EDITORIAL - The election is over, let the bickering end too

This has perhaps been the most polarizing Philippine election thus far.

Because of the issues confronting the country as well as the personalities of some of the candidates, the rivalry between their supporters seems to be more prominent and pronounced, in some instances we can even say there was an air of hostility, especially on social media.

But now that the election is over, let the bickering be done with as well.

In a previous editorial we mentioned something that The FREEMAN chairman, the late Sir Dodong Gullas, was fond of reminding us: “Ang eleksyon lumalabay lang”. It was his way of telling us, aside from upholding the name of our paper, not to sell our souls to politicians, a political party, or a political ideal.

Which seems to be what many people do.

It is natural for people to have different beliefs and principles, even those within the same clan or family. And when someone finds out that another one doesn’t share his or her beliefs and principles, the tendency is to treat that person as an enemy, even if that person comes from the same clan or family.

This becomes more pronounced in politics, where a lot is at stake. Friends and families have actually fragmented or turned against each other in support of one candidate or another.

What these staunch supporters don’t know is that in politics there is really no such thing as a permanent enemy, only permanent interests. Those rival candidates that they supported separately? They may yet become allies in the next election.

But while it is easy for politicians to mend their fences because such is the nature of their business, it may not be as easy for hoi polloi to mend theirs with friends and family, particularly after certain words have been exchanged or behavior shown.

We should let the political bickering end with the polls. In the end it will still be the members of the clan or family that we turn to in times of trouble, not the politicians or political parties who don’t even know who we are and were only interested in us for a short time for the sake of the polls.