‘Sorry, na budol ako’

I don’t like to gloat, and I avoid saying I told you so, but sometimes I can’t help sprinkling some salt or alcohol on some people who got in my face and poked fun at me for political reasons.

During the last presidential campaign, two friends of mine tried to get my goat by wearing their partisan bias for Bongbong Marcos in person and online. Why they did so was a mystery to me since I consider myself apolitical.

I remember the time we were driving through zigzag roads towards the town of Sagada and my friend kept chanting “BBM” – “BBM” – “BBM!” I took it all good naturedly even when my friend persisted, to the point of getting in my face.

But as we love saying, “There is a God, and he punishes small sins quickly.”

While enjoying annoying me, my friend inexplicably drove to the side of the road and asked me to take the wheel. He apparently got car sick, got so dizzy that he was forced to go on “silent mode” for the rest of the drive!

My other pro-BBM “bro” regularly sent me selfies with BBM at events to show or brag that he was tight with BBM. They knew each other undoubtedly, but “close” and “tight” are ideas I never associate with politicians and people in power. You can only imagine how the “pang-aasar” escalated once BBM became PBBM.

In spite of it all, I was never affected or annoyed because I understood their loyalties, their hopes to be of influence or be part of the circle. And as I said, political allegiance has never been my game. I swear allegiance only to God, country and family.

As the years passed, the chants toned down, the posts got fewer and I assumed it was because post elections, everybody went back to their normal life. But then one day, the BBM cheer leader/chanter sent me a very short message: “Sorry about BBM, pare. Na budol ako.”

Only when we actually met up did my friend pour out his disappointment and bad judgment of BBM as president as well as his administration. He felt so stupid and misled, that only by confessing it and apologizing could he forgive himself.

I did not do a chant, but I had a good laugh over the “na budol ako” statement. It certainly made me wonder how many million others have felt “na budol sila” in past elections?

The video posting loyalist, on the other hand, came down harder with his criticism not just of BBM but almost everyone around him, immediate or otherwise. What I heard and read and presumed as gossip and half-truths, he claimed to have seen or known.

Unlike Mr. Na Budol Ako, the Loyalist witnessed the dark side along with others in his circle. He was not just disappointed, he was disgusted by the characters and behavior in the circle of power, as many of us now know from the DPWH scandals.

His discoveries went beyond disappointments, they were like a slap on the face of a trusting friend. It reminded me of the story of a man who went to bed with a prostitute, then found her disgusting after the fact and kicked her out in order to redeem himself.

My wife once made a comment about a difference between the Dutch and Filipinos. The Dutch don’t casually use the term “my friend” when introducing or talking about an acquaintance or professional associate.

The only time the term “my friend” is used or applies is with someone you have very close, long-term relations. In contrast, Filipinos casually introduce, tag or label acquaintances as “friends.”

Similarly, many Filipinos campaign, support and chant for a politician as if they were immediate relatives or intimate relations when in fact they are not! Imagine “unfriending” or blocking real people for political “idols” or a stranger?

To this day, I know people who have been swallowed up by politics and don’t realize that people who sincerely cared for and respected them are no longer in the room because the campaign propaganda and political hatred never stopped.

Even the most God-fearing, church-going, Bible-reading people lose themselves in Philippine politics and alliances. Look at what happened to several churches and church leaders that have fallen into the quicksand of iniquity and accusations.

I am glad and appreciate that many of my friends are honest enough to admit when they are wrong, made bad choices and bad decisions. We are only human. The ugly ones are those who feed fires of contempt, reject alternative realities and sacrifice friendships made through time.

In the first chapter of the Book of Proverbs we are warned:

“My son, if sinners entice you, do not go to them… My son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths… These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves!... Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those get it.”

Sinner or saint, we all need to ask ourselves: is politics worth losing friends over? Is my political passion and beliefs disrespecting those who respect me? “Seeing, do I actually see?” “Hearing, do I actually hear the truth?”

Politicians are not our friends. They do not have our personal interest at heart. They will not be in the room when we need real friends.