The ActiveTalker

The May 13, 2013 midterm elections in the Philippines is just around the corner. I’m a registered voter in my home province, but unfrotunately, the leave I requested was not approved. Alas, I cannot exercise my right to vote.

Had my leave been approved, I would’ve voted for Rep. Teddy A. Casiño. He is running for a seat at the Upper House of the Congress, also known as the Senate.

Who is he and why I would’ve voted for him? He is the sole bet of the coalition of 12 Philippine progessive Partylists called Makabayan. He authored/sponsored numerous House Measures. Some of them are: HB01483 (an act defining discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and providing penalties…), HB01961 (act regulationg tuition and other fees of private educational institutions), HB02308 (act providing for a mandatory nationwide child nutrition program in all public elementary and barangay day care centers). Here’s the complete list from the Congress website.

Since I cannot personally cast my vote for him, this is the least thing I can do, inform people of how deserving he is to be voted for Senate. Kay Teddy Casiño, panalo ang karaniwang tao!

Posted from WordPress for BlackBerry.

Finally, after months of campaigning and billions of pesos spent, the moment of truth has come. It’s election day, the day millions of Filipinos are waiting for. The day when the people themselves decide for their future, and  the future of their children.

But why do we have to vote? It is because of the right we have called suffrage. Our rights are the duties other people. For example, I have the right to vote, it is the duty of my neighbor to respect it an not to coerce me into voting for someone they like me to vote for.

Our freedom to choose is one of God’s gift to us. We have the right to choose and it is the duty of others to respect it.

Just a few hours from now, I will be exercising that freedom. I will cast my vote as a free man, free of whatsoever dictate or orders from other people. I will shade the circle next to my candidate’s name. I already made my choice a few months ago and now, I am excited to make it a reality.

I encountered a Facebook status stating that now, elections in the Philippines is among the leading cause of death among Filipinos. I am alarmed. It is because, our freedom is being threatened.

But, I won’t let that stand in the way. I will choose, I have chosen my candidate and I will vote for them when I get inside the polling precinct.

“Tanggapin ang pera,
Iboto ang kursunada/konsensya”

That has got to be one of the most popular quotations nowadays. As you know, the National Elections is just around the corner, that includes the local elections. And as far as I’m concerned, it is as tensioned (on a personal level) as the national elections.

I wrote this piece to share my views on this issue. I know that some people see this as “getting even” on candidates who use their money to influence our less fortunate, “mahirap,” kababayans to vote for them. These “mahihirap” will trade a day’s meal or two (amounting to something from 500 pesos to around 1,500 pesos just to assure that “candidate” their vote in the elections. While some “wise” candidates will accept the money but in turn, vote for the candidate whom their “conscience” tells them to vote.

For me that is plain nonsense and unethical that it provides a ground for a more personal definition of corruption on a more, an in-depth, personal aspect.

In the first place, accepting the money is plain corruption. Even though we’re not actually voting for them, we tolerate their money giving “philosophy” (so to speak) by accepting it and giving our promise to vote for them. Some of these individuals actually look very optimistic to the point they practice ingratiation, in order to get the money in exchange of their “vote” for that candidate.

Ang pagtanggap ng pera mula sa mga kandidatong namimili ng boto ay MALI pa din. We are simply tolerating their evil practice by being “evil” in our own ways. How can you entrust your future and the future of sons and daughters to these kind of politicians who corrupt the minds of the voters by giving fantastic promises to the people and even claiming that they are “poor“

Let us be responsible for our action practicing in our own ways Confucius’ Political Philosophy. I heard from an all-knowing individual to just get the money and you’re free as long as you voted for who your conscience is telling you.

Let’s be socially conscious of our actions, because as Sir Isaac Newton’s law states it, “For every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction.”

“The only way to escape the personal corruption of praise is to go on working.”
-Albert Einsten