What REALLY is at stake?

Corruption.

Poverty and expanding marginalization.

Economic, political, and social instability.

Gasgas na ‘yan.

Actually, there are a lot of nitty-gritties the next president must face by his/her first day on June 30th.

So, if ever new—and unimproved—governance would be part of history (hope that there would be no failure of elections), the next president must consider the following factors as at stake:

Trust of the populace

Everyone is really watching, waiting, and anticipating the moment of truth, which would come in a few days time. One agent of this vigilance is the basic (visual and audible) and electronic media (the Internet; specifically the myriads of sites and blogs scattered on this side of the Superhighway concerning this “noblest and finest hour” of Philippine politics). Other agents, aside from the conscious and subconscious mind of every rational-thinking Filipino, are political observers and watchdogs such as the PPCRV (the official citizen-arm observers), the “unrecognized “NAMFREL, and a certain “Grupong Kontra Daya, among others. It is really not a surprise that the trust of the people is vital in this political game.

The diverse youth

From RNB/Hip-hop to KPop; from DOTA to Left 4 Dead; from typo shortcuts to jejemons; the Filipino youth has it all—all except the salience of politics in their lives. Approximately 60% who comprise the youth are non-voters or non-registered youth of legal age; their destiny would depend in the citizen’s mandate next week. However, more than half of this statistics are either very young children or teenagers who are into music (in which most of it are from famous artists outside our country; most preferably Hollywood or Korea), sports (basketball, badminton or football), fashion, skateboarding, being famous at their early age, and unfortunately, some are also up to vices and drugs—not into politics like some of their comrades in the age bracket. The next government leaders MUST hone the skills the youth insist to do even without the recognition of virtually everyone; and that they must also lead these young ones out of desperation, deterioration, and death to the life they have wanted all along.

Social immorality

Secularism deteriorated the moral values of all sectors of society; or worse, in this world where everyone gives more importance on economic quality and quantity, society sets aside the other, more important quality—moral quality—where even the Church, who promotes moral values, finds it difficult to convince the faithful to remain chaste, honest, and faithful to God. Even though the Church and the State are separated in terms of checking and balancing, and that is also according to the Constitution, the Church and State must cooperate with each other in making a moral society. And that to minimize, if not completely obliterate, the effects of pornography and sexual desires, which results to premarital sex—a taboo to a Christianized Filipino society—the new (or not-so-new) faces in the government should cooperate with the Church to “evangelize the Good News of morality” to those who are still in the bondage of darkness—of the sin of promiscuity—of immortality.

Unwillingness and unconcern

After being elected, there would be problems that he must face and solve:

I am 95% sure that the next president would be someone very known. People who are of no interest to politics and governance before, during, and even after the campaigns would tell to themselves that the situation would just be the same; that there would be apathy, apolitical sympathies, and worse, the thought of anarchy.

I have pointed out on my last blog about apathy, so there would be no problem on tackling it again. It just seems so peculiar that some Filipinos would have a concern on politics IF there is something in return, such as land for farmers to own, houses for families to live on, or even money for people to spend on their “essentials”. Afterwards, they would exchange it to things “more practical,” and like those who have no gratitude—walang utang na loob—they would throw stones to the government that they detest so much when something wrong happens to them—which is actually their fault in the first place.

No taste of satisfaction

Let’s face it: Most Filipinos have no sense of appreciation to their fellow Filipino unless he/she is world-class, funny, a celebrity, rich, or someone who is working bigtime either here or abroad—especially for someone seen on TV. The downside is that those who are looking down on those who “dream big” are the very ones who are the first to be awestruck to see the same group of persons who made their big dreams come true; though some of them have also got that to their head that it would eventually lead to their downfall. One example of this group of people is singers. Their expertise in wowing the judges were not that recognized, so some of them give up forever and others continue dreaming till they would be recognized somewhere in the world. When the person in this situation continues to be aired on TV or radio, the rest would be showbiz.

Let’s now tackle on jobs, where almost every Filipino is dying to get out of the country and their comfort zone just to have a high-paying job, even if it would cost their dignity, reputation, family, and life. There are some cases where they really do not want to go back to the Philippines—to stay to where they would be going for good—and be legally someone else somewhere. But the problem would be if they got so cocky, they would not only shame themselves, but also the Filipinos. In this case, they, having no taste for satisfaction to their own, would also have no taste for satisfaction to others, for this was their practice back home. Thus, denial to one’s own is denial to one’s self.

So what?

Virtually, this election is all about the future of our country as we know it. After almost ten years of the Arroyo tenure, and after all we have experienced, the Filipinos are expecting and anticipating for a better six years. The Philippines and everyone and everything that is attributed to her are at stake. A vote changes everything, and it must be a positive one in this never-before tested system.