Dimmed Spotlight

Philippine politics has never been plain boring. it has always been a venue of circus acts, blatant ironies and dynamic display of power and influence.  

Doing my pre-bedtime rituals includes turning on the television and scanning for the usual programs .Its just quite annoying that, once again as it has always been, the primetime is jam packed with advertisements of political figures ranging from skin soaps to alcoholic beverages and worst, commercials with self uplifting themes. Not to mention cabinet secretaries flaunting their agency’s advocacies.

To top it all, sensational commercials like “Anak-itabi-mo”, “Dito-kami-Nangarap”, and “Ganito-kami-sa-Makati” paved its way to the public eyes for months now. It highlights politicians riding in a pedicab (of course it’s not possible in real life), narrating his rags to riches drama and achievements in his City.

According to the Omnibus Election Code, the official campaign period for the national positions starts 90 days before the election, that is on mid February of 2010. It is a fact neglected by our dear officials. Commercials such as these are clearly manifestations of early politicking.

It all boils down to these two facts: firstly, they were not models, secondly, they are not paid, instead they pay exorbitant fees just to see themselves on TV.

Its true that these officials have not yet filed their candidacy for national position but why will they spend hundred of millions in such major Philippine TV stations. It is also true that even there are no “Vote for Me” phrases, the whole thing speaks for it. That even  my 5-year old nephew stopped  imitating John Lloyd’s “ingat” instead he started saying “Anak Itabi Mo”.

Not to mention Government secretaries starting to appear regularly at primetime with what they call info-mercials about their respective agencies.

Money spent can be more productive as to donations to Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that never spent a single penny on ads just to ensure that they make the most of there fund or just continue their public service while not expecting anything in return.

Traditional Politicians or TraPo is what they call them.  Conventional politicians use this as tactic with statistics saying  early signs of uplifting popularity  affects standings on chances of winning the elections.

But how can we choose such leaders if simple rules they can not follow. In this time of crisis, change is much awaited. And greatest changes are more expected from them.

I have seen much of these for the past elections yet nothing has changed. What was being portrayed in commercials is most likely to-good-to-be-true. After the elections, money spent will be taken back. The public will always be left deceived.

Voters are becoming wiser even though slower than expected but at least. We’ve reached another opportunity to make the right choice or the other way around. We can believe in what we see in that box of glittering and shimmering nothing but we can also be more critical in comprehending the darker side of it.

With this I remember the most remarkable commercial of  2007 that goes like this: “Pangarap kong Tuparin ang mga Pangarap mo”.