Election Blog 2007: Random Thoughts

The flotsam and jetsam that intruded upon my otherwise curiously sane voting experience:

1. I couldn't do it. For the first time since I started voting, I couldn't vote for a complete senatorial slate. Despite all the well-articulated arguments for at least writing down 12 names, I just couldn't do it. Only 9 people were, in my humble analysis, worthy of being given the opportunity to represent the common good of the Filipino people in the Senate. I simply could not compromise on this particular issue. In a way, particularly in light of my belief that one's right to vote is comparable to one's desire to pray, it is only when we are led to refuse compromise on this point when we can properly entertain the promise of a brighter future. And yes, I'm very angry that Philippine politics has sunk to this level. Couldn't you at least provide me with 12 people to vote for? I'm incensed.

2. As Ralph, Judel, Gene and I trooped to the voting center of Barangay San Antonio in Pasig, we speculated as to whether our Filipino-Chinese college roommate Kimberly Chong is registered in Greenhills or in Xiamen, conveniently glossing over the fact that our barkada's relative ages can be determined by the fact that "Kimberly" was considered a non-gender specific name when Kim was born, or that we have actual batchmates running for elective office.

3. My dad called me earlier to report that I was still registered in Las Pinas, despite the fact that I had just voted, 30 minutes earlier, in Pasig. Theoretically, this meant that I could vote again. I just had to be willing to lose a fingernail to do so. I don't know what's worse, that the Comelec had inadvertently turned me into a flying voter, or that I was seriously considering ways to hide my ink-stained fingernail in order to do so. I decide, in the end, that the Filipino people need me more with all my fingernails intact. Lame!

4. Despite the fact that I had dressed in the manner appropriate to one who is willing to make financial arrangements for genuine political change, no one bothered to buy my vote in my voting precinct. Part of me is insulted. Am I not important enough to buy off? Apparently not.

5. Despite everything, my mood remains oddly optimistic. Hope springs eternal. In the end, we will have our Victory.

Picture of Victory comes courtesy of IMDB.