Mudslinging dismays a lot of voters!

If we can believe those SWS or Pulse Asia surveys, all of a sudden the number of the undecided voters has increased instead of decrease now that the May 10 election is just over the horizon? Strange! Pundits are saying that this could be due to the reality that the two main contenders in this political circus, Sen. Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party (NP) and Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party (LP) have waged the most vile and contemptible mudslinging reminiscent of the ’60s era elections.

What these two characters are doing is simply throwing the mud without explaining their side whether these accusations thrown at each other are true or not. A case in point is when Sen. Noynoy Aquino accused Manny Villar of “profiting” from the C-5 Road extension. If you saw the map that has been spread over the Internet on how crooked this road because it was obviously rerouted to pass close to the subdivisions that Sen. Villar owned, but instead of explaining his side as to what happened, Sen. Villar through his Dobermans barked an accusation against Noynoy that he too had the SCTEX project which his family also profited from.

Mind you, the Filipino voters are anxiously waiting for either of the two to answer these accusations. But what is happening here is a case of the kettle calling the pot black! Indeed this is a huge turn-off for many voters and for as long as the NP and the LP gnaw at each other like barking dogs fighting for the voters’ bones, we shall never find out the truth about these very serious accusations.

As for the Office of the Ombudsman led by Merceditas Gutierrez, the Filipino people have all but lost their faith and confidence in this office because the mud that the two candidates are throwing is plain and simple graft and they are doing nothing about it! Yes, Virginia, when Sen. Manny Villar responded to the C-5 Controversy that he did not steal government money, he wasn’t lying. What he did was not corruption, it was graft! So why are Sen. Villar and Aquino filing cases of graft for the C-5 and SCTEX respectively? Perhaps the Ombudsman is waiting for either of the two to win the Presidency so they can deal with their legal problems later, if you know what I mean.

That great American President, Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can fool some of the people, all of the time, all of the people, some of the time, but you can never fool all of the people, all of the time.” That a lot of Filipino voters have been turned off by what is happening in this circus called politics is a sign of maturity. I would like to believe that the Filipino voter realizes that there is just too much at stake for country, they don’t want to make the mistake in voting for the candidate that might bring our country another six years of much of the same thing or even worse! 

We know how our ASEAN neighbors have left us so far behind and if we choose the wrong leaders who merely lure the voters with promises of no more corruption, as if this plaque can be eradicated in just six years, then we shall spend another six years of regrets! For so long, when our newly elected leaders, be it the President, Senator, Congressman, Governor or Mayor take their oath of office, the first things they do is run after their political rivals in the hope that they could never wage a political battle again.

Too much time is spent in neutralizing their political opponents that our leaders fail to look forward. Worse the of all the people look at this as a daily telenovela, enjoying the drama unfolding, but never realizing that their future has been compromised due to political vendetta. If you only opened your Bibles, in Genesis you will read that when God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he only had one advise to Abraham, that they should not look back. But the wife of Lot did look back and she turned to salt!

Meanwhile, working quietly but feverishly is former Defense Sec. Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, Jr. who has gotten the admiration of many Filipinos for his high-level campaign… where not a single ugly word has escaped his lips, nor has he joined the mudslinging which benefits no one. But he has been subjected by both the NP & LP camps with lies and innuendoes, like he is quitting the race, when the reality is, he is so focused on his campaign, you better believe that victory is within his grasp.

Incidentally, the Inquirer has done it again (for the nth time) where their banner headline last Tuesday was “Lakas: Nograles big loss!” Well, last Wednesday, they came up with a very sheepish report under the fold that said, “Nograles not leaving ruling party after all! A few weeks ago, the Inquirer headlined a story that Gibo’s allies in Cebu are leaving him. But the story was about former Cebu City Mayor Alvin Garcia going to Villar, but he was never identified as a Gibo supporter. So now the Presidentiables should woo the undecided voters by real promises, not by throwing mud!

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