The Last Man Standing Is A Woman

Finally, the agony of waiting is over. Congratulations Ma’am Leni. You deserve it. So glad and elated that we have an untainted, brave, industrious and has a genuine concern for the poor Vice President.

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The Choices We Make

I cry for my beloved country.

My father used to say that “we carve our own destiny”. Back then, I didn’t understand the impact of those words. When you are young, you are too idealistic enough and sometimes you see the world in rose-tinted eyeglasses. You see the world the way you believe it ought to be seen, a happy place  where sometimes dreams have a little niche in your idealistic heart.  You grow up and things change and you begin to notice that the world is really not what it seems.

The die is cast.

Yesterday, my kids and I did our duty for the country and voted for  those candidates whose platforms of government we believe in and whose experience in the field of service to the Filipino people is unquestionable.   I can never be prouder seeing fellow Filipinos exercise their right to vote and choose the best.I salute COMELEC for a clean, quiet and peaceful elections. Things though will not always be to one’s desires. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose but what is important is to accept defeat graciously and move on.

We lost the presidency but our candidate for VP, Leni  is on top. I think there are only about 5% more votes not counted.  A newbie in the field of politics but not new to the grassroots where she worked pro bono for so many years. She knows the problems with the ordinary rural folks, the farmers and  the man on the street.

I have never been  this much involved in politics throughout the years. It’s just that, it was quite easy to support a man whose values, love of country and its people are the same things that you look for in a good candidate.  The last two weeks were quite emotional days for me even deliberately forgetting to visit WordPress. I can never forget the laughter, the tears (yes we cried too) and the intelligent exchanges of ideas and why we campaigned for the same presidential candidate.  I learned a lot in the process.

Change is easier said than done.

The choices we make in life are rooted in the same values that we believe in.  The path we take maybe full of knots that have to be untied one by one, the road maybe too rough for our liking but the journey has to be taken.  It may entail a gargantuan sacrifice, it may mean so much pain, it may involve lots of changes that we have to make on our own.

Those people who chose  the president-elect were clamoring for change, that instant change that we’ll get to see in three to six months (as he promised). I believe that real change starts within ourselves. Just yesterday, I accompanied my daughter Nissa back to the precinct so she could vote (Josef and I voted earlier at six am). I positioned myself away from the long line of voters and opened my tab to read. There was this guy who was about to throw his sandwich wrapper at the planter box I was sitting on. I looked at him without uttering a word  and he said sorry when he saw me at the same time pocketing his garbage. Here we are clamoring for change when even a simple thing like this we can’t even do properly. It’s a case of  as long as it it not in my backyard, then it’s okay.  I always wear face mask when I take a commute because even if there is a law (that is not even properly implemented) banning smoking in public, people never learn. If simple things like this are blatantly ignored, how can we even expect a positive change  in such a short time?

The outgoing administration has laid the foundation, I just hope we would not spend  the next six years ignoring the economic growth that we have earned the last six years.

I haven’t lost hope for my country  but I cry still.  I even cried harder when I heard  Mar Roxas concede, a man  of true character and strength. He said and I quote:

”For our country, we’ve had a peaceful, successful transfer of power. It is not about me. It is not about anyone. It is about how we love our country, and how we all do all that we can for her. She’s the only one.”

 

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When April Ends

Yeay, I have long neglected this blog, same with visiting the posts of those bloggers I follow here.  Eight blog posts for the month of April, make it nine including this one.  Though I haven’t been active here this month and even set aside my reading challenge, April is a good month. I’ve been actively campaigning the last few days  on Facebook. It’s my only way of helping Roxas and Robredo team win without taxing my health.  I have just posted  and shared this at The Silent Majority page and I was surprised of the more than 200 likes an hour after I posted it and tremendous response praying for me and my health.  I felt I really have an online family in their midst.  I was teary-eyed to see and read their comments. Allow me to share it with you too (it’s my last political blog  post maybe until election day which is  nine days from now).  The future of the Philippines is in our hands now.

I have long wanted to go out and campaign for RORO but since I have low immunity (I am a cancer survivor), I try to avoid crowds. This is actually my first time to be actively campaigning for a vice-presidential and a presidential candidate online. I posted some political blogs on my WordPress site since the first political debate was held. This morning, my daughter and her family came over to join us for lunch and they brought with them campaign materials for RORO. Yehey, I finally have my baller. We touched on politics (what else) and we are happy that all of us will be voting for Mar and Leni. I am concerned about the future of my four-year old grandson and the future of my kids and we just can’t ignore what is happening right now in our country. From the start, I have decided to vote for RORO. They are the epitome of good governance and I am sure they have nothing but a sincere desire to truly serve and help in making the Philippines something we could all be proud of.

A happy retired BPI unibanker here. I am proud to have worked in an institution with 165 years of banking leadership.

I am happy to see that I have finally reached more than 401,735 hits as of this writing. This is when blogging gives that kind of happiness  and sense of fulfillment.

April is about to end.  I am very optimistic that the rule of law and the choice of the majority will win.  Come what May (pun intended) I look forward to celebrating with the Filipino people when we finally cast our votes on May  09.  Maybe after  May 09, I could happily go back to reading again and enjoy reading blog entries here and hopefully add more posts.

I always smile every time I hear the song First of  May. It brings back memories. Happy first of May everyone.

 

 

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Odds And Ends

How are you guys, it’s been a while since my last post. Busy, busy, busy! The truth is, since I started my blog here and after several elections in our country, this is the only time that I feel a strong need to share and to rant a little. I haven’t done this before, sharing thoughts online particularly at a  more public social media site  like Facebook but I just can’t keep quiet  about it all.  Bear with me, I promise my next post would be something positive.

The debate is over. Last night was the last presidential debate that we watched on television for three hours.   It was  in a town hall format so the voting public had the chance to ask questions.  All of them are hopeful that they would win of course. It made me smile that they seemed to be behaved, not much of the usual ugly exchange of words that you usually see during a heated political debate except that instance wherein  the mayor from Davao openly told Mar  Roxas that there is no  Philhealth in their place. (Philhealth is the government’s answer to the medical needs of all accredited Filipinos. We pay monthly contributions but for the identified poorest of the poor, they enjoy  the benefit of free hospitalization  when they are confined in a government hospital.) Mar Roxas challenged the mayor from Davao if he is willing to give up his candidacy if the former could prove that there are lots of beneficiaries in that place. The latter shrugged it off  and accused Roxas instead of lying. True enough, this morning at 8am Roxas made true of his word sending his opponent the official report that proves that indeed Davao is part of the Philhealth program.

I recently read this article  of a well-respected writer. The political spin doctors are doing overtime  work just to post something to destroy the credibility of a good man. How they twist and turn  everything into ugly memes and false accusations.  I say, you can never put a good man down. The man from Davao is slowly but surely about to self-destruct.  I wonder though why so many people follows him like a cult.  You can’t reason with them because  they would just say they want change.  I am for  it too but I am  for continuity on what this administration has started over unpredictable change.   Asked what he will do with the problem with China on the West Philippine Sea, he said he will wait for the result of the arbitrations committee and if things are not favorable, he would jet ski to China and plant the Philippine flag on their shores. never mind if he die in the process.  A friend who hates his guts wrote on her wall:

“The weather’s really nice today for a jet ski trip to Spratley. Suggestion lang naman.

Why wait when you can do it now? Carpe diem!”

Oh my gosh, the things people do in the name of politics.  Given the choice between a man who has done much for the country in various capacities under three presidents, a man whose values and principles I admire, I would always prefer him over someone who curses,  put the law into his hands, have no respect for women,  and with a foul mouth and  language that other people think (his followers) is cute. There is really something wrong and I am getting scared.

For the win – Mar Roxas and Leni  Robredo.  You have my YES!

 

 

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