The filing for the certificate of candidacy for the May 2022 elections started last week and that means the circus is officially in town once more.
Well if you come to think of it, a terribly unfunny circus has been in town for almost 6 years already but with the elections officially coming up in 8 months, it would seem that our badly battered and bruised democracy is still working. That makes it understandable why we seem to be relishing the opportunity to pick a new set of clowns to run our funny country.
Over the past few days, all sorts of people have been filing their certificates of candidacy, ranging from the usual trapos to nuisance candidates. While some may find this annoying, we have to remember that if we sift through the garbage, there are bound to be jewels waiting to be discovered. The only problem is how much are we willing to make the effort to recognize the differences or are we just going to vote according to the usual shallow standards and expectations that have led us to where we are right now?
The filing period will run until October 8 and because our election rules allows substitutions, a loophole our current dear leader fully exploited in his cha-cha-drama candidacy 6 years ago, we won’t know who the final list of candidates will be until November.
Back in the day, the only nuisance candidates we had to worry about where those who ran without any obvious sources of campaign funds. These days, we have even more nuisances who thrive on election drama, as well as mercenary placeholders who give them the positions to substitute for while they keep playing games with our hearts.
Nuisance candidates back then may have been annoying, but they weren’t permanent problems. The nuisance candidates these days are beyond annoying because they after all the drama and confusion they deliberately heap upon the populace, they even win and somehow end up as permanent and powerful nuisances.
What is even more annoying is that the age of the successful nuisance candidate has normalized their tactics and as long as Comelec doesn’t change the rules to minimize the power of the nuisance, it looks like that is going to be the way the game will be played. Deception and drama are given more value than substance and platform.
Based on the names of those who have already filed their certificate of candidacy for the top position in the land, I am not excited to vote because I’m sick and tired of choosing the lesser evil once more. If it’s any consolation, at least I know who I’m definitely not voting for. I’m still hoping a candidate who can make me feel good about the prospect of a future in this country for my will finally surface but at the same time, I’m also afraid because such a candidate would most definitely drive me out of my comfort zone because I am an indifferent Filipino who has never felt the need to support and campaign for anyone before.
I guess this is what happens when you have growing kids. I could probably be a crony if I wanted to and just like that, become filthy rich. I only have 2 kids so getting even just a fraction of what those Pharmally dudes got from the country would be enough to set us up for a few generations. But since I’m not a morally questionable go-getter who’s too late to the crony party so I’ll have to spend my meager resources supporting a candidate I can entrust this country’s immediate future with.
The problem is that with just a few days to go before the filing of certificates of candidacies end, no such candidate has appeared. Only the trapos, the pretenders, the place holders and the enablers of the current disappointment in chief have thrown their hats into the ring. It would totally suck to vote for another compromise, lesser evil or less questionable candidate in the coming elections but if nobody good enough steps up, then that is our fate and we will have to pick our nuisance candidate come May 2022.
In a country without strong political parties, nuisance candidates have naturally become the norm. If you come to think of it, the people we used to attach that definition to are the ones who possibly have the capability, vision and moral fiber but have no funds and machinery to pull off a win.
Now, the nuisance candidates are those who have the ambition, funds and backers who make them think they’re the bomb but are actually nothing great. They throw their hat into the ring for kicks, bend the rules as much as they can, and hope for a win in an election where voters are bombarded with so many bad choices that any of them can pull of the improbable. That is the real nuisance to this country.
The origin of the world nuisance can be traced back to Latin, meaning “to harm.” The word may have lost its capacity for destruction over the years but the past six years has shown us just how harmful and destructive a nuisance can become if we let them be. Is there anything we can do about them this time around?*
