Why I choose not to vote

I sent a txt message to my friends and told them that I’m not going to vote.
because of the following reasons:

1. The people who are going to supervise it are the same people who orchestrated GMA’s way to presidency last 2004.

2. The elections are going to be held under the GMA government.

For one I refuse to recognize this government, other than that I honestly think that nothing good will come out of the current Comelec as it is today. So why bother voting when the next thing you know your ballots are going to be used to count the asshole of a candidate you sincerely detest?

The reply to my message was devastating, the people I thought to be intellectuals and thinkers insisted that people who don’t vote like me are anarchist and that they support the will of the people to hold a “democratic” election.

I doubt they never heard about passive resistance as it was done in India at the time of Gandhi or better yet they might have known about it yet decided to place their faith upon an illegitimate government as well as a corruptible Comelec.

For this It was also timely for me that I am reading about Ninoy Aquino. How he was able to win in an election held under the most auspicious eyes of that scumbag Marcos.

I understand that he won second in his senatorial run against his formidable opponents. I must admit I don’t know if at that time Comelec was as crooked as it is today or Filipinos could be bought as they are today.

I also don’t know if their epiphany for Ninoy was because of his incorrigible faith in the Filipinos good will. I read that even in his final moments he still valiantly believes that the Filipinos are worth dying for. Either way I still think that he was legitimately voted into office but majority of the senators who won (actually he was the only one who won from the opposition) were for Marcos.

So why do you think Ninoy won? I think he was made to win by Marcos because it was the only way to satiate the desire for debate in the halls of the senate or else the venue would be nothing more than an echoing YES hall.

I am not saying that he was never popular as he was then, I believe that his victory was also because of his effective information campaign, nonetheless he was the only one who won from the opposition, and doesn’t that ring a bell?

Assuming that indeed the people experienced the massive cheating in the elections and THEY DID vote for the right leaders, what was it that they did after? Was it worse than the “Hello Garci” scandal?

It is here that we will find credence as to my actions and my decision not to vote. Ninoy stood alone in the senate a lone sheep amongst wolves. He talks and delivers speeches vehemently against Marcos and people loved him because he stood as somebody who passionately believes in the power of the Filipinos to think for themselves, but forward it to thirty years or more and you find Filipinos trying to stomach another subtle dictatorship such as GMA’s.

The truth is people change and their ways for struggle does too. If we can’t even vouch for a fair and honest election, then why the hell vote?!! If we can’t fight against the illegitimate government and a Comelec that house Garci and Abalos then why the hell vote and hope that these people will give you your due?

I never lost faith in my countrymen and just like Ninoy I firmly believe that there will be a better future for our country. BUT I WILL NEVER TOLERATE THAT MY COUNTRYMEN BE TRICKED INTO PARTICIPATING IN FRAUD RIDDLED ELECTIONS!

A professor of mine told me that the reason bad leaders get voted into office is because of the lack of good people voting. And he bluntly told me that I was one of them, he followed it by saying that this country would be no better off with people like me and he’d rather migrate to another country because of my beliefs.

How about he tells that to people going out of the country and NOT EVEN TRYING TO SACRIFICE AND CHANGE ANYTHING, INSTEAD BE USED BY THE ILLEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT FOR ITS OWN ENDS?

Perhaps it is true that if I never vote then the wrong kind of leaders will be voted into office, but that is only because people like my professor never does anything to go against the corrupt officials in Comelec and the regime.

It was also from him that I first heard of that adage where he says that “The people get the government they deserve”. If what he says is true then HE deserves this kind of government and NOT ME!

Ergo I choose not to vote. I choose not to be used by the government. And if they believe that by forfeiting my right to vote I would also forfeit my right to complain from the government then so be it. If they brand me as an anarchist then I brand the government as a manipulative asshole who tries to stage a democratic front not even worthy of a second rate television drama.

Other than that if you still firmly believe that we’re still a democratic country then maybe it’s time that you read about Ninoy and learn the lessons of our history from his eyes. Or else be one of those tricked into believing that just because we were able to exercise democracy, we are definitely free.

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I wrote this way back February 5, 2007 in the event of the senatorial elections.  I received a number of reactions either congratulating me or criticizing my decision. Nonetheless I believe that most of what I wrote in this essay rings true in the spirit of a disillusioned generation that looks outside of their country for a better future.

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