Pu(li)tik(a)

Politics has never been a black-and-white field, especially in the Philippines. Come on! Political dynasties. Mud picking of reputation. Illegal moves, which seems legal. Too many candidates. False promises. Both sides claiming they're better than their opponent. And the grand finale, nobody loses.

Haven't we learn much from history? The Aquinos, the Arroyos, the Marcoses, the Estradas and the rest of the candidates under the umbrella of a single surname. It's a repetitive cycle. Vengeance after vengeance that only serves personal interests. It's as if public service had become a Family Feud episode.

Politics has been dragged to dirt. It used to be a neutral and informative term. Now, politics is just another business for the rich and famous. It's not serving the people anymore.

Tell me, how come some bills, which can't be passed before for a very long time, can be railroaded to be passed within months while other pressing bills, if not the more important ones, remain in the benches? Why some of the cases receive justice swifter than ordering a meal at a restaurant while those that sit in the dusty desks remain full of dust?

People must realize that politics has been about power. The power realized from EDSA I was taken back again from the masses. People must realize that they are the ones paying taxes for these politicians to use for projects with purpose almost negligible beside their huge faces and names. People must realize that they are the ones who elected these politicians and the gratitude and service should be unto them and not to a selected few sponsors. The people must realize that, in a way, they are hiring these people to lead the country and service the Filipinos worldwide, always think of the country's interests first.

But people are more engrossed with when Maya and Sir Chief will kiss or if Marian Rivera is pregnant. We got more active discussions regarding Ricky Lo's Anne Hathaway interview rather than the Tubbataha Reef incident or the sainthood of San Pedro Calungsod. Not only learned people should be vocal, but through their cause of information dissemination, the mass must be aware and act as one just like what we did in EDSA I. The people power, termed as such, is rooted on the people, the mass, the Filipinos.

Which gives us a chicken-egg situation. Politicians behave that way because the people seem not to mind. Have we forgotten the "I am sorry" incident of Congw. Arroyo? Why is she still elected? Didn't Estrada resign by the clamor of the mass and didn't he promise, as part of his clemency, that he will not run again? Not only did he try to be president again, a post he resigned nearly a decade ago, but he's now running for mayorship in Manila, when everyone knows that San Juan is their long standing balwarte.

But also, people seem not to mind because they got tired of meddling with politics. What the people would be fighting is a system, and a rather old but crippling one. How many rallies, movements, clamors for change, talks of how to improve the status of the country have gone ignored and unnoticed? What happened to the message inside the three paper boats that cruised the Pasig River? How many voices have been drowned by clanking of glass wines, chewing of thousand peso worth of dinner and engine sound of million peso worth of travel? How many people mind their own daily source of water, food, and money to barely meet their expenses instead of commenting on what was happening and taking back the power that controls the country? The people have immediate problems the answers of which could mean their survival that they can't handle anymore the predicaments the government brings.

But that is the solution. Information dissemination. Inform everyone of the truth. Make those who lie sink in their places as the truth is being set free. Make everyone feel they have a stake, because they have. Make everyone know that all these survival problems is a tip of the root problem: power ownership and sense of responsibility. Take the mass as a single unit, fully aware of its powers and responsibilities, and use this power to take control of its hired leaders so they will function according to the best interests of the people. It can hire and fire the people it likes or dislikes. It can destroy people who would do no good to the people and it can reward those who really will selflessly serve for its good. The people has the power to implement what it wants for the people. Only with full actualization of that power can the country be a prouder democratic state.

The question now lies on who has the right information.