Notes From a Disenfranchised

I got disenfranchised.

Last night, I checked this lovely app on a website that locates my voting precinct for me, and found out that I am no longer a registered voter because I missed out on two consecutive elections. I think it's fair enough that people who don't participate as much should have their right to elect people in government revoked because when you stand to lose something, you appreciate it more.

But I can't believe I missed out on two elections! Ok, so I think I may have let the Baranggay elections slipped out of my mind, but I'm pretty sure I voted on the last National Elections. So, I had my sister check out my Timeline to see what I was doing on May 9-12 of 2010.

Thanks to Facebook's fully explorable Timeline, we came across these following clues that explained what I was preoccupied with at that time: A photo of me holding my grandmother's hand in the ICU, a check-in at the St. Luke's Hospital, and a photo of me goofing with the hopital's K9 guard dog.

So, yeah. I wasn't able to participate in that election because I was busy taking care of my grandmother. And I'd miss every election for her. I'd miss everything for her.

But, it's such a big letdown that I can't vote. So, in lieu of actual voting, I'm sharing my list so that I may somehow influence someone else. I know that's not enough of a participation, but every little counts.

Here is how I would have voted had I not been disenfranchised....

Partylist: 

Ang Ladlad needs a good tagline. Seriously, bekis, what's up with the drab campaign? The Ladlad's campaign materials all proclaimed its importance as the partylist that stands for the LGBT community. But it forgot to play on its strength: fierceness in the face of adversity. With no memorable battlecry, Ang Ladlad stands to be forgotten in the polls. (How hard is it to come up with something like "Sa Ladlad, Winner Ka!"?)

But I would have voted for Ladlad despite their lackluster campaign. It's the only partylist that's brave enough to face discrimination head on. What convinced me is my father. One afternoon, after bringing my sister and her friends to the swimming pool at the clubhouse, my father remarked "I think those guys are gay. Malalaki pa ang katawan sa akin ng mga putangina."

My father's narrow vision of sexuality is something I have to live with all my life. Sexuality is not the only aspect of humanity that my father knows so little of. Among them, race, religion, animal rights, territoriality. My father thinks the US shouldn't trust Obama, and that a warship is more valuable than Tubbataha reef. My father asserts this with the sure voice of one whose opinions do not invite disagreement.

But before you think badly of him, let us all appreciate the fact that I own half of my awesome genes from him. The fact that you're reading this blog entry this far means you trust me and my ideas, and if you do, then we owe that from that man.

Ang Ladlad is a partylist that's brave enough to educate and standup against men like my father. While the other partylist espouses vague promises such as better this and better that, Ang Ladlad knows exactly not only what it's fighting for, but what it's fighting against.

But, come on, you guys really to step up and play to your strengths. Sayang ang campaign!

Senatoriables:

I want to vote for Nancy Binay, but I won't. Nancy Binay is a nice woman. Pitted against Vice Ganda, she makes more sense. Whereas the miseducated stand-up comedian used rhetoric and comedic timing, Nancy Binay made her points clear: When it comes to serving the country, she's born into it. She has spent her whole life learning by the feet of her father, she has worked closely with her parents. She knows so much more about running a state than Vice Ganda ever will. She is educated in the country's premiere state university, THE University of the Philippines.

 I don't value experience over wisdom and insight. Nancy Binay has a lot of insight when it comes to what's good for Makati, and if so, maybe she'll use that insight in drafting laws that's good for the Philippines.

I want to vote for Nancy Binay, but I won't. Nancy Binay is a nice woman, but there's a lot at stake here. Think of it as the finals for American Idol. Thousands want to be counted in so they audition. But from that, a panel selects the best hundred or so. Now, from the hundreds who passed the audition, they have to select a handful. That handful is the final 12. There is no doubt that the hundreds who made the cut are full of talent, ambition, and the need to make people happy. But there are only 12 slots, and we must choose wisely. Nancy Binay WOULD MAKE A GOOD SENATOR, but I don't think this is her breakout year. Maybe a few more years in the public's eye, and she can turn that around.

I don't want to vote for Rissa Hontiveros and Teddy Casino, but I should. Something turned me off when I saw Rissa Hontiveros use her alampay/scarf to resolve the problems of the nation. I don't understand how, even metaphorically, her alampay can be imbibed with superpowers. There's a certain shamelessness to how she desperately wants to be in power, and I don't trust people who wants to be in power so bad, they'll wear an alampay everywhere they go to whip out corruption. I'm distrustful too of how Teddy Casino is being branded as the "Karaniwang Tao" because ordinary people don't go to the schools he or his sons went to. Also, his son is kinda a hot mess. I don't trust parents who let their kids enter the TV-movie industry without prior training in the stage.

But they both say the right things, and they're fighting for the right causes. Election is not about what I want, but what I think is good for the country. Rissa Hontiveros and Teddy Casino are both good for the country.  We need them in the Legislative.

Bro. Eddie Villanueva stands for everything I oppose. He is conservative, anti-RH, and can only operate within the parameters of his values system. But that is why WE NEED BRO. EDDIE VILLANUEVA IN THE SENATE. Because he's a well-meaning man, with clean intentions, and old school values. He represents a life that we look back on with nostalgia, he stands for the goodness inside us that makes society worth fighting for. His will and conscience is strong enough to approximate ours. I really hope he wins in this election.

I'm voting for Angara because he's crazy sexy. Look, given that I get to vote 12 people, I owe it to myself to throw away one of those just for Crazy Sexy Vote. Also, he looks like he's not particularly FOR anything, and that he's receptive to what the people want, so I think he'll be one of those senators who listens to public opinion before listening to his own. So, yey. I am so gay for Angara, I'll vote for him.

On the other end of that decision is my decision to vote for Action Gordon and Hagedorn. They're the sort who will listen to their own opinions first before consulting the people because they're so sure that they know better than to trust the "wisdom of the crowd". I don't trust the wisdom of the crowd. If we let it to the majority, our government will be in the form of a noontime TV show where people get rewarded for making fools of themselves on air. Gordon and Hagedorn seem like the sort who will roll up their sleeves, stop thinking, and start doing.

The rest I'm kinda lumping together for their track record, platform, and general appeal: Jun Magsaysay, Jamby Madrigal (also, points for standing up against Manny Villar), Loren Legarda (she's like an elderly school principal; you kinda don't want to be close to her, but you have to trust her that she knows what's good for you), Chiz Escudero (only because I can't think of a reason why I shouldn't vote for him), Bam Aquino (because he's the only person who can make a microfinancing infrastructure work for the masses), and Alan Peter Cayetano (again, because I can't think of a reason why I shouldn't vote for him over killers, drug lords, bigos, etc).

I lost my right to vote this year. I should have ensured that I hold that right months ago, but I was too sure of my participation in the past, that I didn't even consider that I might have lost it.

I hope those of you who can vote do so. And vote with the good of the country in mind.