No Catholic vote, nor labor vote?

Based on historical voting patterns and empirical data, no one in the Philippines can prove beyond the shadow of doubt that Filipino voters cast their votes along lines of religious affiliations (with the single exception of the Iglesia Ni Kristo), much less along ideological lines of, for instance, progressive labor or conservative middle class. I am what you may call a “Catolico sarado” but, with all due respect to our bishops, no one among us can present any indubitable proof that Catholics follow strictly the guidelines issued by dioceses on the manner of voting. In the same vein, no union federation can claim that their members strictly adhere to the leadership's instructions on whom to elect.

Ours is a secular state, and we are more inclined to adhere to the separation of the Church and the State. Only a few would carry the list of “Team Buhay” and “Team Patay” to the voting booth. With all due respect to the Holy Father, not even Pope Francis, perhaps, in His Holiness' apparent Jesuit libertarianism, would threaten excommunication to Catholics who would support pro-RH candidates. And so, Catholics will most probably vote not as members of the Church but rather as Visayans, as Bicolanos, as Ilocanos. They vote on many other considerations, rather than as Catholics, or as union members. We vote as members of a clan or as loyal followers of a “padrino.” We do not bring our Catholicism into the voting precinct.

Since the time of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Aglipayan Church), Don Gregorio Aglipay, the ilustrado Obispo Maximo and a close ally of Don Isabelo de los Reyes, (the founder of the first Philippine labor union in 1901 and the organizer of the first Philippine Labor Day in 2003 ) lost overwhelmingly  to Manuel L Quezon, the leader of the secular Philippines. His devastating loss was a blow to both the imagined Church and the union votes. Brother Eddie Villanueva, a very good and brilliant man, ran and lost not once but twice in his previous political peregrinations. His son, the TESDA Director General, earlier withdrew due to poor survey results. Although I will vote for him, only a miracle perhaps can make Brother Eddie win. Even Christ would lose to Barrabas today in a Pilate style of elections like what we have.

And so, let us rather focus on the absence of a labor vote in this country. This is not the United Kingdom, nor Australia, not even anything comparable to New Zealand or Canada. There is no labor party in our country. Those who claim to be such, assuming many names that hope to capture enough votes, are not really coming from the working class. We do not have the passion of a Crisanto Evangelista, nor the clean hands of Felixberto Olalia, not even the unblemished character of a Crispin Beltran or the daring of Ka Popoy Lagman. Our labor leaders today are mestizo ilustrados, who are landed and own vast assets and means of production, and who control tripartite offices and go to Geneva annually claiming to represent the working class, in the eyes of the world.

Of course, there is Akbayan, Bayan Muna, Anak Pawis, and many more claiming to represent the OFWs. There is even Ang Galing, the party list of security guards and tricycle drivers represented by a rich son of GMA. But we do not have UK's Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, James Callaghan or Harold Wilson. We do not have Australia's Julia Gillard or any one like New Zealand's Helen Clark. Our so-called labor leaders do not stand on any ideology or principles. As we do not have a Catholic vote, most probably, those priests running for governor in Pampanga and Masbate (Bless their courage and guts against gold, goons and guns), will most probably end up like Don Quixote dela Manchas, fighting windmills with their crucifixes. Meanwhile, some labor leaders may be elected, not because they represent labor. They may win because they have metamorphosed into trapos playing the trapos game.