Countdown to 2016 starts

In case you did not notice it, Campaign 2016 for the next president of this country began last week in Negros. Election rules notwithstanding, last week marked the time when the presidentiables of the two leading political parties descended on Negros and all but unfurled banners and streamers asking for our votes.

First to come was Secretary Mar Roxas, presumed Liberal Party standard bearer, who came with President Noynoy Aquino to inaugurate a solar energy plant and a highway in Sagay. Politics was a subject that danced on the margins of these activities because the focus was on the development projects that were inaugurated but Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon, Jr. quickly made known his choice: he will go Roxas in 2016. That should count for something, considering that Marañon in 2010 did not give his blessings to the Aquino-Roxas ticket until late in the day.

Then over the weekend, the other presumptive candidate, Vice-President Jejomar Binay from the opposition, came and flirted with voters. There were no streamers and banners here, too, but the activities had the unmistakable beat of a political campaign to them. I saw a schedule sent out to barangay captains, and it looked and felt 2016 all over: arrival at the airport, walk in the lagoon, lunch with leaders, overnight camp, live media interview, and a press conference. Interestingly, the memo to barangay captains, sent via SMS, ended with: These activities are for barangay captains…but only if you’re interested. I wonder how many of them turned out and signified yes, they were interested.  I also wonder whether this early, the vice-president was able to pick up some endorsement with the same weight as the governor’s.

In both events the sight of media people in droves and waiting for their opportunity to talk to the political VIPs was very familiar and reassuring. Even a newshen’s complaint that Binay did not want to give ambush interviews [“and he’s just Veep yet!”] rang familiar. Somehow, this also added to a familiar cadence to the entire exercise, reminding everyone: here we go again…

Which is exactly what political exercises are about in a functioning democracy: a regular feature that allows all of us the opportunity for change and to be once more heard above the din of noise in nation-building. The familiarity should give us the will and wherewithal to force our agenda on the national debate. By this time, we should already be experts in this exercise, we should already have realized that elections are the only occasions when our individual voices carry the power to make or break the political landscape. Aside from revolutions, elections are the only time when we can all take the political destiny of our country in our own hands and secure our future.

And so, while our politicians have started courting our votes, we all should start thinking where each of us will stand or side in this contest. We cannot lose by default here, and just turn things over to politicians whose greed we have long proven. In other words, here is an opportunity to dictate our future, let us not leave it to politicians.

This is why this isn’t really too early to  begin the debate on the issues that will shape our future after 2016. To my mind, two major matters should matter the most: the pork barrel scandal and the West Philippine Sea and China.

If we expect the pork scandal to be pursued to its logical end, when we shall have punished the guilty who unconscionably  plundered the  public coffers, we need a President who will have the moral ascendancy to make sure it does.

Our claim on the West Philippine Sea, on the other hand, where we are ranged against a Goliath of a nation, can only be pursued by a President with the same steely resolve and integrity who could bring the porkers to justice.

Is that President in Binay or Roxas, or do we look elsewhere? Indeed, it seems like, after all we went through as a nation, with our economic jigsaw already falling into place, what we now need is a President with a high sense against moral turpitude and who can distinguish what is right from what is wrong and  pursue it no matter the cost, and no matter the distractions that oftentimes political realities throw along the way.

That is not a easy choice to make, yes, but that is where we are now; Elections 2016 will be all about that choice. So, while our politicians are revving up their political engines, we can do no less than revving ours, and start making The Choice.*

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