No song and dance contest

More than a decade ago, when the internet did not yet have music platforms, a complete stranger rang our doorbell. He was an engineer and looked, at that time, to be in his early 60’s, somewhat older than me then. Sadly, the years that passed eroded his name from my memory. The stranger said that he came from Manila and he heard from someone that I have a small collection of long-playing records! His trip to Cebu was related to his profession but he made it a side purpose to see me to find out if there was an Eddie Fisher album in my file. Fortunately, I had the 1954 LP containing the song "May I Sing To You". That was the very song he came for and in a very educated respectful manner, he pleaded with me to play it. I could not say no. Even just as the record began, my stranger-engineer-visitor also started to shed tears. In fact, he hummed along with Eddie Fisher and stood up to mimic a motion of his dancing with his wife who died few years earlier.

Believe me, I was deeply touched by the stranger. Even if I am a confessed lover of music myself, my one-time visitor showed me a one-of-a-kind emotional attachment of one man to a song unknown to many. His was pure sincerity.

True to the off-tangent nature of this column, let me talk about politicians. Every time I see politicians, during this campaign season, dance and sing in their rallies and in their paid television advertisements, I remember the engineer who once came to my home. There is a whale of a difference though in the comparison between present candidates and my guest of long ago.

To visualize the difference, let me take the case of re-electionist Ramon Revilla. Judging from the report that he is a high school graduate, he is one guy who never put value on good education. Movie acting is the job available to him because he cannot qualify even to be an office clerk which employs college graduates. In his TV ad, Revilla dances as if the Senate, a seat of which he is running for, is going to be a venue for competitive dancing. Well, Revilla probably dances better than most of his high school colleagues. Unlike my visitor who, in our brief conversation, expressed his profound link with departed spouse, the way a college educated professional would explain things and events, Revilla only dances in his TV political plugs. His dancing grace is his only lure and so he entertains us quite convincingly as to vote for him even if we know that his dancing skill is useless in the Senate.

It is really unfortunate that many among the present breed of senatorial candidates are entertainers. Although they are good entertainers. no doubt, they are not the intellectuals who can discern what specific socio-political ailments to cure. The brilliance of Arturo Tolentino, Lorenzo Tañada, Jose Diokno, and Jovito Salonga, to mention a few, is absent in such senatoriables as Revilla, Lito Lapid, Philip Salvador, Willie Revillame, and Manny Pacquiao. The worse thing is that they rate high in the surveys and as such trend indicates, they will likely add to the mediocrity of the Senate.

While my engineer visitor had one big problem which was to find an Eddie Fisher song (and he attended to it with clinical precision), we, at present, have to accept the fact that problems from economics to peace and order and politics haunt our country. The number of mass actions for or against the administration on myriad concerns, is multiplying. The solutions to these diverse issues can and must be anchored in law. There is a felt need to re-engineer many statutes.The job of a senator is lawmaking. That is why this coming elections, we have to scrutinize the capabilities of aspiring senators. How can a person like entertainers Revilla, et al, who may probably not know what law is, ever draft the bills required to save our country from currently mounting woes? We must not be lulled by the dancing and singing of politicians. I am certain that there are competent candidates whose nationalism is unquestionable. Let us search for them and campaign for their victory.