Extensively reading through the babel of social media posts, news articles, commentaries, etc. one could collect a litany of the reasons why many continue to lend support to the candidacy of a family member of the disgraced Marcos family .
In fairness, it would serve us better to sift through them and to glimpse at the whys and wherefores of such support.
As premise, I doubt any sane person sufficiently aware of the lamented regime would deny the collective corruption, murder, malfeasance, etc., found endemic under that despotic rule. And by no means was it, just one rotten apple in a basket, but facts point to the entire family being complicit in most if not all of them.
One recurring theme for this support has been that voters ought not to attribute the sins of the father to the son or the rest of the family. But clearly incontrovertible evidence would point to the fact that the entire family, each and all already full-grown adults then, was complicit. Clearly this issue is beyond debate or that it needs to be re-litigated at this point.
Many throw their support because of their unconscionable disgust and loathing for the other leading candidate and her team. And are therefore hell-bent on making sure they are denied the victory. And the only most likely sparring partner would be the Marcos team. But talk about cutting your nose to spite your face. There are other choices. Thus, this development is more like jumping from the frying pan to the fire.
Many like inveterate gamblers find themselves easily pushed toward the side of early uncrowned winners. After all it is only human to associate with the winners and hop into the bandwagon. But rather a reckless way to treat one's very critical future.
Many identify themselves with the political elites of the country because that is where life-giving resources are always coming from. Nothing much in the self-aggrandizing scheme of things could be expected in the other groups.
Many still do practice identity politics, making their ethnic background, narrow regionalist bents, even their geographical loci, etc. huge factors to determine where their political loyalties lie.
Gone are the time-honored practices of comparing candidates' track records, their accomplishments rather than heavy doses of verbal calisthenics. Now it could be as simple as name recognition, wealth, machinery, etc. as the primary criteria for choices to be made.
Gone are even the most basic standards of ethics and morality as measures to align candidates with. So it amounts not even to a hill of beans if the Marcos family, to the man or woman, whether with the current or younger generations, does not even acknowledge the sins of the past, expresses remorse for the damages done, or even pleads with promises of restitution against whatever purloined wealth is still in its possession and still not spent to support a most lavish lifestyle. All this, juxtaposed against a cruel backdrop of a people in great suffering and dire want.
In a reconciliatory mode and gesture, many compatriots declare that when all is said and done, after the election, all of us will be back to our normal lives, and should thus move on to rise above the rancor and enmity engendered during the campaigns. Re-building damaged relationships with friends, relatives, etc.
It does sound Christian and altruistic to maintain such decorum.
One wonders though if all of us have made enough plans on what to do if and when the palpable fears and apprehension now felt become reality. And that the new administration will indeed be a continuation or a redux of that dearly lamented tyrannical rule that lasted decades and wrought incalculable losses both present and future.
Or are we simply ever ready to bow our collective heads and accept our lot, until such time as the despots' avarice and capricious whims have petered out, or that a miracle of deliverance re-appears to a benighted country?
