By Joel B. Belinan
This piece is the last for 2021 and the first for 2022. As such we will try to look at what we deem are important matters that happened in the past year as well as what to look forward to this year. And since the whole world remains in a pandemic and even if many are sarcastically saying that Covid-19 has been controlled by the election fever, at least in this country, it is incumbent upon us to look at whether we are satisfied with how authorities had dealt with our problems. And will the coming elections usher in a new hope for the pandemic weary populace?
2021 was the 2nd year that this pandemic had wrought havoc on the whole of humanity. On the surface, there was not much difference with 2020. People’s sufferings got deeper and I don’t think any single country can claim having experienced economic growth. What is very evident is while businesses are down especially the small and medium enterprises, there was a small sector of society that made a killing by cornering Covid-19 related businesses. Allegations of corruption based on the legislative inquiries did not prosper much but these were made much clearer through exposes in the media by some senators who dared to engage in a word war with the President who seemed determined to defend his appointed officials and the companies involved. Yes, Duterte who won in 2016 on a campaign promise to wipe out corruption and solve illegal drugs and criminality became the defender of those accused of corruption.
At the local level, not much can be said as local officials seemed to just parrot whatever the national officials had been saying. Officials are being accused of cashing in on the crisis. What was very evident was many people in government may have developed the so-called power-tripping mentality or showing off to the common people that they were in power.
Furthermore, while more and more regulations were issued, it seemed that police and other law enforcement officers had become relaxed in their implementation.
The filing of candidacies in October ushered in the best diversion for the Covid-19 weary Filipinos. Immediately after the last day of filing, the election fever heated up even though the official campaign period will only start in February for the national candidates while for the local ones, it will start in April.
Party and individual candidates’ motorcades and caravans were seen everywhere, election-related gatherings were organized left and right while the social media and even the Tri-media were abuzz with candidates and their appointed representatives appearing or speaking around every time there was an opportunity. The so-called minimum health protocols promulgated and adopted by the COMELEC are now almost completely disregarded. Then the number of Covid-19 cases started to go down. So can we blame people for concluding that the election fever is the solution for the pandemic?
This year’s elections are synchronized national and local. We will be electing the President, vice president, 12 senators, partylist representatives, our district representatives, governors, vice governors, provincial board members, city and municipal mayors, city councilors, and municipal councilors on May 13, 2022. In the past, the economy after elections usually showed some vibrancy due to increased consumer spending during the campaign period. This means that people, especially those who were living hand-to-mouth subsistence like me, found some economic opportunities during election periods. This year however may not be like the past as only 20% of campaign activities shall be done face to face and 80% will be through the social media.
Personally, I am very pessimistic of any drastic change for the better at the national level after the elections. With the kind of national candidates we have, there will just be a change in the names of those who will win the top positions. Thus, it would be much better to put more importance on the local election as the winning local leaders will be the ones who will directly impact our lives.
In our home city, we have seen in the past 2 years or more the complete lack of compassion among our local executives. Instead, what we saw as their kind of governance are being very good at the surface, and at reporting and presentation, which meant that they were just very concerned about their media image but completely lacking in substance.
An overwhelming number of our people are desperate to have some income making it easier for moneyed candidates to prey on them. We do hope that despite this, we will still choose the lesser evil and more compassionate leader who will lead us in the coming post-pandemic recovery period. **
Happy New Year Everyone.
