By Alex P. Vidal
“If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve.” —William Tecumseh Sherman
NO astute politician will openly unleash his rhetoric to woo the voters with barely nine months before the 2022 Philippine general election while the public is being besieged by the Delta variant.
It’s not only bad timing, it’s also irritating for the people especially when stomachs are empty and income is flat zero.
Not only did politics take a backseat while the pandemic rolled over our lives with a horrific sequel, the pandemic has knocked politics out.
Even the campaign funds from regular donors are no longer showing signs of life.
There is a possibility some election 2022 aspirants will crash out of contention when the goings get tough for lack of wherewithal.
Politics and politicking have become a taboo when the people don’t have food to eat and no longer see their public leaders as the sources of survival and inspiration.
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In some other time and clime, politicians were already busy giving the rounds in the squatter colonies to mesmerize and condition the minds of the voters and tell them how “dear and special” they are to these politicians aspiring for higher public office even a year before the election.
A year before the election when there was no pandemic yet, political wanna-bes swarmed over every nook and cranny of vote-rich provinces, municipalities and villages like casts in the Raiders of the Lost Ark and promised the people the stars and the moon.
They will not and can’t do it today for heaven’s sake.
People in the villages who have suffered so much from the pandemic economically will lynch them.
The mental and emotional anguish the people incurred during the never-ending lockdowns shouldn’t be underestimated and taken for granted.
Many of them who now live abnormal lives because of the wrath of pandemic have developed short and bad tempers; the poverty and financial catastrophes they absorbed as a result of destruction wrought by pandemic has somehow affected their rational thinking and emotional stability.
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Unless they bring food and cash, election 2022 aspirants will be derided and vilified the moment they step into the doors of residents to tell them “we care for you and we hope you are safe from COVID-19 blah blah blah.”
In the time of pandemic, the politicians’ words and lullabies have no more substance and don’t tantalize the hungry.
The more the politicians express their “concern” or malasakit without giving any cash or goods to support their words, the more the people are tempted to wring their necks and push them in the nearest ravine for giving them false hopes and wasting their time.
Some quality but uncommitted leaders are also staying away from the forthcoming Philippine election for fear the next administration might inherent a king-sized problem even if the pandemic will subside.
Even in the local and national legislatures, we haven’t heard of any opposition firebrand exposing anomalies in government in their privilege speech these past months.
If billions of taxpayers’ money would be spirited away with gusto by the kawatans and rascals in government without being detected while
everyone’s attention was in the pandemic, it’s also because some so-called “fiscalizers” and “graft busters” have become negligent and lazy.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)
