I’ll give you three guesses. No, it’s not a Spanish conjugation, but it is a jargon all its own. It’s not Il Divo’s new, hunkier tenor competition, but they’re not beyond singing for a price. It’s not the latest Italian restaurant chain, although these could eat us, then spit us out. Nor is it “sward speak.” Need more clues? Like the poisonous variety of fungi, they only come out in certain seasons. Like unwanted pests, we wish we could spray them gone. Like weeds, we could get overrun by them. Give up?
Trapo, Travo, Trafu and Trame are the four horsemen of the apocalyptic election: Traditional politicians, traditional voters, traditional funders and traditional media. Like the swine flu season that doesn’t have a cure, they resurface when it’s that time of year. Worse, election after election they mutate into more vicious, widespread, brazen viruses that require more potent antidotes.
The species seem leeched to each other in a symbiotic manner, each one fed and fattened by the other. This wheel-and-deal quartet prospers in the slimy underbelly of the voting period, each one perpetuating the syndrome and possibly infecting more who are weak. It’s a simple enough arrangement. The trafu finances the trapo, who is willing to pay the travo, who is selling his vote, while the trame, who is also collecting his dues, is selling his profession to make the trapo more acceptable and “winnable.” The practice is as common as the campaign rituals of kissing babies and shaking hands. Except that in this case, the handshake could mean a retainer has been sealed.
Obviously this breed must be studied and investigated with grim determination. It’s the only way we can prevent them from proliferation; the only way we can prevent the malady from turning into an epidemic. As an avid watcher of politics, I have observed these organisms personally but always at arm’s length, and only after taking precautionary measures. Let’s get familiar with the stereotypes and their modus operandi. Maybe someday soon we can find the silver bullet or the holy water that can trounce them for good.
The ‘Trapo’
The trapo still subscribes to the “winning” formula of vote-getting through the 3Gs: Gold, Guns and Goons. Incapable of any creativity and innovation, he looks at the elections as a startup business. He doesn’t mind the capital investment and seed money because when he wins, it’s big-time payback. The goal is to make sure the revenues earned during his term of office exceed the costs of operations before he got to the seat of power.
Trapos come in many shapes and sizes. They can be older or younger, posturing as mavericks or reformists, glib or speech-challenged, aggressive or retiring, seemingly devout or obviously narcissistic. There are neither psychographic nor demographic predictors in gender, socio-economic class, educational attainment, religion or ethnic roots. In other words, the trapo bug can bite any public official. From idealists, they decline into pragmatists, then into full-fledged trapos.
Encounters with the trapo kind can be very disturbing. In the communications business, there is an unwritten law that we must listen to everyone even if our instinctive reaction is to gag and have goose bumps at the mere thought. So I steeled myself to at least hear them out before politely saying no. Trapo A held court in a five-star hotel ensconced at the head of a table full of pretty young assistants constantly cooing their agreement with everything he said. When he asked what I know of or had heard about him, I asked about a recent negative issue that was raised by the media. The ladies in the court gasped. Evidently, one doesn’t raise negatives with Trapo A. He brushed it off like the breadcrumbs on the tablecloth and then unabashedly recited all his accomplishments, ignoring the issue.
Trapo B opened the meeting by saying that he had amassed a war chest in the vicinity of P10 billion and was prepared to unleash his gold, and whatever else it takes to win. Trapo C was represented by his charming wife. After the session, she herself concluded that I would not get along with her headstrong husband. To be fair, Trapo D had an impressive track record tainted by questionable loyalties and rumored kickbacks. Trapo E was a shape-shifter. With the administration yesterday, an oppositionist today and who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Finding one non-trapo for a while seemed like mission impossible. Today, the trapos are fast sinking in the surveys or have bowed out of the race.
The ‘Travo’
The assumption has always been that the illiterate, poor voters do ballot selling. Indeed, there are anecdotal eyewitness reports that this is so. A company CEO who had 800 employees in his rural company reported that when he asked whom they would support, the leader shamelessly declared that they were open to whoever was willing to pay. He proceeded to explain that for local officials, the opening bid was P500 per vote, for congressmen and senators it was P1,000, for vice president it was P2,000 and for president it was P3,000. He explained that times were really hard. But in the scheme of things, as unfortunate as it is, this entrepreneurial vote selling is penny-ante.
The ‘Trafu’
The trafus are more dangerous than the travos. They are the shadowy, big-business types who not only finance the trapos’ retail vote-buying initiatives, but also expect a sustainable return of investment through crony deals once their candidate is installed. In exchange for their private planes and cash in the campaign kitty — sweet government deals, favorable laws and court decisions are but a few expected spoils from the winning aspirant. This unholy alliance only ends with the term of office.
It was faith-restoring to witness Raul Roco bawl out a provincial coordinator who dared to accept a “contribution” from a known and very influential jueteng lord. The trafu plague has been resisted by a few good men.
The ‘Trame’
Probably the most malignant of the ilk is the trame. Like the travos, the paid hacks and opinion makers not only damage the reputation of media as a whole, but they institutionalize corruption and then multiply the effect. The trame is creepy-crawly on steroids. It bites with malice and its venom is carried by word of mouth and through other channels of mass communication. Then the lie is repeated over and over, from barbershops to cyberspace, until perception becomes reality. And it costs the trapo and his trafu an arm and a leg.
It has become standard for a campaign’s media relations officer (MRO) to request a policy decision on whether the media will be “incentivized” or not. It’s standard for the provincial radio manager to ask up front how much the candidate will pay for a primetime interview and some flattering reviews. In fact, the “package” can go as high as P25 million a month for daily Q&A, plus several positive mentions.
Another practice is a fixed monthly retainer account from which the “payee” can withdraw with an ATM card if he or she proves that they have delivered on the deal. Technology has made the transfer of funds and propaganda faster and more fatal.
A Permanent Solution
It should be as simple as a vaccine shot, but the execution won’t be easy. There is actually only one treatment. Like nicotine addiction, the four tras must stop cold turkey. Cut the symbiotic relationship. Starve the food chain. If the trapo stops feeding off the trafu, he won’t be tied to his apron strings. Trapo won’t have grease money to give travo and trame and just maybe, choosing a leader will be a healthier expression of democracy, free of the four banes of election.
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