The winner isn’t always the better one

Just because Donald Trump won doesn’t mean he is the better person. The majority isn’t always right.

The sad reality in democracies is that majority choice isn’t always the correct and righteous one. Elections are not like Board or Bar examinations, where the most brilliant always come out as topnotchers. Elections, especially in the Philippines, are a dirty game where experts in violating the rules and adept at cheating always win. Or, if one is famous, popular, even if incompetent, the voters don’t mind at all.

In the last senatorial elections, an ex-convict topped the Senate race, defeating many brilliant lawyers like Law dean Chel Diokno, illustrious son of the iconic senator, Jose W. Diokno. Chel's father was topnotcher of both the Bar Exams and the CPA Board exams when he was only 19 years old. Chel's father didn’t even have a Bachelor of Laws degree. He merely read the books of his father Senator Ramon Diokno and never went to Law school. Guess what, Chel Diokno, the son of Senator Jose and grandson of Senator Ramon, was defeated in the Senate race which was topped by one who isn’t a lawyer and who was actually convicted of a crime, and spent years in prison. That’s how wise the Filipino voters are.

If we go back to history, the better candidate, in 1949 elections, Cebu's grand leader, the first and the longest-running speaker of the House, former senator, former Cebu governor, former vice president, and founder of the Nacionalista Party, Don Sergio Osmeña Sr., was defeated by a very slim plurality, not majority, by Don Manuel Acuna Roxas from Capiz. Both Osmeña and Roxas were Bar topnotchers but Osmeña was more morally and ethically strong, more nationalistic, more persevering as the second-in-command to Don Manuel L. Quezon for the longest time. But Osmeña, the better one, the more deserving one, was beaten by Roxas.

Another better candidate Diosdado P. Macapagal of Pampanga, a perfect gentleman, number one in the Bar, and former vice president during the presidency of Carlos P. Garcia, was defeated by one who was convicted by the Ilocos Court of First Instance for the murder of Julio Nalundasan. He was acquitted later by the Supreme Court with Justice Jose P. Laurel as the ponente. You know his name. He was the president who placed the country under martial law and jailed all his opponents like Jovito Salonga, Jose W. Diokno, Ninoy Aquino, and Francisco Rodrigo. He was president when Ninoy Aquino was murdered and he was ousted by the EDSA Revolution. But he defeated two better men: Diosdado Macapagal in 1965 and Serging Osmeña Jr. in 1969.

Serging, son of Don Sergio, and father of mayor Tomas and Senator Serge, was outmaneuvered and betrayed by fellow Cebuanos. Serging's opponent who was the incumbent president in 1969, gave tremendous logistics to then congressmen Ramon Durano of the old 1st District (now 5th), Ed Kintanar of the old 4th District (now 2nd) and Tereso Dumon of the old 7th district (now 4th) and Manuel Zosa of the old 6th District (from Ronda to Toledo City, now 7th and 3rd). The Palace told Durano, Kintanar, Dumon, and Zosa to defeat Serging in Cebu. And they succeeded. That’s why the Osmeñas and Duranos are like oil and water. They can never mix.

Serging was cheated and outsmarted by the president who jailed his son, Serge and Geny Lopez, the nephew of his former vice president Fernando Lopez and son of Don Eugenio Lopez, mogul of Meralco, ABS-CBN, and the many other business empires. Fernando Lopez was supposed to be the official candidate of the Nacionalista Party in 1965. He was the more acceptable one but he was outsmarted by a Liberal Party man who changed his party to Nacionalista and defeated Lopez in the party convention held in the old Manila Hotel in 1965.

The winner isn’t always the better one, but the more clever, the more astute, the more scheming, shrewd and, perhaps, the one who uses Sun Tzu's “Art of War”. Isaac wasn’t the first born but Ishmael was. Jacob wasn’t the first born but Esau. Joseph wasn’t the first born of Jacob but Reuben. But Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were the wiser ones. Peter wasn’t the most beloved, but John. But Peter was more politically astute and smarter.

Thus, the winner isn’t always the best, not necessarily the better one, to say the very least.