‘Which means that the government ends up being run to the ground, its leadership positions populated as it is by the unqualified, its programs and policies not addressing the fundamental needs of the desperate man, guaranteeing that he remains in a desperate situation he started in.’
A majority of our countrymen are hard up. Many are on the verge of desperation. And like a drowning man grasping for a lifeline or life-saver, a desperate man gropes for a quick fix.
During the election season, such as the one that reaches its climax today, that quick fix comes to the fore. It comes in the form of selling one’s vote. Ask around and you’ll hear a range that starts from ₱500 to tens of thousands. This trade for votes – crassly, vote-buying – is corruption, sure, but the desperate man’s logic is simple: everyone is corrupt anyway and my life wouldn’t really change much so better to get what you can from the pie, no matter how thin that slice of the corruption pie he can get his hands on
Better a few thousands today – and once every three years – than nothing at all.
But what the desperate man ignores, fails to consider, or perhaps is unable to really comprehend is that no corrupt politician will spend without seeking a return. And not just a good return – a whopping return on his investment that makes spending every election time “worth it.”
The millions the politician releases to buy votes are nothing; it’s easily “earned back” through the many contracts that will pass his desk, from which he gets a commission.
One congressman from way back, Manuel “Waykurat” Zamora, once classified his colleagues as ranging from simple
house geckos to giant crocodiles. For the former, whatever they are given as a “balato” they are happy to accept; but for the latter, he said, 80% of the contract price goes into their pockets.
Not only that, more often than not, the biggest spender-who is also the most corrupt, is also the least qualified for the office he seeks. Which is why he has to buy votes. He really doesn’t know what it means to be a kagawad, or a konsehal. Or a mayor or governor. Or a congressman or a senator. But heck, he can crack a joke. Sing a song. He dances well. He looks good. And he has money to share.
So, in the search for a quick fix for the situation he is in, the desperate man elects into office the less qualified and the most corrupt.
Which means that the government ends up being run to the ground, its leadership positions populated as it is by the unqualified, its programs and policies not addressing the fundamental needs of the desperate man, guaranteeing that he remains in a desperate situation he started in. Oh, but in the meantime, the corrupt and unqualified whom he elected into office in the first place get richer by the day.
And then, three years later, the election season comes around and the cycle is repeated once more.
Today, the desperate man will prevail – and the desperation cycle will continue.
