Bad officials are elected by good people who do not vote

If after the 2022 elections, a crook, a nincompoop, or a jester is elected to the Philippine Senate or House of Representatives, or a drug lord wins the mayor's office, or a smuggler is elected governor, whose fault is it? Assuming that the Commission on Election’s counting machines would count the votes accurately, the blame should be placed on the voters themselves.

But aside from the voters who actually cast their votes, equal or even more blame should be pointed at those who refused to vote, those who would rather play golf or mahjong instead of lining up in front of the overcrowded voting centers. We should also blame those whose votes are invalid either out of negligence or plain stupidity. The last six presidents won by mere plurality and not by majority: Duterte, PNoy Aquino, GMA, Erap, FVR, and Corazon Aquino. During their elections, large chunks of voters did not vote, and big fractions of those who voted had invalid votes. Most of them won by default and by incompetence or stupidity of many voters.

The records do not lie. In the 2016 presidential elections, the total registered voters were 55,739,911 but only 44,979,151 voted. And out of that, only 42,552,835 were valid votes. That means that 10,760,760 did not vote, and there were 2,426,316 invalid votes. President Duterte won with 16,601,997 over Mar Roxas with 9,978,175 or a plurality of 6,623,822. Had those who did not vote voted and if the invalid votes turned out to be valid, Duterte's victory might not have come about. Definitely, the results would have been different. For the 2016 elections for the vice presidency, there were only 41,066,884 valid votes out of 44,979,151 or with 3,912,267 invalid votes. Leni Robredo won with 14,418,817 over Marcos' 14,155,344 or a slim plurality of 263,473.

In 2010, there were 51,317,073 registered voters, but only 38,149,371 voted and 13,167,702 did not vote. PNoy won with a mere 15,208,678 votes over Erap's 9,487,837 or a small plurality of 5,720,841. I am sure, the results would have been much different had the 13.16 million who failed to vote voted, and of the 2.01 million invalid votes were valid, who knows, the results would have been very different. In 2004, there were 43,895,324 registered voters, but only 33,510,092 actually voted. There were only 30,322,884 valid votes and 3,187,208 invalid votes. GMA won with 12,905,808 over FPJ's 11,782,232 or a mere plurality of 1,123,576. A big difference would have given FPJ victory if those 3.2 million who failed to vote voted, and those 3.18 million invalid votes were valid.

I can go on and on, but my point is direct and easy to understand. If we do not like president Duterte or hate PNoy and GMA, we should not only blame those who voted for them. Those who refused to cast their votes and others who voted but with invalid ballots have equal if not heavier responsibility.

In 2022, if we keep on not casting our votes, we don’t have the right to complain if a moron, imbecile, scoundrel, rascal, or scalawag is going to Malacañang by June next year. We have no one else to blame but ourselves.