With only 19 days from today when the voters will troop to the polling places on May 9, 2022, the “judgment day” for all the candidates, we are now seeing the wretched, if not the ugly face, of our kind of politics despite the promises of the candidates to stick to the issues and promote their platforms of government.The advent of IT has made our brand of politics worse since the affluent national or local candidates have utilized it in their favor with the able assistance of their troll farms to destroy their opponents with fake stories and, of course, sugarcoated falsehoods to cover up their true personalities and history of corrupt practices or cases.I have not, on any occasion, made known my presidential candidate, nor campaigned for any of them, who maybe are qualified in their own right. All I have been doing is providing my relatives and close friends with the right and correct information on all the candidates for president, so they can choose the one they think deserves their votes and the one who possesses the right and appropriate qualifications to lead our nation and serve the people.The press conference that was called by presidential bets Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso, Sen. Ping Lacson and Norberto Gonzales, which Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Ernesto Abella did not attend, turned out to be a forum against VP Leni Robredo, despite the claim of Lacson that the press conference was not anti-Leni.Of course, it was unnecessary for BBM to attend that presscon since he is the survey leader and it would be a waste of time for him to join. Domagoso was so vocal against Robredo whom he asked to withdraw and be a hero as a “supreme sacrifice.”Perhaps, the camp of BBM and his supporters would say there was no need for Robredo to withdraw her candidacy for president since BBM’s lead is already insurmountable, at least in the surveys.At least, with Robredo still running, BBM has a close competitor and if he wins, which according to my friend broadcaster Choi Torralba is already certain, he could redeem his loss to VP Leni in the 2016 vice presidential race as well as his family’s reputation.The supporters of BBM should also be grateful to Gonzales for impliedly campaigning for their candidate in that presscon when he said the Filipinos opt to rally behind BBM “because they don’t like Robredo, who is currently on the second rank.” If I may ask, why did you run, Mr. Gonzales?In reply, VP Leni’s spokesperson lawyer Barry Gutierrez said, “It is the prerogative of every candidate to continue till the end.” “The same as it is the choice of a candidate to disregard surveys, rally attendance, endorsements or any other conventional measure of support. We wish every candidate who decides to push through to the end, only the best,” Gutierrez added.The hodgepodge of presidential candidates could only be blamed on the change in our political system from the traditional two-party system and now the multi-party system that allows anyone to seek public office as long as the candidate has the money to throw away.The imposition of Martial Law in 1972 changed everything. Instead of improving the system after the late president Marcos was deposed by the people’s bloodless revolt in 1986, the fathers of the 1987 Constitution somehow failed to foresee the possible consequences of a multi-party system, which we are now sadly experiencing.The same is true with the party-list representation. While the intention of allowing party-lists is noble and magnanimous as they represent the marginalized, the system has been abused. As President Duterte said, the rich are behind some party-lists like a party-list for security guards, but you know who the nominee was.