The Filipino voters never seem to learn

The survey's showing some TV jokers leading over legal luminaries is the tragic and embarrassing brand of the Filipino electorate's unabashed stupidity. These people who elect some morons in the two Houses of Congress are the very same masses who complain of bad government, of corruption, ineptitude and incompetence in high offices.

The way voters in this country make decisions on who to send to the Philippine Senate would be tempting one to say that they really do not use their brains. They choose senators as if they are electing class officers in one high school class. They have no reasonable criteria and just follow the dictates of social media or their reckless and capricious instincts.

Which would lead us to ask really, which is important to the Filipino voters in choosing a senator: popularity or competence? Remember that the job is that of a senior legislator, a position that requires the incumbent to understand the law, the process of lawmaking and all the nuances and intricacies of many complicated legal issues. How can a comedian, an action star or a boxer perform that job?

Can you imagine choosing in 2022, an ex-convict who spent years in the National Penitentiary and make him the number one senator, while refusing to vote for such legal luminaries as Gilbert Teodoro, a bar topnotcher, and also rejecting Dick Gordon an incumbent senator and a distinguished UP law alumnus, as well as Leila de Lima, also a bar topnotcher, former DOJ secretary and Chair of the CHR.

Look at the kind of senators we have today. We have actors making important laws, relying solely on technical staff who do not have any political mandate. We are again poised to elect for the nth time a famous boxing champion whom we love and hold in high esteem. But the Senate is not a sports arena, and Senate proceedings are not a championship bout. If he wants to share his wealth with the poverty-stricken people, let him run for governor or even president. But never for a senator again.

Look at the Philippine Senate today and those who are leading in the surveys. If the polls are to be believed, we shall have two Cayetanos, two Villars, two Estrada/Ejercitos, and, hold your breath, three (not one, not two, but three) Tulfos, my God. We shall have another Binay to replace her sister, as if the Senate is a family heirloom. Then next time, the Upper House becomes a family corporation.

In the olden times, when Filipino voters were still using their coconuts, we sent to the Senate such legal geniuses as Claro M. Recto, Lorenzo Tañada, Jose W. Diokno, Arturo Tolentino, Ambrocio Padilla, Raul Manglapus, Manuel Manahan, and great Cebuanos like Mariano Jesus Cuenco, Manuel C. Briones, Filemon and Vicente Sotto, Vicente Rama, and later, Marcelo Fernan, Sergio Osmena Jr, Sergio Osmena III and John H. Osmena and Ernesto F Herrera. They did well and gave us honor and pride.

And so, today, why are the voters again poised to elect jokers to the Senate? Can you imagine trying to reject Bam Aquino, Kiko Pangilinan and Heidi Mendoza in favor of some TV hosts and movie actors. Some of them are incumbents who accomplished nothing but making their stints a big joke. Why are voters shying away from Sonny Matula who is a law professor and a great labor leader, or Luke Espiritu who is a passionate labor lawyer, defender of the working class and a no-nonsense social development advocate?

Why are Filipino voters who are always voting for these jesters are also the ones who are very loud in complaining about the problems besetting the country, like poverty, social injustice, corruption and crimes. These voters who do not choose our officials well are also the ones who keep on grumbling about bad government, criticizing the police, and hurling bad words against public officials.

Your choices give rise to your consequences. To all of you who elect bad officials, I say with all candor, you deserve the government that you help put in place. To all of you who choose incompetent senators and congressmen, I say clearly and unequivocally, shut up and keep your peace. You deserve your destiny. Your stupid choices spell your tragic destiny.