What makes a senator?

GREATER CONCERN TO THE EXPLOITED VOTERS – Senatorial candidates were pitch perfect the day when their respective party proclamation rallies were held that also signified the start of the campaign period. The “common-man” senate pretenders, engaged, resolved and persevering, or so it seems – is the image the Liberal Party’s (LP) Team PNoy and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) Tatak Binay group’s political campaign scheme probably are saving for the entire stretch up to the last emotional moments of the May 2013 midterm elections. It is certainly the memory that LP and UNA want the Filipino voters to carry into the voting booth.
Senate aspirants, as their wont, come with a lot of pledges and promises during the campaign jaunts, but after the election and as a result if some were lucky enough to grab a slot, would never or seldom visit their political turfs specifically the depressed areas across the country. Whenever an election is held, the disillusioned voters are put in a position of trying to choose the lesser of two evils. But in the course of time, the lesser becomes the worst of all. So what really makes a senator? Voters found the senate pretenders’ litany of pledges and promises rather disquieting most particularly their deceptive TV ads. Each party and candidates have their own platforms of government full of hope and aspirations such as improving the citizens’ living standard – delivery of basic services, health care, education, employment and sustainable economic development.
It is valid to note that having an impressive track record in their respective field of endeavor and the political assurance to “deliver the goods” is not a guarantee of achieving a successful candidacy. Pledges, promises! Forget all the hullabaloos about the candidates’ program of government once elected into office. It’s all hokum, bunkum and hyperboles. The real question is: “Who are sincere, honest and upright”? Well, the voters know for a fact who are not! And that’s pretty fundamental to the upcoming midterm polls. But it is rather strange why only now some of the aspirants who have been in Congress for many years notably the “old guards and returnees” talked about free education, free hospitalization and other improbable gratis and complimentary in the lives of the ordinary people on the streets?
Some crafty and illusory senate bets and their political handlers even criticize the Aquino leadership aimed indirectly toward the administration candidates by simply enumerating the miscues such as the alleged “artificial” economic growth and that Filipinos have never had it so good under the present dispensation. They claim there have been progress but “the economic gains have not trickled down to the people.” It is senseless to bicker over whether they have been part of the success or failure of government. What is of greater concern to the wary voters is that some of these outspoken and blabber-mouthed pretenders after scoring poorly while serving the senate and other government posts, leapfrogged over more qualified aspirants who were waiting in line for a coveted senate slot. Sadly, candidates oozing with cash, powerful connections and poor test scores cut in front of qualified and desirable men waiting for their turn.
The debate is not only about the relevance of accomplishment, leadership prowess and administrative skill; it is about character and moral values. At this early stage some senate bets and their over-bearing handlers who have the flair for self-aggrandizement did a good job of besmirching the image of the Aquino administration, but that was not good enough. That they are likewise flawed as human beings is clear from their campaign strategies to promote their candidacies at the expense of the alleged “shortcomings” of the present leadership. The sole purpose of their superficial scheme actually is to grasp attention and gain the support and sympathy of voters.
It is shameful to realize only after many of the senate hopefuls have been previously installed into office that voters were duped about their much-publicized and altered records as lawmakers. Most if not all of them are facing credibility problem, which is convincing enough the Filipino voters don’t trust them anymore. The electorate desperately wants members of the Senate who are truthful, trustworthy and straightforward and capable of enacting laws of gorgeous foundation aimed at improving the domestic economy, socio-political conditions and uplifting the sad plight of the marginal sector. Voters therefore must be careful enough about how they cast their ballots during the midterm elections.