EDITORIAL - All sound and fury, signifying nothing

The barangay and SK elections are supposed to be held this October. For one reason or another, there are proposals to postpone the twin political exercises. That there is no public outroar, one way or the other, in connection with the proposed postponement only indicates the general apathy people have regarding the issue. The truth is, Filipinos couldn't care less if the elections push through or not.

Of course a tiny fraction of the population made up of politicians is interested in the outcome of the proposals because it is their own interests that are at stake. It is this tiny fraction that is doing all the stirring, making all the noise. If there is a way to remove this fraction out of the picture, even if only for a moment, the rest of the nation will be amazed at how peaceful and quiet their lives can actually be.

Just take a look at something that happened recently. In Cebu over the weekend, more than 300 politicians skedaddled over to the PDP-Laban, the party that took in President Rodrigo Duterte, the party that, before the election, was made up notably of only one active politician of some significance - senator Koko Pimentel. Duterte actually did not have a national party before the PDP-Laban made him its standard-bearer.

Just prior to the election, when it became evident that Duterte had a good shot at winning, a shot that increasingly became a distinct possibility as the days wore on, wily politicians started making a beeline for the PDP-Laban. When Duterte won, the beeline became a headlong stampede. Now PDP-Laban is almost bursting at the seams.

But that is not all. There were even wilier politicians who, to keep their options even better, struck alliances with PDP-Laban without actually leaving their own parties, resulting in what has come to be known as a super coalition. And now, after all of these new alliances and realignments, with many still being done or in the works, as what happened in Cebu, we are about to be immersed in yet even more politics with the coming barangay and SK elections.

So who really gives a hoot about these political developments except the politicians themselves. The public is completely out of it. The movement of politicos from one party to the other is of no moment to them. People's lives will not become any better on account of these movements. Neither will they be on account of the coming elections.

There is simply too much politics that the lives of ordinary Filipinos can handle. Even in Cebu City - nothing of any significance has happened since the new officials took office on June 30. But judging from the buzz emanating from the political front, one would think the city has stumbled upon some massive earth-shaking development that would change the lives of Cebuanos for the better forever. Alas and alack, it is just the sound and fury of politicians, signifying nothing.