Let a new color rise and shine

PART of my morning routine is to read news online. It is always a delight to “eat” politics for breakfast especially when the issues involve politicians outsmarting each other and showcasing their highest ideals of governance. One could always learn a thing or two from the thoughts of those who make a career out of public service.

Their diverse backgrounds and experience put great weight on their advocacies and history always judges who among them has really walked the talk.

But what is really quite irritating to read are issues that purely forwards vested interest instead of focusing on more serious issues that can really change our state of life in general. News like “Oca consultant seeks to boot Emano son-in-law out of council” and really filing a case to kick a councilor out few months before his term ends on the grounds that he moved across the river is not only a waste of government’s time and resources but simply politics at its worst. If it were a case on graft then that would have been good news knowing that someone cared enough to run after those who stole people’s money.

This may be faulty generalization, but I’ll articulate it anyway––the political squabble between the purple and the yellow in Cagayan de Oro has reached the gutter level it’s already insulting for us Cagay-anons. Gahimu-on man ta nilang bugok. Kung mag away sila murag mga bata, di mutunga ug flag ceremony, di mu reply ug letter, mag pa-ugat taman naay mag rally. All these at the expense of people’s money. Ka dagko sa ilang sweldo, wa pai labot sa ilang mga commission kada project na ma implement. We simply deserve better.

Perhaps it is high time to say enough is enough. We deserve politicians who are genuine public servants. We deserve intelligent politicians with backbones who prioritize the people before their political parties and their vested interest––politicians who are not afraid to challenge their party heads if the welfare of the people are already at stake.

This may be a long shot but perhaps new alliances have to be forged. Let the good apples from both sides combine forces to come up with a more superior political party––that which can transcend personal squabbles but can boldly push for revolutionary programs. Let us also give room for new blood––those who have not yet been corrupted by the system itself––those who seek for office not just as a profession but a vocation. You may not have the budget and the machinery to win, but Cagay-anons disgust for cheap politics are enough rallying point to win your cause. Cagay-anons are intelligent and loving people. It is high time that we demand to be treated that way. We deserve politics that tackles real issues and aims for genuine advancement of culture and quality of life and not rich politicians who are too busy bringing each other down to the gutter because they are simply threats to one’s power.

Let a new color shine on the walls of the City of Golden Friendship.