Vote for women

Omigod! I watched the final interview of the presidential candidates on TV last Sunday. I found it totally distressing. I missed the first two debates but I did not expect this to be the way it was. Sunday’s debate wasn’t clean and clear like the CNN vice presidential debate. It was theatrical, soap opera-ish, too many distracting elements. It was a lousy show if you wanted to get to know the candidates better.  CNN’S vice presidential debate was better organized and quieter. You appreciated what each candidate stood for. They didn’t have the feedback session from whomever so people had the space to judge and choose their candidates. That I thought was brilliant.

 At the vice presidents’ debate, I chose Leni Robredo, who really stood out, as my vote but Alan Cayetano also impressed me with his apparent idolatry for Rodrigo Duterte. I thought the unity between them was thick and if I liked Duterte, whom I had not seen nor heard before, I might just change my mind.

So I watched TV last Sunday with my grandson, Julian, who is home on vacation. We were both dismayed to notice Miriam Defensor Santiago’s loose dentures and memory lapses. I’m very sorry but I found myself totally turned off by her standard aggressive style, the style that once endeared her to the people of the Philippines. Now that charm is worn out. She is not going to be a winner.

Jojo Binay kept walking up and down the stage believing, I suppose, that all that movement would bring him closer to the people. But he did not answer Mar Roxas’ question to him about his corruption. He gave that the slip thinking he would get away with it. But when he said he would win the elections, I got goose bumps. He has cheating on his mind, I told my grandson. He has had the most experience cheating.

Isn’t cheating the usual way to the presidency? My grandson asked. I had to nod in agreement. What an unfortunate country this is!

 Then came Rodrigo Duterte, wearing what looked like a velvet shirt between rust and brown, his white sando peeping.  He had an air that reminded me of someone I had seen in the movies. Who? I kept asking myself. Then like a flash it came. He reminded of King Kong. I have a friend who, like many of the women who surround Duterte, found him sexy after the first presidential interview on TV, which I did not watch. She kept swooning over him. I said, If you find him sexy please sleep with him but don’t make him our president.

I know people who are fed up with our traditional political system will vote for Duterte because he’s different. He’s determined to change our system. He’s determined to kill the people who sell drugs. Most alarming of all, when someone asked him what he would do if he found out his child was doing drugs, he said, I will kill him. Is he saying  he would kill his own child if he found the child on drugs? My grandson asked. Yes, I said. That’s when I saw there was also something in Duterte that reminded me of Ferdinand Marcos. There was a veneer of charm covering a hard ruthlessness. I decided right then and there I would rather die first before I put my trust in Duterte. I am definitely not voting for a heartless man.

 Mar Roxas’ performance was astounding. In the landscape of presidential candidates he was the most charming and the most good-looking. If he becomes president he would do all right with the other world powers. Of course, I hope the next US President is Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump. If it is Donald Trump who wins, then Duterte will do well standing next to him. They both have odd features.  Of course this judgment is totally visual but visual impact in the international scene is important too. We need a president who will project our country internationally.

But still I am not moved to vote for Mar.

In the end I will still vote for Grace Poe for President. She seemed the simplest, most sensible, the coolest in temperament. People tell me they don’t like her because she is an American or she gave up her citizenship. I know how that feels. I also went to the USA after Ninoy Aquino was assassinated and had a difficult time getting my papers together. I never once stopped being a Filipino. You can become an American/Canadian/French/whatever citizen and not stop being Filipino. I think they just don’t like the idea of a woman president. But I feel Grace has vision and she will die trying to deliver on it. I still choose Grace Poe and Leni Robredo for president and vice president, two outstanding, intelligent women with their hearts on the national and international scenes. And if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency of the United States, it’s the auspicious beginning of a woman’s world at long last!

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