In a country where electoral protests can remain unresolved long after the term of office for the position being contested shall have expired, it is always too early to call the results of an election, more so a day or two after it has been held.
But if the early figures we are being fed by the various nationwide quick counts can be relied upon as a faithful indication of a trend or something to that effect, then it appears that Filipinos have grown frustrated enough as to be willing to try anything to change things.
This is the chilling sensation we get by the early fine showing of senatorial candidates Gregorio Honasan and Antonio Trillanes, two former military officers implicated in attempts to topple the government.
We concede the causes for change espoused by Honasan and Trillanes are valid and good but the methods they employed to effect change were wrong and dangerous. Their willingness to hold the nation hostage for a cause, no matter how great, proves the bankruptcy of their moral chest.
Yet there they are, the two men who had been too willing to plunge the country into chaos for ideals that certainly could have been pursued in some other less risky way, appearing to be whistling their way to the Senate.
It would be too sweeping and unfair to say we must have all gone nuts. On the other hand, it is not too farfetched to assume we are up to our necks in frustration that we are now willing to try anything, or at least by our vote wag the signal of our grudging willingness.
The reader has to be forewarned, however, that by their own admission, the figures so far being made available by the various nationwide quick counts come mostly from the National Capital Region, which traditionally goes opposition.
Nevertheless, even if the figures eventually get overhauled when results from the Visayas and Mindanao start coming in, what they must have meant cannot be ignored. They have to be acknowledged and recognized as an indication of a disturbing twist in Filipino perception.