Blinded hope

As of writing, Noynoy Aquino is leading the presidential race and with a heavy heart, I know he has already won.

Sadly, he will be the next president of this country and I can only imagine the worst with him taking that Malacañang seat.

He does not deserve to win the presidency. One should not become president because he is the son of two popular figures. One should not become president because people think that being the son of Cory and Ninoy will make him a great leader. One should not become President when he isn’t able to articulate his platforms and in the vaguest terms only talks about fighting corruption to end poverty.

But, somehow, more than 12 million Filipinos think he should be.  A tragedy, indeed. For as much as I hoped that the man with the blood in his hands will lose miserably and put to shame his all-too-assuming TV ads prematurely claiming victory, I have just been crushed. I believed, despite the survey trends that voters will be more critical and that the masa will junk this 9 years Congressman and 3 years Senator who has not passed a single law.

Yet he was nicely packaged.  A media outfit fanatically rallied behind him, making a spectacle of everything to project him as the cleanest, the most fit to lead while his biggest rival was painted in all colors of deceit and corruption. Never mind the clearer than day records of his inability and incapacity. Never mind that he refused to acknowledge and even take responsibility for the massacre in and for the farmers of the Hacienda Luisita. Never mind that he, too, is clothed in corruption with the SCTex deal.  All these were drowned in an almost fanatic mantra of him as the only hope because he is the son of Cory. He wears the yellow ribbon, therefore, he carries democracy and the people’s hope.

And for people who hunger for change, for people who have gone tired and sick of the Arroyo’s, they saw Aquino as the best alternative. That was the danger. Ang taong gipit kahit sa patalim kumakapit. A blinded hope, indeed.

And it is now certain that he won this elections.

Which reminds us all the more that elections can never be alone a venue for change. The elites own it and by all means, they will do everything to remain in control. Traditional politics is still the name of the game and people remain tolerant. Which only means that the tasks for politics of change and social change have only become greater.

Tonight, if not tomorrow, there will already be proclamations. And I know I am not alone in my disappointments. But, it is not here where it ends. The challenge has only become greater. For when the next president is the son of revered heroes and who by mistake thought of as a saint, it is a great challenge to go against the flow. It is a challenge to make known of the deception.

By all means, there will not be silence.

For if what elected the new president is the hunger for change, it is also with this standard that he will be measured by the people. The people can always take it from him anytime he doesn’t live up to the highest position of the land.  That’s for sure.