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THE HAZARDS OF POLITICS

Saturday, May 08, 2010


May 10 is a monumental day for us Filipinos. After almost a decade of GMA, people are just raring for change. Yellows are still chanting Laban, 20 years after democracy has been restored. Orange supporters are swimming in a sea of garbage. Reds are busy being snarky at all the other colors. The Greens are zealous and strong, busy defending their leader from the nasty allegations of being a "puppet" or a "lapdog". GMA after all, is going out as the least-liked president of all time. They have said that being associated with GMA was a kiss of death. That has contributed much to the unpopularity of G1BO Teodoro, the man I'm voting for in the 2010 Presidential elections.


I have expected the reaction from the people on G1BO. He is being punished and assumed guilty by his ties with GMA. What I didn't expect was that I'd be meted with the same fate - guilty by association to G1BO who is associated to GMA. A friend, and I don't use that term loosely, "unfriended" me in Facebook. I've known this guy for more than ten years now, and we've been through ups and downs, including a 2 year cold war for a reason I no longer really remember.

Now, let me back track a bit. A month ago, I finally made my choice. After several months of listening to the candidates, and researching on the net, I decided that the candidate who had the almost perfect package of Competence and Character was G1BO. The decision was partly driven by the fact that the tables have in fact been turned on him. Now G1BO was the underdog, subject to all sorts of criticism, mostly because he is an ally of the President. I understand the hatred. I live in the Philippines, too. I cringe at every poorly constructed highway because I know my taxes are not being used properly. I'm surrounded by families who squat in government lands. I get teary-eyed whenever I have to turn my back on streetkids begging for money. So I, too, dislike GMA. But my reasons for wanting a leader like G1BO was far greater than my distaste for GMA. And whenever I went back to my shortlist : Perlas, Gordon and G1BO, G1BO would still always come out as the best of the lot. Perlas, for all his good intentions and accomplishment, just didn't have that "it"factor. Charisma, while sometimes overrated, is a necessary leadership tool. Because leaders are not leaders without followers. And charisma can work its magic, even to the most apathetic of people. Gordon, is the most qualified, skills-wise. He has the perfect combination of legislative and executive experience. He laser-like focus is something I admire in him the most. BUT, his iron-handed style of leadership is a bit outdated. We cannot just scare people into following. We need to get their hearts into it, so that even without a leader, they will continue to do it because they believe in it as well. And I'm also turned off by his public display of rage and outbursts, no matter how justified. Jim Paredes told this story that when he first met Gordon, he mistakenly congratulated him for his good work in Angeles City. And pretty quickly, Gordon's demeanor changed from pleasant to angry. He practically shouted at Jim, while correcting him.

So that left me with G1BO, this lesser known candidate, known only because people despised GMA. Either way, he was not in a very good position. But I can't help but be awed by his vision and be swayed by his charisma. And though media does not give him enough credit or enough attention, anecdotes about his good character and integrity were starting to come out in trickles. So I thought to myself, to hell with GMA. And to Utopia with G1BO.

Finally, two weeks ago, I decided to come out in Facebook, as it was the only way I knew I could influence the people who were once like me. I had more than 1,000 "friends", after all, while I only have 30 Twitter followers, and I don't know if people even still read this blog. Facebook was a very potent viral marketing tool, so I defied social decorum and used FB to make known my political views and shared every bit of information I knew about G1BO.

One of the first posts I had drew a strong reaction from the Yellow camp, up to a point where I could no longer keep track of the comments. That incident prompted me to even make my stand stronger and louder, because I knew I was up against a popular contender, who has the backing of the media (and apparently, the survey companies). My second more popular post was even more heated, and this was the first time this friend-who-has-unfriended-me, and I might add the only time, commented on my shout out. He said that he doesn't like G1BO for the simple reason that he is with the GMA administration. I didn't even have a chance to defend G1BO in that thread, but I made it a point to address that concern in succeeding posts. It was also because of that thread that I myself unfriended a childhoold friend, because of his arrogant and rude comments (which he later owned up and apologized for).

I don't know when the actual unfriending happened. It must have been shortly after that post, because I was even more zealous and passionate about my conviction after that incident. I just noticed that he unfriended me today. Because we were close, I immediately messaged him and asked if he unfriended me because of my politics. To which he promptly replied and said Yes. WHOA. I was half-joking when I asked, and I wanted to think it was just some sort of a mistake. But, dear lord, it was true. I was unfriended because the man I believe in is tied to GMA by party affiliation. What a bummer. I mean, if we had engaged in a debate, and didn't come to an agreement or started to get rude, I would understand it. But he did so, just because I supported G1Bo. In the same manner that he dismissed G1bo as a viable option because G1BO and GMA are on the same party. I have to keep repeating that in my end, because it really is unbelievable.

In a few days, elections will be over, and the next president will be known. Noynoy certainly looks like a runaway winner judging by the surveys, the number of fans in FB, the number of cars sporting the yellow ribbon and just talking to some colleagues and common folk. They all honestly believe that there is a fight to be fought together, and they don't care whether the leader is not as competent as the others, to put it mildly. Well, I can give them that. My point is, I'm prepared for the eventuality that G1BO won't become the 15th president of our country. I'm prepared to continue being a loyal citizen of this country. But what about the friendships that were rocked because of the elections? Are we just going to accept it as the casualty of the elections? I don't know. Right now, I'm more prepared to face a Noynoy presidency than I'm prepared to deal with the broken friendships.

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