Exit Polls and Asking Why

To talk about election after having indelible ink on my right forefinger seems to be useless for others. However, I think that writing about it after the experience of choosing our leaders would help us to reflect upon what we have done this day, after all the lining up, waiting, marking, and inserting our ballots into the PCOS machine, waiting for the "Congratulations" image to appear on the LCD.

So, how did we choose at all? I believe that most of us, especially those who were yuppies like me, took our first (or second, for some) election seriously. We took our pick from top to bottom thinking of the future of a possibly new face of the Filipino society. We chose the people whom we think could bring change, who would learn to move on and work for progress, and would try to work out the mistakes already committed for several years, pushing for the moral and structural reorganization and reorientation that we look forward to.

For those who did not waste your right to vote and thought about things well, then congratulations. You have just taken one of the first small steps toward working for change. A good job, I would say, to you who grew patient enough to wait for hours in the line just to get a few minutes of voting, and a few more hours to wait for the PCOS machine to get to work again.

With this, I hope that the one vote that we have was worth it. I hope that we have looked at the bigger picture before shading the ovals. I hope that we were able to choose someone who knows to provide a direction for the country: a person who would be willing to sacrifice everything, including his very self, for the good of the Filipino people. I hope that we chose someone who is proud enough to lead and initiate, yet humble enough to accept that he also has to listen to those whom he serves. I hope that we chose someone who knows how to both instruct and learn, talk and listen, believe and doubt, question and answer, and, most importantly, lead and serve the best way possible.

On the practical side, I hope we never voted for someone just because our city will benefit for it, or because our family will land a job in the government, or because we can get away with anything that is illegal. I hope we never voted out of fame, influence, or comfort.

I hope that we have chosen the leader who can envision and bring us to what is beyond the horizon.

And from here onwards, it will be our responsibility as members of the Filipino society. Those guys have done mapping out the way they carry our responsibility, and it's about time to execute ours, and it will be possible only if we support them and stand out for them. Our candidate may or may not win, but what makes the difference (and what could make us genuinely democratic) would be our efforts to help our leader. If we learn to stand with him and against him, for him and not for him, for the good and the bad of him, then we can say that we really are Filipinos. Perhaps it is true that in our case, the downfall of our leader is a downfall of the voice of the masses as well, a failure to support and speak out for our leaders. In the end, I hope that we all carry this responsibility well, as genuine Filipino people who know what it means to be accountable to something or somebody.

In the next few days, even weeks, the numbers will decide. So all I ask of you now is to pray that everything will go on as planned, and to dispose ourselves towards openness, acceptance, and cooperation, which would help us develop strong relationships and intellectual dialogues with our present leaders.