Election Time Again!

I wasn't heavily invested in this election cycle but for some strange odd reason (Social Media), I got sucked into thinking about who I should be voting for. I'm not a fan of this administration but I'm also not a fan of the opposition. Basically, I would be screwed either way. I'd need to vote for people I don't like. Then it hit me that there is one thing that could still be fought for in the senate - Charter Change.

Reviewing my older posts reignited something in me that made me want to take this election cycle more seriously. So I made my list of those candidates who are for a Federal Parliament form of government. While making this, I noticed many of my Facebook friends sharing who they want to vote for or who they're considering. What I found very odd was that some of them would vote for two different candidates who'd oppose each other. I understand the sentiment. Two politicians who are good people might disagree on a certain point. But voting for both of them would simple defeat your purpose. I quickly realized that I had, on my initial list, people who wouldn't push for Charter Change! I was guilty of the same fault I accused others of.

So I "purged" my list, so to speak and I filled it only with candidates who will push for Charter Change. My minimum requirement was dropped to simply, "does not oppose Federal Parliament". I also added that if I do not like a certain senatorial candidate or if I think they're "too stupid" to hold office, it would not matter to me.

I made a similar declaration to myself back in 2022. I don't care if I like a certain candidate but that candidate must fight for what I believe in, that should be enough. In this election cycle, I can think of several senatorial candidates who I have nothing against. They seem like good people and would be great senators but I will not vote for them because they simply because they might do too good a job in opposing what I believe is the right course of action for the nation.

To test this, I did a little mind experiment which went as follows. Say I have two politicians running. It would be nice to have two highly competent politicians and you'd simply vote for the one who you'd align yourself most to. But say one is highly competent but you highly disagree with their platform and the other one is no so competent but you highly agree with their platform. Where would my vote go? In this scenario, I would go for the latter simply because the highly competent politician might do such a good job at doing what I don't want him to do.

Similarly, I won't be voting for candidates who disagree on charter change as their votes might cancel each other's on the senate floor. They need to be on the same page on this issue. So I came up with a list. My brother-in-law asked me who I'd be voting for. I told him my criteria first as it would be difficult to explain some of my choices without context. As for him, he'll be voting for some of the candidates I removed because they oppose or have opposed moves for charter change.

I'll close by mentioning one other way people online have shared how they'll vote this May 12. With 66 senatorial candidates, this one netizen says he applied certain "filters" and will vote for who passes those filters. His filters includes things like: being from a political dynasty, being an entertainer, no public service experience or number of laws authored or passed. Several of my friends shared this netizen's post and it was very interesting. What it lacked though was policy. He seemed to be fine with voting for people who would disagree with him as long as this "senatoriable" had passed many laws.

We need a change - a charter change. We heard it time and time again. "Bulok ang sistema!" Why not change the system? And to change the system, we need to vote for people who will fight to change the system or at the very least, will not oppose it.