WHY is it that many of us Pinoys tend to turn everything in our lives into politics? Is it because a large number believes it could run our country in such a way as to make it a progressive and respectable nation? Aren’t there ordinary citizens who hanker for high office, such as barangay captain to councilor to mayor to governor, then congressperson to senator and, eventually, president? Is it because of a natural human predilection to lust for power so as to be able to control one’s fellow humans? Isn’t it rather like the ape who thinks he’s the king of the jungle only to find that it’s the lion who’s the stronger beast?
Why is it that we’ve lately been bombarded with reports from various sectors urging some politicians to run as leader of our particular jungle? Why is all this going on now when the election isn’t scheduled till 2022? Have folks forgotten that we’re in the midst of a deadly pandemic and an economic meltdown? Is it because lots of them have gone stir-crazy from having to be in lockdown for so long? Might it all be attributable to the fact that a large number of ordinary citizens have developed mental problems like confusion, amnesia and even -– sad to say — dementia?
Haven’t some folks been mounting motorcades and sticking up tarps touting the President’s daughter to be his successor? Why did she coyly say she’s not interested in such a way as to make us think she might consider it a little bit later? Haven’t others been declaring that Sen. Manny Pacquiao, whose main qualification for public office is a pair of magic fists, should run for the highest post of this benighted country? And wasn’t it the President himself who said recently that Sen. Christopher Lawrence Tesoro Go, who has stuck to him loyally like superglue, should become our next leader?
To make things more interesting, aren’t there those who say that the President himself should run for vice president in the next election while not saying who should run for President? Doesn’t that make us think that we may one day be ruled by two people in the highest offices of the land who share the same surname?
Meanwhile, why is it that Leonor Robredo, who is our duly elected vice president, is the regular recipient of innuendoes, insults and abuse? Is it because it’s normal for nasty people to dislike persons who are patriotic, intelligent, educated and well-spoken? Who knows?