Accept the money, ruin our children’s future

We still hear decent persons – even priests and bishops – tell people that “it is not bad to accept money, provided one votes according to one's conscience.” Based on the latest SWS survey, 51% in Mindanao agreed to the statement, slightly higher than the 50% nationwide. This is bad news.

Thirty-two percent (32%) of Filipinos disagreed with the statement. If this means that 32% of Filipinos believe it is bad to accept money and not vote for the vote-buying candidate – then it is still bad news.

But if it means that 32% of Filipinos believe that the act itself of accepting money is bad, regardless that one votes for the vote-buyer, another candidate, or never votes at all - then it is good news.

Most of us had become too comfortable with the thought, the possibility and the practice of receiving money, rice or anything of value (including promises) from candidates. I refuse to think that we became too impoverished as a people that we could be so despicable as to sell our honor, our future, and the future of our children – for a few hundreds of pesos.

While we defer to social scientists, we may venture to surmise that this bizarre and absurd collective psyche of the Filipino of our times is partly due to a gaping feeling of desperation and resignation among our people.

In the same SWS survey, it is shown that 7 out of 10 Filipinos believe that vote-buying will occur anyway; that their votes will be manipulated and not counted anyway; that whoever wins the election, it is still the same banana and nothing will change anyway; that whether we accept the money or not, we will get - for another three years – another batch of corrupt, do-nothing, money-making and politicking elected local and national officials, anyway.

Now, could we blame the Filipino if he accepts some amount for his most treasured vote, just enough for his children to survive another day?

However, I still pin my hopes on the 32%, where we belong. Great revolutions began with a handful of believers.

We will not accept money from candidates because our votes are not for sale, just as our honor, dignity and the future of our children are not for sale. Our children are not for sale.

We will not accept money, rice or anything of value from a candidate because that is what our conscience tells us.

And our conscience tells us more: We will not vote for candidates who give money, distribute rice and make empty promises. They may still win because of the 51% among us, but 32% of us will sleep and walk around with clear conscience during the next three years.