I’M SEATED by the glass wall facing the street, observing the traffic flowing through this part of the city. I also notice people walking by, checking their reflections in the glass. Hmm, why do we always do that? Whenever we pass a glass window, wall, or door, we consistently check our appearance against it. Is it part of our vanity as human beings?
There is inspiration in venturing out to find another place to write. Thoughts come easily. It must be the setting and the flurry of activities occurring as you sit and write. You can see everything happening, and all these movements provide texture and nuance to your article. Or perhaps I’m just imagining things, haha!
With the elections over, our lives return to their normal grind. But residual post-election snippets still dot our social media milieu. For instance, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is plagued with disqualification cases and has announced that pending disqualification cases will be resolved before June 30, 2025. What a herculean task, huh! But the COMELEC is accountable. We will see if they can deliver.
This Wednesday morning, I read a candidate’s post about how he felt utterly betrayed by the outcome of the recent elections. Now, I can empathize with that. In politics, you can’t wholeheartedly expect the loyalty of even your closest allies and party mates to stick it out with you until the end. Two to three party mates, or even the whole gang, could decide to drop you like a hot potato, especially if your following is strong.
Any act of betrayal is well-planned and could be executed in creative ways. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. It could happen at the beginning of the campaign period, midway, or towards the end, meaning the most critical last few days before election day. Do not be deceived, it’s not a haphazard plan. It is calculated with the intent to defeat you. There are many ways to pull you down, as this candidate found out. It could be a singular effort or an orchestrated move with the same goal.
To illustrate, one to two party mates could decide among themselves to remove you from their campaign materials. In this age of social media, which can be readily seen, your name is absent from all graphics-designed posts. Another way, in the vote-buying scheme unashamedly patronized by politicians in Bohol and Tagbilaran City, they can remove your name from the list stapled to the currency, unless you venture into a solo vote-buying strategy, which is not unusual in this vote-buying community. The dynastic leaders could discreetly inform their ground leaders not to include you among the preferred candidates, but openly say to your face that they support you.
Or in the past, on the January 18, 1988 elections, following the ratification of the Philippine Constitution in 1987, a silent plot was hatched to cover your name on all sample ballots for distribution to towns belonging to one district to ensure that you are not written on the real ballot. Indeed, there are countless ways to execute a crooked plan.
I tell you there’s nothing unreal about betrayal. It’s as real as it gets.
The betrayal in the 2025 midterm elections emerged on all fronts: at the national level, congressional field, and local scene. Betrayal after betrayal was the name of the game. The lesson our politicians are instructing our young people is that nothing is wrong with betrayal. We are normalizing a wrong value: the twisted value of betrayal. I can only imagine how the younger generation of leaders is impacted by our shameless behavior.
It takes another generation of leaders to put a smile on our exhausted and indignant faces as they rise fresh with their values of integrity, genuine public service, decency, and their abhorrence of vote-buying. Do we still have that crop of leaders? Your answer is as good as mine.
Betrayal will not end soon. It will continue to happen because even during the time of Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot, one of his twelve apostles, betrayed him.
In politics, that’s how betrayal works. It happens with shifting alliances because of the unbridled greed for power.
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The writer hosts Woman Talk with Belinda Sales every Saturday, 10 a.m., at 91.1 Balita FM Tagbilaran City. Email at belindabelsales@gmail.com. X @ShilohRuthie./PN
