Not Noy. Not Mar. But, Noy Mar.

Millions of Filipinos have cast their vote. I cannot recall any election in recent memory, perhaps with the notable exception of the election that ushered in the first Aquino administration, that bears the burden of so much promise.

Such was the intoxicating fragility of hope, that my selection process for the presidency was accompanied by an impassioned rationality normally associated with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The ills that beset our beloved country are so widespread, so malignant, and so ingrained in the way that the contemporary Filipino views himself or herself that one term in office is not enough. Which is why I found myself confronted by an epiphany that even my vainglorious pretensions to profundity could not reduce to simpler terms. Not Noy. Not Mar. But, Noy Mar.

I have the deepest respect for erstwhile administration candidate, Gilbert Teodoro. He ran an intelligent, remarkably decent campaign that was memorable more for the coherence with which he expressed his views on governance as opposed to the many aspersions cast upon his candidacy by his association with the Arroyo administration. That, to my mind, is a feat in itself.

I am also a great admirer of Senator Richard Gordon. He is a gifted administrator and vociferously intelligent legislator. Yet, as he himself commented late in the campaign, he is a "Dick", not a "dictator". Sadly, this seems true on both counts.

But, to my mind, to vote for anyone who believes that his herculean efforts could save our fledgling democracy, or for anyone who cannot guarantee a continuity of competent government service is both myopic and selfish.

We deserve a president and a vice-president who are friends, and not strange bedfellows thrown together by stranger politics. While friendship, camaraderie, and the ability to work well with one another are not essential traits in politics, they are important traits in team sports. Democracy works not because of the ability of individuals to work for the common good. It works because individuals pool their abilities to work together for the common good.

We deserve a president and a vice-president whose candidacies are based on an act of statesmanship. However one might view Mar's decision to give way in favor of Noy, one has to admit that the act itself, bereft of insinuation or skeptical interpretation, is admirable.

We deserve a government where whatever positive reforms enacted by the current administration may be carried over into the next administration. What is wrong with carrying over the effective policies and reforms enacted by the previous administration? Nothing. Why haven't we done so? Because traditional politics has always proven weightier than transformative politics.

We deserve a government that can look beyond the next presidential elections. We deserve NoyMar.