EDSA and elections

February 1986 seems so long ago; three decades, one generation of Filipinos has grown up since that historic uprising. One generation that probably only knows EDSA as a large traffic jam.

At the time, 30 years ago, no one had any idea how it would turn out; we all went on faith and a prayer, because, honestly, that was all we had. My mother, a most unpolitical person, volunteered to make sandwiches in our makeshift soup kitchen in my neighbor’s house. She wanted to come with us to bring the sandwiches to the people on EDSA, but I wouldn’t let her come because we didn’t know what might happen. That was our five loaves and three fish, offered up to a cause greater than ourselves, to what we hoped would be a change that would unshackle the nation from the grips of a dictatorship and kleptocracy.

That worked out beyond what anyone, here or abroad, could have imagined. People Power 1986 redefined history.

But where are we now? Thirty years hence, many people don’t feel like celebrating, seeing EDSA as an unfulfilled promise. From then til now we’ve elected five presidents; yes, we have regained stature on the international stage, the economy is robust, but we face the future with uncertainty as we go into another election.

At the upper lefthand corner of the whiteboard in my office is a countdown; today it reads 79, which means it’s 79 days to Election Day. It’s not that I’m so excited about casting my vote; on the contrary, it reminds me of how many more days I have to suffer through election-related garbage spewed out by an inordinate number of candidates and their usually obnoxious handlers.

Actually, we’ve been subjected to all that trash since last year, long before the official campaign period began last Feb. 9. Sometimes you have to wonder what those top legal minds in the Supreme Court are thinking when they decided that one is not a candidate yet until the official campaign period starts, and so any campaigning – even outright “vote for me” media ads, posters and tarpaulins – done before then cannot be counted as “pre-mature campaigning” and thus not a violation of election laws. When you file your certificate of candidacy, doesn’t that make you a candidate? True, the Comelec may disqualify you for a number of reasons – including being an outright nuisance – but when you officially make representation that you are a candidate, then you should be considered one, and not be allowed to campaign and foist your unsavoury mug on our hapless electorate.

But now that they are officially off and running, it’s no holds barred. One candidate has promised free irrigation for all farmers nationwide; really? Of course he hasn’t detailed how he’s going to achieve that; just use your imagination, I guess. And every issue from helicopters to rubber shoes (hmmm, I wonder if the iridescent Li-Ning Way of Wade 4 will make it to some clueless kid’s Facebook page and blow up his/her parents’ candidacy), migraines to lupus, is fair game in this national blood sport called politics.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called – one Lord, one

faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6