The electorate

Several have asked me what I think of the candidates in this election. I usually deflect the question by asking them who they think are the good candidates. They end up by talking about their choice, without knowing about mine.

This procedure is not mere diplomatic reticence. Except among very intimate friends, I do not wish to discuss candidates. Issues, yes. Candidates, no.

The fact is, I am not really interested in the candidates. What interests me are the voters. The electorate.

I remember a cartoon long ago showing Juan de la Cruz, wearing his salakot hat and with his hands joined behind his back, looking at three giant posters, each with the picture of a presidential candidate. And Juan de la Cruz says to himself, "Thank God, only one of them can be elected."

That is the way one feels about this year’s candidates. Thank God, only one of them can be elected. Whichever one of them is elected will probably be disastrous to the country.

But the disaster, great or small, will pass. The candidate’s term will eventually end. But the electorate remains.

President Marcos had aimed at making himself President for life. His rule lasted 20 years, a very long time. But it finally ended, and the people have survived, including many of those who had suffered under Martial Law.

The Japanese Occupation was a terrible ordeal for the country. Hundreds were imprisoned. Hundreds of thousands were killed. The economy was completely shattered. Today, how many of 80 million people would even know what we are talking about when we mention the Japanese Occupation?

So, not the candidates but the electorate is what we should seriously study.

Our electorate is unique. It is different from the electorate of any other country. It is a very varied, many-layered electorate. It presents problems and challenges unheard of in other countries.

It is an electorate bristling with defects. Our Constitution is totally inadequate to deal with those problems. This electorate deserves to be studied seriously.

Space limitation forces me to speak in general terms, without concrete examples. But each of the statements above can be substantiated.

What I hope for – and pray for – in this election is twofold. First, I hope that the country will be elected. Second, that our sociologists, our political scientists, our educators, our religious thinkers will study this electorate seriously, and that our political leaders will be able to find some way of coping with the problems that this electorate presents.