Dynamism

Netnet Camomot .

POLITICAL dynasties in Pinas are passing on moolah and power to their younger generations, that’s why you see the same surnames on the ballot, with the same last name running for president, senator, congressman, governor, mayor, etc. Where’s the thrill there? That list of choices won’t even qualify for, May the best man win.

The barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will be next month. Candidates may now start campaigning, er, you know, making their presence felt.

The candidate will of course aim to be a member of the president’s PDP-Laban team and, if that’s not possible, there’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago, the new political party of the president’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, that is, if she’s still accepting applications for membership. But she said, “It is a regional political party for us in the Davao region.” Which may now encourage outsiders to relocate to Davao.

I don’t know if, aside from relocating, there’s an initiation rite they have to pass before they can be certified as a Davaoeno. Such as winning a durian-eating contest perhaps?

Davao is one of the places Pinas can be proud of for its Singapore-like rules, plus the coliform-free beaches. With at least one potential senatorial candidate—Bong Go?—for Election 2019 coming from Davao, it will continue to be a source of major players in Pinoy politics, with no less than President Rody Duterte himself leading their team.

Davao’s reign in Pinoy politics does inspire other Mindanao residents to also produce a presidentiable that can win in the next presidential election. There was a time when the clueless Pinoy would make fun of the fact that the Mindanaoan is from, well, Mindanao, with the clueless query hovering over this: Where’s Cagayan de Oro?

A similar scenario could happened, too, for the Pinoy non-believer had he made fun of this one small detail: Easter Sunday falling on April Fool’s Day, and there was the Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s Day. But still, there’s respect between believers and non-believers, and the two coincidences were left alone to simmer on their own until someone began to notice. What if that someone was you. Would you, could you look down on religious beliefs and dismiss them as mere figments of a hallucination.

Well, to each his own. Whatever keeps you going, from religion to faith to chocolate. Yes, chocolate helps the lost and found in moving forward and only an allergic reaction can stop him from indulging. Achoo!

There’s another kind of someone—the believer that, despite his best efforts, still feasted on skinless longganisa on Good Friday. He didn’t confess, didn’t hear Mass, didn’t join any Lenten retreat, and, as cherry on top of the icing on the cake, had skinless longganisa for dinner. His non-meat diet was able to catch up with the Lenten fasting and abstaining only last Monday when he had fish for dinner. His mantra: Better late than never. He hopes the non-meat diet will contribute to his weight loss which barely moved an inch, er, pound last March when he lost a total of—gasp!—0.2 pound. Note the decimal point before 2.

If he will have fish and veggies for the rest of the year, can he feast on longganisa again on Good Friday next year?

Sacrifice should focus more on abstaining from what you love most—Netflix, Facebook, Homescapes, Gardenscapes, Brad Pitt. But perhaps that’s not enough for people whose definition of sacrifice includes Crucifixion.

Lent was the ideal season for erring politicians to confess and be sorry for their sins. No need for them to worry, though. The Pinoy will always vote for them since he’s too busy and too tired to think of the consequences of graft and corruption in his daily life. As long as he has the basics—food, clothing, shelter—he can continue to survive with extrajudicial killings, TokHang, and the president’s p***ng in* rants.

The Pinoy did care once upon a time. But you can’t blame him if his focus has shifted to his family and to survival. After all, the Marcoses are back, the yellows are desperately clinging to the magic of People Power, and there’s now doubt on the seriousness of the president’s war on drugs.

And there you are, making a wild guess that there will be a Duterte, an Aquino, and a Marcos running in the elections next month and next year. You don’t even have to be a prophet to qualify in making that guess.