The May 10 election is proving not only to be one of the most heated and contentious, it is also one of the dirtiest. The mud-slinging resorted to by everybody, and we mean everybody, including the self-proclaimed political saints and moralists, is appalling and disgusting.
And yet Filipinos can still thank their lucky stars this is still part of the game, no matter how bloody and savage, and everybody is still taking part within the delineated confines of the accepted arenas of political combat.
What is scary is what happens after May 10. In a country that has exorcised all good naturedness and good graces, it is no longer acceptable to lose. The preferred excuse for losing is having been cheated.
And the wonder of it all is that anyone, even those who get flatly rejected, can still to a certain extent make a plausible excuse of having been cheated, not because he or she really was cheated but because the omnipresence of cheating has made the notion possible.
The claim of being cheated has become an even more important weapon in a politician's arsenal, which he can use after the election, than his resources and resourcefulness in the campaign prior to the polls.
During the campaign, it is difficult and even uncalled for for anyone to stage rallies and mount protests or otherwise summon displays of people power to obtain a certain effect. But after the election, the specter of trouble instigated by claims of cheating can loom very large.
Better believe that, real or imagined, cheating will become a very hot issue after this particular election. Even this early, long before the first ballot has been cast, some candidates are already laying the butter on thick that they expect to be cheated.
This is a very repugnant political ploy. While cheating is acknowledged as a real occurrence, using it as an excuse to achieve what a candidate fails to achieve in the election itself must never be countenanced and allowed. The fakers must be exposed.