Should I run?

I have heard the question asked so many times directly and indirectly that it almost sounds like I was asking myself.

In this season of dreams, ambition and madness, the question is probably foremost in many peoples’ minds this week. Whoever aspires to run for public office has only three days to commit themselves to a political marathon that will test their sanity, intellect, wealth, competency and integrity. To be honest, the sparse appearances at Comelec offices is the momentary calm before the storm until perhaps Thursday morning or until Friday afternoon when the mad, the bold and the corrupt will unmask themselves and their intents.

Don’t be fooled, all that activity is simply ministerial and will eventually be disrespected with strategic replacements, all timed to throw off their opponents or after they have insured cash in the bank and certainty in the ballots. What traditional politicians despise the most is spending their own money for nothing and losing their face in an election.

So they will file their candidacy because, with the exception of the pure, the rest are as flies unable to stay away from carrion; the decaying flesh of dead public interest and involvement. They feed on our apathy and indifference and as they feed they turn into maggots that occupy political positions ordinary citizens no longer aspire for or cannot afford.

Ironically, it is our pound of flesh they extract through taxes that they partially sprinkle about while reminding us: This is where your taxes go... to roads serving their beach properties, their luxury sports cars and SUVs you didn’t know they owned because they are so heavily tinted and sport untraceable security plates from the LTO. They no longer collect mansions and sprawling farm lands, they simply gobble up or buy into companies nowadays, it beats passive investments and there are so many willing law firms lining up to play dummy. It is no longer a “millionaire’s game” – now they play for billions.

If you are not one of them, do not feel consoled from being spared any participation in the circus unfolding. In a matter of seven months, you too will feel the distasteful task of throwing the dice as you try to sift and choose the qualified and the righteous candidate while risking your very life and health in exercising your duty as a citizen of the Republic. You get to exercise your choice regardless, but there is no guarantee that your vote will be counted or will matter if, once again, doubts and accusations of voter fraud and pre-programmed counting fill the front pages. Only overwhelming pre-election waves of public support and surveys for the peoples’ choice can prevent the wicked from pushing through with the greatest lie and biggest fraud that could take place in 2022. If that is in our stars, then you have seven months to the day to “get out of town or, better yet, get out of the country.”

Last week, this was the very sentiment expressed to me by two individuals on separate occasions. They are well connected, well informed assets in public office and it seems that underneath the circus-like announcements of potential candidates for president and vice president, a more serious group of political consultants on both sides of the fence are worried that the supposed candidacy of certain people could destabilize our country’s economy, political set-up as well as our peace and order. Many of you already know who these disruptive players are, but they themselves have not been willing to listen and heed the advice of their own team. Like dogs or horses chasing after a bitch in heat, they are unmindful of who gets trampled in the chase for power.

The possibility of a perfect storm where an unpopular or politically disruptive candidate winning as president or vice president together with the possibility of electoral fraud due to the already suspect counting machines and a serious threat to our peace and order or national security such as street protests and violence could flip the Philippines upside down.

Consider the alleged price tag of P1 billion supposedly needed to initially counter the electronic fraud on election week. At that price, someone might find it more practical to identify potential operators and neutralize them the same way drug dealers are dealt with in the country.

This scenario and similar election related ones is what the “consultants” find very disturbing. While the politicians are all ready to do almost anything to win or to ensure the continuity of their existence, they have largely taken for granted or assumed that there will be no power grab, coup or foreign influenced disruption. Look at Hong Kong, Myanmar and Thailand and soak up the stories of shock, surprise and disbelief and the resulting misery people live in as their freedoms were stripped from them by the military. Literally and figuratively speaking, I have seen enough well-fed and well-cared dogs attack their owners accidentally, out of shock or for no explicable reason!

At the moment, most of the people “coming out” are tentative or “pretenders.” The pretenders are clearly following the script as pretend opposition, pretend independent, pretend candidate all serving one purpose: to spread out the votes and thin out the potential leads or margins. And why not, if you can come out of the race with a few hundred million to boot.

You don’t have to be a political analyst to get a good picture of the fraud or deception going on. Just go on the internet and read up on the past presidential elections and who to this day are still running around in the circus. How so-and-so allegedly got paid P50 to P150 million to slide from presidential candidate to vice presidential candidate. How so-and-so always has a new house or huge property after every election, how so-and-so collected millions to drop out of the race. It is an income generating business after all, isn’t it!

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