How could Jesus lose to Barabbas?

In the open elections by viva voce, before the court of Pontius Pilate, the revered master, healer, and teacher, Jesus Christ, lost to the convicted rebel, notorious robber, and heinous criminal Barabbas. The questions that the naive, the idealists, and the innocents would ask are why and how? The voters were mostly people whom Jesus healed from their sicknesses, people whom he fed by the multiplication of the loaves and fish, people who were inspired by his teachings, moved by his exhortations and enlightened by his explanations of the scriptures. He was well-respected, well-loved and admired, held in awe and high esteem. How could Jesus lose to a scoundrel, a rascal, and a scalawag? Ask the scribes and Pharisees who rigged that election.

In Philippine politics, these questions are no longer asked anymore. The people are sick and tired of asking and are no longer bewildered, surprised, or even annoyed why too many scumbags are elected into office. The people have come to accept that in the dirty games of politics (or any politics for that matter) the good ones never win over the bad guys. Those who are clean, those who just want to serve, those who have no hidden agenda or evil design, are almost always the losers in the dirty games of elections. The good ones are admired but they are not voted. The clean guys are respected but their names are not written on the ballots. And even if written, the balloting shall be rigged, the counting shall be manipulated. And the good guys end up losing over and over again.

Why do the sovereign Filipino people allow this evil to perpetuate itself? Isn’t it written in the Holy Book that vox populi, vox dei? That the voice of the people is the voice of God? Well, evil is allowed to triumph because the good men choose to do nothing. The good ones are too afraid to risk their lives, to spend their money and to enter the political arena because they fear the guns, the gold, and the goons of the trapos. The real good people in society do not want to stain their hands with the blemishes of dirty politics. They do not want to kill, to terrorize, to buy votes or to seek the support of drug lords and gambling lords. They do not want to bribe election officials or to manipulate election results. They do not want to deal with family dynasties or to do transactional politics. They are too virginal and corporate in their view of political dynamics.

To answer the question, how did Christ lose to Barabbas, well, the scribes who hated Jesus and the Pharisees who were so jealous and afraid of the Messiah rigged the elections. They bought the voters, bribed those who counted the votes, terrorized the sympathizers of Jesus, and threatened those who wanted to vote for Jesus. The people were weak, they were easy to manipulate. They did not have the courage to stand up for what they believed was right. They surrendered their human dignity in the name of self-preservation. These are the kind of voters that we have today. Thus the ones in government are the likes of Barabbas, Judas, Estas, and all those scum of the earth who deserve to be in jail rather than in high offices. Of course, we interject a caveat: There are exceptions, some “breath of fresh air inside the catacombs of stench and decay.” But they are drowned, overwhelmed, and outvoted by the evil majority.

What is happening to our country, General?