Election 2016: Who's Your Bet for the Philippines?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Are we still going to follow the method of choosing who easily comes into our heads as our choice for the coming 2016 elections?

We may not be aware of it, but the problem lies on this particular method of selection. We are taken over by who we perceive as popular and not really based on intellectual reasoning.

I can't blame you all because we really do not have enough access to credible data and most of the information we get out there are either fabricated or sponsored. If you research by Googling online, the results will be mostly articles or social media posts that could have been rigged to spread all over the Internet.

I hate to admit it, but character profiles ca easily be proliferated by hiring enough writers to fill up the social media or Internet networks. Never trust trending or viral posts because they can also be rigged to perpetuate erroneous information to either assassinate a person's character or otherwise promote aggressively so news about a person will be on page one of search results.

Thus, if we really want to put good men in position, it would take a lot of effort and convincing to people why we should research thoroughly on the better candidate. Choosing among the many presidentiables, vice-presidentiables, senatoriables, etc., and picking the name would sometimes end on who's the first ones on the top of our minds, so if a name is new and lacks the machinery to advertise himself, he tends to be the last choice even though he is well-deserving than the rest. The worst situation is people may not know him at all, so he ends up with very little votes.There are a lot of great men out there only to lose against celebrities or the rich fellow candidates or opponents.

You may want to check out the other candidates who really mean well and is empowered with a purpose. These are the men who will fight for your rights no matter who they go against. Most of the time, the ones that are popular are the more corruptible since they try to become agreeable to as many people as possible. Those are the traditional media who are only after your votes. They will befriend all just to get into position. Those who do not take sides, or remain neutral or in between, are usually the ones who will easily leave you to join a better group. They are normally the ones who will team up with the stronger and more powerful.

This is why I like to suggest we focus our attention to the less visible senatoriables but with equally impressive agendas.

Take for instance Atty. Levi Baligod who is now among the many aspiring to become a senator. As the designation indicates, he is a lawyer who was widely known for representing Benhur Luy, the one who got abducted by Janet Napoles of the PDAF Scam.

I would rather pick him out of the senatoriables because he is equipped with the knowledge to bring down corruption in the country. I don't need former celebrities who don't even know the issues and programs of the country. I won't pick the ones who are popular because of other matters not even related to politics or government initiatives. I would rather give the nameless an opportunity because the traditional politicians have been around for ages yet our government, and country, is still in a deplorable situation.

At a gathering with media friends, including our brothers from the Muslim community, held at Buffet 101 on December 7, 2015, Atty Levi Baligod entertained the questions of the media regarding his candidacy and political platform from which he centered on advocating primarily Agriculture, and Education - the basic but most important needs that are often taken for granted by many.

But I won't be finalizing my chosen candidates until I get to review ll of them. I really should stray away from being manipulated by media so if I am really serious and concerned of the welfare of our country,  I should take extra effort to reach out to get more information from different parties - from researching online to going directly within the candidates' neighborhood.

But how many of us would take that tedious activity? I would frown at the thought because I know none of us would devote extra time and effort to go that far. Thus, we are left with choosing candidates based on the very little information we have, most of which comes from media that may also be not totally non-partisan.

With the different propaganda going on, and the childish confrontations among the candidates, it is so difficult to choose who's really concerned for our welfare and who is just there to take advantage of the power, authority, and monetary benefits the government position gives to the winners. It may be a numbers game but we are made to believe those numbers are the pulse of the people.

I know it is difficult, but we must at least try our best to really go out of our way if we really want change to happen.