Possibilities

Netnet Camomot .

How, how can it be

That a love carved out of caring

Fashioned by fate could suffer so hard

From the games played once too often

But making mistakes is a part of life’s imperfection

Born of the years

Is it so wrong to be human after all? –        “Something About You” by Level 42

THERE are days when some other lyrics morph into my LSS—last song syndrome—even if the last song I did listen to was Dua Lipa’s “One Kiss.”

For now, my LSS is “Something About You,” a song from way back, the ‘80s, which was also the decade for Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” Both songs were released before the 1986 People Power, so, if you’re a Pinoy familiar with ‘80s music but clueless about the Edsa Revolution, don’t blame yourself for having a different set of priorities. For Lipa, though, it’s about the possibilities: “One kiss is all it takes / Fallin’ in love with me / Possibilities / I look like all you need.”

The losing candidate’s wish-ko-lang could be that, too—“One kiss is all it takes”; “I look like all you need”—after kissing all the babies and grandmas of every barangay in each corner of Pinas he wished to lord over, er, serve. But “it’s too late, baby now, it’s too late” for the loser despite the fact that he “really did try to make it.”

Elections in recent years have had its share of Filipinos wanting to migrate after seeing the list of winners for president, vice president, and senators. I don’t know if there’s a Cagayanon who migrated to another Philippine city upon learning that Cagayan de Oro would have a new political color care of the newly proclaimed mayor. But this year’s election results are inspiring some Filipinos again to leave the country for good. Hmmm. Promise, ha?

Buti pa si former President Erap Estrada, he knows that life is “weather-weather lang,” which he can apply again to his recent loss as reelectionist mayor in Manila where his fellow actor, Isko Moreno, has been proclaimed as the winner.

At least two Metro Manila cities now have young and handsome mayors-elect: Moreno for Manila, and Vico Sotto for Pasig. Moreno is not exactly young at 45 but he looks, what’s the word? Oh, youthful. Can a young and handsome mayor be one of Cagayan de Oro’s possibilities, too, in 2022? Hmmm. Abangan!

Well, city councilor-elect Girlie Balaba can’t be described as young and handsome but she definitely has the beauty and charisma. Will 2022 be too early for her to be city mayor? Hmmm. Esep-esep!

But there’s more to politics than looks, and the politician or former politician who manages to remain relevant in and out of the crazy world of politics will always manage to win in each election he chooses to join.

Lucky is the candidate who has many supporters—from voters to financiers— propping up his dream until he reaches the top of the political hierarchy: president.

This is the reality in politics: the vice is seldom remembered. And that’s for vice president, vice governor, and vice mayor. As for political positions lower than any vice, well, good luck na lang.

But the Pinoy remembers his president, governor, and mayor. As for congressmen, well, good luck to them, too.

So, a political wannabe who believes that the country’s presidency may not be one of his possibilities anymore once he reaches a certain age, should consider having governor or mayor as an item in his bucket list. At least, he will have a whole province or city remembering him forevermore.

Newly proclaimed reelectionist Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno will start his last three-year term in July. I gotta feeling there are now many mayoral wannabes willing to take his place in 2022. So, where will Moreno go from there? Will he stay in Cagayan de Oro and run for—gasp!—vice mayor? The better choice is, of course, to be a Cagayan de Oro congressman. Or he can return to Misamis Oriental where he was congressman and governor once upon a time.

I do wonder if Moreno’s LSS is still “I see trees of green, red roses too / I see them bloom for me and you / And I think to myself what a wonderful world.”

Election 2019 has recently ended and we’re already talking about 2022 because that’s how politicians plan their careers, with “senatoriables,” for example, wanting to make noise at least five years before the election year they plan to run for the Senate. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” as the saying goes.