50 years ago, it already took this long to count the votes. But just like we don’t care if people still died from tuberculosis in droves and 12 infants continue to die from diarrhea daily we have become so desensitized with this rotten political process we don’t really care that much anymore. The results will still be the same anyway, with a few exceptions. Yes we raise hell over scattered anomalous eruptions and we cry havoc over minor legalities but when do we wake up to the clear reality that these very same politicians are the principal beneficiaries to this corrupt system? They revel in this set-up, they flourish in these surroundings while we suckers make pathetic attempts to participate.

Our elections consist of 2 stages: vote procurement and vote protection. Traditional Candidates (TC) easily spend 200 million pesos for the first stage and double that amount for the second. Traditional Parties (TP) backing TC’s pour seemingly limitless resources on both stages. But do you hear anyone complain louder than Oliver Lozano? Why haven’t we automated this process? Why despite the intrigue and cheating the job of a COMELEC Commissioner remains the most secure sinecure in our country? As Pia Hontiveros says, nothing personal, it’s strictly politics. All these charges and counter-charges of fraud and mass murder are accouterments to an elaborate triennial play that is hyped to epic proportions but has consistently lacked a denouement. The ending never changes: we get screwed while the finest tradition of business as usual continues.

This is why I think it’s healthy for me to retreat to my fortress of solitude in Oklahoma periodically. You need to see a country that works in order to remain appalled at the spectacular loss of order, competence and honesty prevailing in our midst. If only we didn’t have such a lethal combination it would have been so easy to stay put.

Today is our 17th wedding anniversary. May 26, 1990 was a classic wedding day,if such a day existed. The ceremony and the reception oozed with simplicity. My wife designed her dress, a sister took care of her hair and make-up, I personally mowed and manicured the backyard of my grandparents, a cousin who was a Jesuit priest officiated, a classmate sang a few romantic ditties, and we prepared a native breakfast consisting of hot chocolate, puto, ensaimada, Vigan sausages and native ham. Took 3 weeks to plan and we invited everybody we knew. My wife and I paid for the whole deal. According to an uncle of mine: it was the most joyous occasion he had seen. We took a bus that broke down twice along the way to Baguio for our honeymoon and we stayed in the mountain for all of 2 days. We left shortly for the United States.

We had witnessed and we were going to witness many weddings that were super elaborate, requiring months, if not years to produce and we both agreed that such a project was not our style. A wedding was a beginning, it was not meant to be a lifetime achievement ceremony from whence everything would go downhill. Every couple needs to be able to pay for their own wedding.

Our elections here in the Philippines can be compared to a wedding extravaganza, only we hold these every 3 years. Surely we can’t afford them but hardly anybody makes a fuss anymore. We’ve accepted these national disgorging episodes as part of our lot. Totally irresponsible but the entire political fabric will definitely unravel if by some twist of fate we are prevented from exercising our destructive drives. As long as everybody seems to be having fun, why ruin a very good arrangement for our loving traditional politicians?

We have a law here that requires all motor vehicle drivers and all candidates for public office to submit to a urine drug screen. In Oklahoma, only applicants for commercial driver's licenses need to pass this test. Over here, the test is a total farce. You show up whenever you want and nobody checks if you give your own urine. The chain of custody in handling the specimen is riddled with defects. In short, in an attempt to emulate a procedure that should adequately screen for drug users, stupidity rules.

The critical feature in this form of screening is in the randomness of the sampling. What we have is an entirely money-making bureaucratic hurdle that significantly adds to the inconvenience without accomplishing its stated task.

An estimate recently came out pegging the cost of each law passed to something like 200 million pesos, factoring the number of laws passed to the budget consumed by both legislative bodies. This is an example of of such a 200 million peso law and people continue to ask me why I tried to secure a seat in the senate.

This is GMA’s golden chance to do good to her country and leave a favorable lasting legacy. Now that she does not have to pander to anybody anymore, she is the only Filipino who can (just a partial list):

1. Definitely state that she will not extend her term of office by resorting to constitutional change because at the end of her term in 2010, she will have been the second-longest serving chief executive next to Marcos. She was elected to the Senate in 1992, she’s had more than her fair share of leading our nation, her husband almost died, life is too short, she should be eternally grateful.
2. Make Congress pass a bill that will abolish Pork Barrel. Legislators must stick to making laws and providing oversight. Public works should be the responsibility of the executive branch.
3. Make Congress pass an enabling law that will enforce the anti-Dynasty provision in the Constitution. She should provide an example and demonstrate her good faith by asking her 2 sons and her brother-in-law to immediately resign from their positions. That 119 families dominate this country is ridiculous and is clear evidence that this system is not healthy for growth and development.
4. Negotiate directly with the World Bank, IMF, ADB and other international banks for a 5 year deferment on interest payments in order to triple the budgets for health, education and infrastructure, recognizing that continuing down this path of borrowing money to keep up with interest payments is depriving our nation of the capacity to produce succeeding generations that will be able to effectively compete in a global economy. Implicit in this is the repeal of the Automatic Appropriations Law that handicaps our negotiating capability.
5. Automate the electoral process and join the world community in holding elections where the results are known within 24 hours.
6. Increase the taxes on tobacco products, SUV’s, gasoline and other products that harm people and nature.
7. Enforce the felony provisions on squatting that will disqualify violators from participating in the electoral process. This will not only emphasize the critical concept of property rights, it will also prevent traditional politicians from preying upon the poor and the dispossessed, from taking advantage of the vulnerable masses whose lives have remained mired in poverty and squalor resulting from the perverse preferential option practiced by trapos.
8. Call an immediate end to the all-out war on the NPA and seek the mediation-assistance of a Scandinavian country.
9. Mobilize a national research program that will harness solar energy. Lead a tree-planting campaign that will plant 50 million trees in 2 years.

Can’t deny the fact that we have a genius for getting things done when we want to. Fr. Ed Panlilio, erstwhile parish priest of Betis, Pampanga now the Governor of Pampanga province recounted in an interview how his opponents paid sums of money to people living in his hometown and in his bailiwicks so they would not vote. In exchange for the cash, registered voters voluntarily disenfranchised themselves by applying indelible ink on their index fingers on the eve of the elections.

In 2004, voter turnout in Pampanga was 75%. It was 61% for this election. In the end, despite all the malevolent machinations, Fr. Ed won by a little more than 1000 votes. It was close and we rejoice with the Kapampangans.

If only we could apply all these creative energies towards productive and honest labor. Instead we try our best to find means to get around immigration laws, licensing requirements, traffic rules, ethical business practices. We hurt our country whenever we avoid our civic duties. Part of the damage comes from the mentality that the poor who willingly sell their votes deserve their wretched lives. We no longer feel that it is our duty to be responsible for one another.

The struggle to retake our country will be long and difficult but it will be a meaningful one. We need to apply some of our genius on this struggle.