I’m not eligible to vote this coming election day, since I didn’t register. It’s just as well, because it allows me the capacity to see the events leading up to the May 2016 elections with a more objective eye; I don’t have anything at stake, and I don’t really care about who wins, so long as they don’t terribly screw up our country.
But seeing as to how we’re four days from the elections, I’d like to throw an impassioned view of things into the overfilled hat of anger, hate, and disillusion that’s pretty palpable throughout social media. There are five presidential candidates, five vice presidential candidates, and two nuisance candidates (Trillanes, I’m looking at you), so I’m going to be filling up the next five days with my opinion of who’s running, and why.
Perhaps the most vilified candidate in this year’s elections is the current vice president, former mayor of Makati, and current resident of the Coconut Palace. That’s right people, I’m talking about Jejomar Binay, the current elections’ mascot, and the only black horse in the game. See what I did there, people?
The concept of Binay is a tough one for me, personally. That’s because I know most of my family members are voting for Binay, due to a connection that I will not mention any more than I should. But I am also aware that the man is, in D&D terms, lawful evil. But I will try to be as objective as I can with this write-up of the man in black.
The best thing about Jojo Binay is that he’s the quintessential traditional politician. He knows how to run the business. He knows how to talk to people. And he’s adept at what I’d like to call politicking. In a perfect world, he would be the most by-the-book executive leader we could ever have, and we’d be fiscally sound.
He’s also terribly hard-working. My reservation about him is that if Jojo Binay spent half as much effort in running the government as he did in ensuring that the allegations against him went away, then we’d have the most efficient government in the world.
Sadly, though, the list of allegations and evidence against Jojo are legion, and the people have a short memory. From being the frontrunner last 2015, the allegations against him have slowly taken their toll, moving him further and further into the back of the line.
And if any of those allegations are true, there is no guarantee that the man will keep the interest of the people at heart if he gets to the palace. I know he keeps on saying that he’s a man of the people. And I know my family knows him to be a fairly simple man at home. But the risk is too high for the reward of streamlining basic government services, and the people have become wary of traditional politicians who don’t have anything bodacious or outrageous to offer.