War II veterans, volunteered to be jailed by the Japanese in Bukidnon, upon the surrender of the joint American and Filipino forces, as a peace guarantee.

Politics in this largely Catholic town, thankfully, is confined to a war of words and a competition of which musical bands make the loudest noise. The bands make a killing during election time as they are used to attract more people to the political rallies. Violence is unheard of in this God-fearing town.

When I was asked about my own preference, I said that I myself had not thought about it yet.

—FLOR SACO TEMPLE,

Jasaan, Misamis Oriental