Frivolity

Our politics mirrors our damaged culture and warped sense of values. Last Valentine’s day, the City of Manila led by the Mayor and his wife held a massive public smooching affair in coordination with a multinational company selling toothpaste just to show the world that here in the Philippines, a greater number of people are more romantic and are bold and shameless enough to display their affection in public. " Lovapalooza" was indeed a resounding success as 5, 122 couples of all shapes, sizes, age and status( whether single or married, who knows) joined the kissing spectacle that caused a traffic jam and necessitated a rerouting of the traffic in the vicinity of the Roxas Boulevard Baywalk. Sure enough the kissfest was lapped up by media as it supposedly broke the Guinness Book of World Record previously established in Santiago Chile last year for the most number of people locking lips in one area lasting ten seconds or more. With this achievement, Manila has shown the world that it is tops when it comes to triviality and promiscuity. The "historical" event was indeed memorable to all the kissing couples for they have proven that in this part of the world, we give more value to things of little worth and importance; that we are ready and willing to channel our resources and efforts to such trivial pursuits that do not in any way help our people get out of the mire of poverty but merely and mainly increase the sales of "close up" toothpaste.

These unwholesome practices more than explain the kind of politics and the quality of candidates we have. Our people have accepted the petty, unimportant and artificial matters even when it comes to the choice of their leaders. They are willing to entrust their future to persons who have somehow acquired tremendous popularity through media exposure. They cannot distinguish anymore between the reel and the real; between form and substance; between a real hero and a mere celebrity. There is a tendency to overlook such faults as infidelity and illegitimacy in exercising their right to vote. One Senator even brazenly posed that now infamous question of "what’s wrong with having an illegitimate child" after arrogantly admitting he sired one (or some?) out of wedlock.

As the campaign enters its second week, it is getting clearer that the choice of our public officials will be reduced to an emotional popularity contest rather than a serious and rational exercise to determine who are most capable in the intricate and complex art of governance. Candidates are fielded by the major political parties not because they have the best qualifications but because they have name recall. Most of the aspirants to public office use all sorts of medium of communications to project their names with photos of handsome and pleasant faces rather than their impressive credentials and practical, specific platforms of government for the general welfare of the people. Our politics has degenerated into an excessive indulgence in petty and trivial matters that are of little worth and importance to our country and people. Candidates who can sing and dance are more likely to win more votes because they are more appealing to the peoples’ senses rather than to their intellectual and more sublime faculties. Campaigns are now conducted with too much gimmickry and with much less sincerity like that "lovapalooza" gimmick last Valentine’s day.

Thus the appeal initiated by Ms. Amy Bonotan and Lalaine Arreja and many other ladies from a woman’s center in 173 M. Paterno Street, San Juan Metro Manila, to boycott the products of the Company who sponsored that "lovapalooza" extravaganza is timely and deserves support. Let us heed their plea "to put all our act together to build a wholesome atmosphere of modesty, decency, sense of propriety, reverence for clean and chaste relationship avoiding public display of affection", and listen to their apt reminder of "our common social responsibility to promote the common good and foster good values". This is one small step but it should carried out to arrest our inexorable slide to that quagmire of licentiousness.

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