Sadly, mediocre bets are the ones leading

If the presidential race were an executive search for CEO or COO conducted by a prestigious head-hunting firm for a global conglomerate or a top multinational, then it will be a virtual toss-up between two Visayan candidates: the feisty iron lady, Miriam Defensor Santiago from Iloilo, and the Harvard-educated and well-experienced ilustrado executive Manuel Antonio Araneta Roxas from both Capiz and Negros Occidental. A dark horse perhaps is another Visayan, Roy Villareal Seneres from both Panay and the Caraga regions. The surveys however show that Grace Poe and Binay have larger numbers.

If the vice presidential contest is to be conducted like a Management Aptitude Test Basket ( MAT-B), then Senator Alan Peter Cayetano would be a runaway winner. He is decidedly more brilliant than Chiz Escudero, more authentic than Antonio Trillanes IV and more consistent in his passion for good government than both Gringo Honasan and Bong Bong Marcos. While Leni Robredo is clean and appears to be pure of heart, Senator Alan has a better and more extensive experience and track record. But Cayetano may not win over them.

Manny Pacquiao may be the best boxer in the whole world in all times and in all categories. But to be a senator may not be his cup of tea. And yet, he may end up topping the senatorial race. And yet, with due respect, the Pambansang Kamao lacks the wherewithals for becoming a competent legislator. In the House, he had more absences than almost every other solons. He lacks the basics of parliamentary procedures, and is without a grounding on political and constitutional law. The same is true to Edu Manzano and Alma Moreno, for heavens' sake.

Governor Vilma Santos might have been an outstanding provincial executive and in fact, might have been the best Batangas governor of all time. But is she really cut for Congress to make laws? What has Lani Mercado accomplished as representative of Cavite? Or what significant laws were passed by Senator Bong Revilla, his father Ramon Revilla, and his brother-in-law Sonny Jaworski in the Senate? What has Jinggoy Estrada done in the Senate? We have nothing personal against actors in government. But we demand performance. It is our right to expect value for our taxes.

The coming elections are more likely to repeat the same old charade, a sham exercise pretending to be a democratic electoral exercise. The best and the brightest are bound to be beaten by the less qualified, the mediocre, and even some morons who wear the masks of show biz. This can happen only because the voters allow themselves to be hoodwinked, mesmerized and hypnotized by the magic of star popularity. Voters do not think of the complex problems of poverty, unemployment, social injustices, crimes, terrorisms, insurgency the threat of external aggression, and internal subversion.

We have mediocre bets dominating the polls simply because mediocrity characterizes our voters, who shall make another monumental blunder in the polls of May 2016. It is a shame that we have too many ''intelligent'' people who shall be voting into office their intellectual inferiors to rule over them and govern the nation.

What a shame, indeed.