Photo by שאול חנוכה Shaul HanukaWhat’s in it for me? I’m sure you’ve been asking that eternal 2010 presidential elections question for God knows how long. And unfortunately, you haven’t been getting the answer/s you want — that is, if you’ve been getting answers at all.

We turn to forums as our means to bridge the gap between what we know (what he hear on public radio, see on TV, read in the papers, online, even from friends) and what the presidential candidates are trying so hard to tell us. But somehow, it just isn’t enough.

****
First: A Few Thoughts On Communication and Forum cum Debates

I can imagine the frustration of someone who believes that he/she has a wonderful idea in mind but just couldn’t find a way to get that message or idea across, as simple and as crisp as the one that he/she has in mind.

Can you now imagine how hard it is to be asked mostly general questions, give the best answer you can come up with and pack it in 2-3 minutes while people expect you to say something awesome or at least be right the whole time? The entire nation, if not the world, watching you as you open your mouth, and you watching the look on their faces at every pause, fishing for hints of contentment or dissatisfaction?

You see, communication takes effort. It is not an activity for the lazy (actually, no activity is ever worthwhile to the lazy). You are overflowing with ideas that can actually save mankind from destruction but the world just wouldn’t listen to you just because a)they have now become prejudiced. Politicians = scammers. Politics = scam. Promises = *sorry, can’t write the word* or; b)your sentences somehow sound incoherent anyway or; c) you are just plain boring.

And so unless our politicians are all born with that gift of communication and public-speaking charm, we may well be throwing the viable candidates in exchange for the rotten ones — all because the viable ones don’t know how to communicate. What a waste that would be.

****
What exactly do we want from our candidates?

If you clear the festive campaign air we breathe now, remove all the foot-tapping jingles, the superfluous statements, the cry-me-a-river drama of it all, you will see that only one thing will remain — the universal human pursuit for CHANCE. As the soda crackers commercial of Robin Padilla clearly puts it, “Dahil bawat Pilipino, kailangan lang ng break.” (Because every Filipino just needs a “break”).

Yes, you read that right. It’s not really world peace that we’re so hung-up on (but of course that’s a given) or winning the lottery (okay, wait, maybe a little of that..) or that fancy house, fancy car, fancy everything.

While we all want to get rich and rule the world, foremost on our agenda is to get that “break” — that chance.

So to all the 2010 election presidentiables/candidates, take note: The Filipino people does not need your promises. We are not in need of alms or a measly welfare coupon. And unlike the cliche that we got used to, we are not so much in need of hope either. Promises get broken. Alms get spent. And hope? Hope is too abstract for the empty stomach to digest, much less for the jaded brain to comprehend.

And yes, we don’t need your pity. Many of us 90M+ Filipinos are able-bodied and optimistic people — ready to take on anything given the necessary tools. We are ingenious. We are smart. We are hardworking. We are generous to a fault. We have everything necessary to succeed, to excel, to soar, or at the very least, to survive.

But there is one thing, dear presidentiables, that we cannot create — even with this artistic and equally strong pair of hands. We can weave baskets, but we cannot create a market for it. We can invent machinery but we cannot create corporations that will use it. We can draw wonderful images, but we cannot make fantasy become reality. We can cultivate land, grow all produce a-plenty, but we cannot buy land. Or at least, dear presidentiables — at least, not yet.

What we need, what we really, really need right now is CHANCE — a chance to live a decent life at least and a progressive one at best.

A chance to a decent job. A chance to a decent education. A chance to live and not just exist.

Give us chance and we’ll do wonders with it. You’ll see.

But before that, we know that the heavy burden rests once again in our hands. It is ironic then that before we get that chance we so ardently wish and need, we must first give you yours. It is an “all-in” gamble, scary, we know. After all, we are not only risking our own lives, but the lives of our children and theirs. But unless we take a chance on you, our own chance would left to chance. And mind you, that’s not a chance we are willing to take.

So presidentiables, take heed: We are watching you. Very closely. We are willing to give one of you that chance, but that chance comes at a steep price. We will give you your chance in exchange for our own. It is a chance you will be duty-bound to give us. And should you fail, just imagine what a person with a jaded mind, an empty stomach, strong, skillful  hands and a broken heart can do. Multiply that by 90M+. You get the picture?

Now, that — that is what this election is all about. I hope you realize by now just how serious a problem you’re getting yourself into and just how crucial the role you are about to play. So play nice,  and play well. Because regardless of your reason for running for President, you will be hounded, all 6 years of your term, by 90M+ people in the undying human pursuit for chance — for a “break”.

PBA09n173p8o