Victory parties

I was wrong when I said two days after the election, that all was over except the counting. For some, it is, like the senators who have been proclaimed winners.

For the oppositionists, I think their intention is never to have the canvassing finished for that would mean that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is going to continue serving as head of state for six years – a total of almost ten years, and a long wait for the opposition to bear.

Some of the public may not like GMA to continue as president, but the tactics of the opposition have become quite boring, and the clamor vibrating from one cell phone to another is that the canvassing should proceed without any more silly filibusters. Enough is enough! Let’s have the elected officials proclaimed and get their work done.

Twenty minutes ago, just before lunch, it was announced on television that reelectionist Rodolfo Biazon had won over James Barbers. The two candidates had been sitting on pins and needles as votes were being counted in several places in Mindanao. I liked it when I heard Barbers say over the radio that he was going to accept the winner heartily if the counting showed that he was indeed the winner.

I like it that Senator Biazon has been reelected. He had faced strong opposition from certain sectors for his open advocacy of reproductive health. We had been told that some Catholic bishops had told their parishioners not to vote for him precisely because of his progressive views on family planning.

We’re sad about some candidates not being able to make it because that would mean not hearing their intelligent voices in Congress. Frank Chavez and Jun Yasay should have won, and their loss is ours definitely.

My choices for candidates won – Mar Roxas, Dick Gordon, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Rodolfo Biazon, Pia Cayetano, Nene Pimentel.

Now the winners are celebrating their victory with their constituencies. I guess Mar, who won the market vendors’ vote – and the vote of every sensible citizen (rich or poor) – may be holding street dancing and feasts in market places. He owes much of his victory to them.

We attended the victory celebration of Dick Gordon – who placed No. 5 in the election – at the NBC tent at Fort Bonifacio. The place was filled to the rafters – with his supporters, relatives and friends. The tables were swiftly wiped clean, and there was music and laughter. John Lesaca played the flute, and the UP Singing Ambassadors sang. Susan Calo was emcee, and her companion said Dick Gordon was the best tourism secretary, and you know who said that? Dick Gordon. Laughter all around. Dick walked up to the stage near the close of the celebration, expressed his thanks, and talked of a platform anchored on improvement of tourism facilities and initiatives – with thumbs-up sign from incumbent Tourism Secretary Obet Pagdanganan.

True enough, Dick’s Upsilonian brods were there. This columnist noticed that when the U.P. singing ambassadors sang Aloyan – which is like the Upsilon Sigma Phi’s national anthem – there were misty eyes in some of his brods’ eyes, and some even whispered "thank you to visitors near them for supporting and voting for Dick."

Among those I saw were Louie Kierulf, Inky Reyes, Tong Puno, Danny Gozo, Congressman Ed Zialcita, Congressman Roquito Ablan, Ramon Maronilla, Macoy Pernia, Jun Aniag, Rico Agcaoili, Abong Tayag, Jess Solidon, Louie Beroga, Boy Abarquez, Joey Lumain, Tony Zuniga, Alex San Valentin and Saeed A. Daof.

Expect an Upsilon victory party soon.

In his latest collection of sermons, my favorite pastor, Proceso U. Udarbe, has a piece entitled, "Does Our Christianity Support Our Democracy?" He mentions former Senate Jovito Salonga who, in his book, The Intangibles that Make a Nation Great, calls the attention of the politicians that politics should not be "a field where self-interest, treachery, double-dealing, trickery and lack of candor are the prevailing trade makers."

And yet today, Dr. Udarbe writes, "we see all these being shown on TV in the supposedly august and highest legislative body – the Philippine Senate! Editors everywhere lament the lack of moral tone in our common life. Magazines – the Free Press, Fortune and Time and Newsweek remind us that "our spiritual roots must go deeper in this time of anxiety and peril." We are told that our problem is "the nature of man, lest he loses either his conscience or his humanity before the inherent mystery of things."

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