Papa was officially proclaimed by Comelec as one of the eight councilors in Ponvedra, Negros Occidental. He will be having his oathtaking on June 30 and start his public service job on July 1. While there was much anticipation of a sweet and smooth victory during the campaign period, the canvassing was a learning experience for us. He rank 8th of the eight councilors. Something we never expected. Or maybe we just expected too much.
Politics is indeed a dirty game. While Papa was busy campaigning for his whole party, others were campaigning just for themselves. We never thought this was possible since the party seems to have a strong camaraderie during the campaign. But when the counting started, some of this party members were enjoying single votes. Other members were never voted for. So they would enjoy the lead of more or less a thousand votes. In places where papa gets the number one spot, he only leads by magnitudes of tens and his party members are close behind.
Politics doesn’t have permanent friends. In the national level, we see people moving from one party to the other. Emenies and friends joining together to form an alliance. This is very similar in the municipal level. You could never tell who is your friend and who is stabbing you from behind. I can’t even trust papas party members after what happened. I hope he would be careful in all his actions as a councilor.
Politics is strongly motivated by money. During the campaign, there was an increase of visitors in our place looking for papa to tell them of their financial needs. Previously, they were only relatives and acquintances. Now, complete strangers would arrive early in the morning. There were talks of vote buying. It costs as little as twenty pesos. Mama joked that she’d start saving 20 pesos each day until the next campaign period starts.
Papa is testing dangerous waters when he decided to join politics. He doesnt know the rules of the games yet. The ins and outs. The tips and tricks. When the counting was almost complete, he was still moving at the 7th, 8th and 9th spot. He almost didn’t make it and was a bit disappointed. It was only at the final hours that he had a comfortable lead for the final slot. But he said, even if he is new in politics, he proud he started it the right way. No cheating, no stabbing, no propagandas. He is sure those who voted for him are those who truly believes in his capability to serve. I, for one, is proud of my father.
