It matters

When I turned 18, two life-changing things happened to me: I got my first job being the coffee bitch at the ABS-CBN newsroom and I got to vote for the first time in my life.

These were two very powerful things. I suddenly became an adult.

If there was something more regrettable than Chiz Escudero’s voting outfit (check it out on Instagram) it is that I did not register to vote this time. Ever since I could, I always flew to Iloilo to vote. I was abroad finishing my book and my mind was very far away from everything. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

For me everything really went downhill after Ramos. It was a golden moment in time for the Filipinos.

I must say I was doubtful on the heels of having our current president Aquino winning. I voted for Villar. However, in the last few years I must say that Filipinos have started believing in their country again. Filipinos have started respecting their leaders again. It’s been a great three years so far. We finally have a good president and administration. Perhaps another golden moment?

Our economy is booming. People are getting jobs. Corruption is at an all-time low. Our current government is the sui generis of restored faith after years of numbed dystopia. Whereas Aquino’s mother came in with the biggest of fanfare and as a global inspiration, her son’s was a quiet and respectful seating after a relatively peaceful electoral process.

In the past week, you could see the effects of the last election season three years ago. Trapos mostly out, perhaps a dynasty issue will float about. Dynasty or not, with all the much-needed fresh blood in, we need to give them a chance. The three candidates that I was mostly rooting for were Cynthia Villar, Grace Poe and Sonny Angara.

Cynthia Villar for always having her finger on the pulse on things that mattered. Grace Poe, who was perhaps the most celebrated populist candidate in the polls, performed amazingly at the debates. A wild and wonderful combination for such a candidate. Sonny Angara represents all that is good in a modern national leader: intelligence, honor and an august strength. He is also a big hit with the ladies (check the numerous Twitter gushes on the Harvard alum), earning him JFK-like appeal (without the shadiness) along with his beautiful and sharp wife Tootsie.

I’m only skimming the froth when it comes to exalting these candidates. Their appeal stems from who they are authentically as people. Their victory represents who we are as Filipinos. We are no longer lured by the fantasy of action stars. We are no longer voting for the same people because we think the new candidates will be just the same.

I remember asking the assistant of my internist who she voted for. This was a long time ago. She told me her presidential choice and I asked her why she chose him. She simply said, “Well, we’ve always had intelligent presidents and it’s been dispiriting, so why not get a stupid one? This person might make a difference and not steal too much.” I was both flabbergasted and enlightened by the truth.

Today, voters want someone they can look up to and trust. It’s gone beyond being a money game. Voters are actually beginning to represent themselves in their votes, no longer surrendering themselves with condescending sample ballots.

A person at one of our screenings for the movie we just made called Metro Manila questioned the ethics of the victory of the hero and how the “masa” will receive it as some form of instruction. It was then, as part of the panel on the Q&A we had after the screening, that I had a bit of an epiphany.

There is no longer a “masa.” The masa are all the Filipinos. Whether they are educated, struggling under the poverty level, rich or born abroad, we all embrace a universal need. The need that we can rely on our leaders to help us feel safe in our mother country. Safe enough to encourage human capital flight and bringing home the more progressive things some Filipinos have learned from developed countries. That we’re no longer vulnerable due to a plundered treasury. That more mothers will raise their own children and not Caucasian children, since we are in a country where one no longer needs to simply survive, but to live. That we will all eventually learn how to read and write and be exposed to more stimulating things other than variety shows, which exploits the dreams of Filipinos. That we will live in a country and relate to it as we would to our mother and father (granted they’re good mothers and fathers), as a safe harbor.

It is this need that surpasses all demographics and presents a universal victory. No one should underestimate the Filipino.

I grew up with politicians. I remember every Election Day, we would have Jollibee and coffee all around the house as my parent’s staff counted the votes and checked on the other candidates. The rooms in our house were filled with excited energy and some tension brought out by the anticipation of the unknown. I knew then as a child that politics mattered.

I hate that I was not part of the Instagram gallery of fingers covered in ink. Kidding aside, this has been a big disappointment in myself. The only role wherein I can exercise my right as a Filipino to choose who will govern our dreamy safe harbor, I passed on. There is no excuse. If this all goes to shit (it won’t, I believe in that so much), I have no right to complain. I passed on that privilege to do so.

If there is one thing I witnessed the past few days it is that Filipinos have evolved as a voting populace. We are no longer spoon-fed by the sesquipedalian promises of past leaders who were so out of touch that we may have felt so detached. Elections should bring a country together. Fighting for a common good.

The other day, I was talking to my friend Jackie about some Filipinos who have made it abroad who don’t admit they are Filipinos. Like it’s unfashionable to be Filipino. They may have all their different and wrong reasons. Despite living in a dark epoch of evil governance, being a Filipino is amazing. We are a nation known for its resiliency. We’ve weathered a dim storm.

I believe now things are starting to get better. This belief of mine starts with the more responsible fingers of the Filipino voters. After all, we all create our own destiny.