10/05/2022
"Bayan o Sarili, pumili ka!" now hits differently. Some have watched this phrase stated in Heneral Luna, a movie by Jerrold Tarog played by John Arcilla. Some were admired by the phrase but somehow, for some reason, the message didn't get through. This election proved that this statement should be the core on how we should vote. Some voted because a certain individual was famous and some voted for their own personal reasons. While some voted for their own interest and some for the country. We are different individuals who have different opinions, but we all have a common ground or a common denominator. We are all citizens of this country, and by that we have the same interest on how we should preserve and protect our own nation, but with the outcome I don’t think that each and everyone of us are on the same page. There are people that I know who voted for a certain individual for their own personal interest, and with that I think that our common ground is destroyed. This phrase by Heneral Luna in the film shows that we should choose our candidates wisely and by voting for the general public and not for our own interest. People who voted for what they think was right is not a bad thing at all, what makes it wrong is that if they have voted for themselves and not for the country. One suffers, we all suffer. That is the general rule of a nation. If they really think that by voting a specific person will benefit them, then good for them. I hope that they can sleep well at night knowing that they are already secured in the years to come but I hope that they will not get nightmares for the people that they have left behind, the people that they sacrificed for a single vote. People who are eager to have things changed, people who are suffering from who knows when. People who are putting their life in danger just for a meal or a penny in their pockets. This is alarming, a nation that calls for unity but cannot unite for an obvious common ground.
This battle is not a losing battle, the fight is definitely not over and will never be over. As long as someone is standing, as long as someone is fighting, as long as someone is struggling, we as a nation should not stop. It is our right to vote and our right to question. Even if our candidates lost, our hopes didn’t. We voted not for a person but for a change. This fight is not a fight for the candidates gunning for a position but for the people, for our country. And if the candidates that we have voted for won this election, we should not stop fighting for what is right. This nation deserves more than what is being offered, she deserves better citizens– and I hope you’ll be one of them.
