What happens next

Shortly after the results of the presidential election started coming in, Facebook contacts vented their disappointment about their candidates not winning. Mostly supporters of Gilbert Teodoro, they predicted that the administration of Noynoy Aquino was doomed to fail.

One said that like his mother's administration, Noynoy Aquino's term would be wracked by coups. Another predicted that the leftists would find more recruits with the election of someone from the oppressor class. Some threatened to leave the country and said that they lost hope. Others blamed "uneducated" and "stupid" voters for making Noynoy Aquino win and Erap Estrada come in second. Some suggested that the law be amended to let only those with college education and jobs be allowed to vote.

I was disappointed with the self-proclaimed "thinking" persons' level of understanding of what it means to be a good citizen. While I appreciate how hard they worked to convince me and the other people to support Gilbert Teodoro, I was surprised that they actually believed that ensuring the election of the person whom they thought was most qualified to be President was the end of their duty as citizens.

I guess it's the fault of our educational system. I am aware that students in grade school are taught that we have three branches of government and that each is vested with certain powers. However, our Social Studies books effectively tell us that as citizens, our only duties are to obey the law, pay taxes, and leave the running of the country to the people we elected. This would have worked if the people we elected always had the national interest in mind. Sadly, our history has shown that most of the time, national interest is the least of government officials' concerns.

One of the issues during the campaign was Noynoy Aquino's lack of accomplishments as a lawmaker. While this was not entirely correct, I'm glad that the discussion that ensued reminded people that the job of Congressmen and Senators is to draft laws and not to build basketball courts and waiting sheds and to sponsor beach outings. I also hope that we continue to take an interest in how the Congressmen and Senators act after we elected them. We should monitor what kind of bills are being discussed and object before they become bad laws. It seems that lawmakers get media attention only when they are conducted titillating investigations purportedly in aid of legislation and when they trade accusations against each other, as when Jamby Madrigal accused Manny Villar of insertions in the law to benefit his companies.

A friend asked where lawmakers get ideas. I think it would be safe to say that they get ideas from the loudest people who have the time and energy to pester them to pass a particular law and from those who can give them what they want. It would be interesting to know who among them voted in favor of creating a congressional district for Dato Arroyo in Bicol. It would also be interesting to know just what kind of bills are being drafted by lawmakers who market themselves as champions of the environment. For example, a group of NGOs sent their comments to a bill amending the Revised Forestry Code. They asked that the bill emphasize protection for forests and not their utilization as a source of timber. After meeting strong opposition from loggers, the bill was watered down with not a squeak from senators who claim to be best friends of Mother Earth. It was never passed into law.

The campaign showed that we have the energy to learn about issues that affect our country and the patience to study documents sent our way, including sifting through unwieldy comparative charts. After celebrating our candidates' win (or wallowing if they lost), we should not forget that our country needs us to continue to be vigilant and to participate more actively in how it is run.

* * *

Email: [email protected]