Reasons why I will not vote on May 14

I will not vote on May 14.  I never have, probably never will. At least not until I begin to have some faith in the Philippine elections, faith being the operative word.  It’s funny how Filipinos approach the elections.  One must have faith, as if to worship an unseen deity, in order to select those who we deem are worthy to be called our leaders because really there is no telling who they are and what they abide by.  It’s all a matter of faith, a reflection of how Filipinos have relegated their lives’ decisions to spirituality.  No wonder it’s such a big deal to receive the blessings of our so-called spiritual leaders, it is as if they could, with one fell swoop, already cast the votes of their congregation.

I will not vote on May 14 because these elections are a hoax, a loose play, nothing but mere theatrics.  The population thinking itself free to choose when they are in fact puppets in this play, their strings pulled to and fro, their mis-educated minds swayed by sweet euphemism which only seem to mean something.  There is no true free will when you are forced to choose between lesser and greater evils.  When the entire gamut of political wannabes consists of actors and actresses, artists and singers, soldiers and even convicted criminals.  Our votes are posthumous.  The decisions have already been made for us behind closed doors, and we are all innocent and hapless, helpless bystanders. 

I will not vote on May 14 because to do so would be to participate in fraud and injustice, it would be as if I myself had aligned with debauchery.  To vote would be to commit a public crime, giving meaning and lending support, making absolute that which is purportedly the very thing that the elections guard against. To hell with those who say we must exercise our right to vote, our one vote.  It is quite clear that suffrage is not only overrated, it is moot.  The only real exercise of personal freedom is to exclude ourselves from this national scandal.  And so I urge everybody not to vote.  Let us invalidate these elections.

We do not need these elections.  These elections merely whitewash a corrupt and blackened government.  The Philippine Government has grown to such a state that it is now inherently corrupt from the grassroots all the way to the top.  It is no longer sufficient to address individual corruption, what must be engaged is systemic corruption, a corruption that has become naturally intertwined with the ins and outs of government.  As such, a good politician or, at the very least, a politician with good intentions, by joining the system, becomes corrupt.  The only truly good politicians are the ones that quit while they’re ahead and their integrity intact.  Or, the ones that die or get killed before they have the opportunity of becoming corrupt.  One would be so lucky to die a hero in a martyr’s death, than as a politician sprayed with lead days before the elections.

The only way to achieve true reform and real change is through a rare but unlikely revolution, a revolution far from the fanfare of EDSA 1 and 2.  A revolution that, in these modern times, is really impossible to achieve.