ELECTION MEANDERINGS

As the election fever has caught on everyone's head, I am sure that all these would become some kind of beautiful memory or a nightmare depending on whether one's bet or the individual him/herself has won or lost at the polls. Before, I used to think that politics is dirty and that I would never meddle in it. And so since 1983, that was the year Ninoy was assassinated, I have been in the fringes, writing propaganda, or maintaining columns that comment here and there about political goings-on. Never did I have any inkling that I would enter politics head-on, and file my candidacy in the Senate itself.

But through the years, I have been honed in critical thinking, because of my writings, my interactions with fellow writers, (especially through emails which have very contentious parties throwing brickbats and swiping at each other's remarks every now and then) and especially people who have had a stint in government.

I was once a government employee during Marcos' time, as senior management specialist and I felt so cramped, not being able to exercise my creative skills, so much so that I organized a play production, "Ganito kami noon, paano kayo ngayon," starred in by Budget Commission employees themselves. Because of that,I was told to transfer to the cultural sector and so I did -- making independent films as early as the late 70's.

However after 1983, things changed and here I am continually rapping, knocking down doors to raise issues and suggest solutions to socio-political problems. What makes the exercise beautiful is that in this "industry" we see society moving -- from smoking to a non-smoking conscious atmosphere; from a child-battering no-care to vigilant attitude ready to report the next door neighbor at every instance of offense; from wife-battering to wife-protecting situations whereby even the police and barangay knowing that such are no longer private but social problems that should be dealt with by the law.

But being in the fringes is not enough. We must enter the formal structures -- where the best conditions are afforded to extract the best ideas from ourselves so that we may serve our constituents more probably.

"To those to whom much is given, much is required," it says in the Bible.
I wonder is this is being observed now, considering that the simple act of
having a policeman in every corner, especially at night is a thoroughly big problem, especially when we want to report an erring driver whose idea of driving is so much like being in the racetrack of Sta. Ana.

Nonetheless, read more about us as we coast along or meander through the Pan Philippine Highway of Politics, Folks.