The Last Mon Standing

As my father lead the whole family today to vote… we met a guy on the street and he exclaimed, “Ang dami nyan ah.”
(Hey, that’s a lot) And we all laughed. It was clear that man was not
pertaining on how many children my father has but on how much bribe he
got from each registered voter in my father’s family.

I received two envelops correspondingly from the two Mayoral
candidates here in our town… and I should say I voted for the higher
bidder… straight, complete with his name and his councilors.

However, the money was never the reason I voted that politician and
his men… I actually was planning to vote his party straight with or
without the bribe money. I want you to know that are family has never
been in a good vibes with our neighbors… although we do not openly
feud, we are currently under a cold war. Actually my little sister had
had an encounter with the father next door days ago, they had a word
fight which ended with my sister holding the water hosepipe and saying,
“Kung gusto mo isaksak ko ‘to sa baga mo.” (If you want, I can stab
this hose into your lungs.) Uhmmm and since they rub elbows with the
politician that I did not vote, I, or should I say the whole Acosta
clan, voted the other party indifferently.

But with regards to the provincial candidates, I tried my best to
scrutinize every single candidate (although I was never satisfactory
with my information about the board members aspirants).

I voted for the incumbent Governor and Congressman. The one I voted
for Governor has the most number of scholars, which I am included,
among the governors in the Philippines. In their administration, Bataan
was ranked sixth in the list of provinces that have managed their
budget most effectively (I saw it in the news last March). Plus they
were not seen in any TV Exposés for a variety of allegations, unlike
some….

For Senators… my sister and I asked Ate Krystell,
who is a History professor in UP Dil., for some advice. She recounted
her list and told us some national issues. She’s the reason why I
almost dropped Cayetano from my list, because of the dynasty issue,
(but I still have three more blanks so I wrote his name pa rin) and the reason I included Defensor.

For the partylist, uhmmm actually I was really thinking of voting
Kabataan or Ate Krystell’s AKBAYAN or Samahang Manggagawa… but in the
end I voted for BUTIL. Because my grandparents are farmers. And I
really think that more than the youth sector and the…uhm…whatever
AKBAYAN partylist is for, the Luzon Farmers needs a far greater voice
in the congress. For example, in Isabela, during good harvest seasons
an hectare of ricefield will fetch up to 120 thousand plus Pesos… but
this year, it rained in the middle of summer so the price dropped to
only 32 thousand plus an hectare. My grandmother tried to hoard their
product but when she found out that I was to undergo-but-not an appendectomy…
she sold some of the rice at a meager price (they didn’t know that an
appendectomy is one of the cheapest surgical operation in the planet).
And I feel a bit guilty about it.

In another light this election has been a great opportunity for our
whole family to bond. We went their together and we voted together. We
were really noisy and laughing and joking and taking pictures. This was
my first time I voted and it is indeed cool… plus this was the first
time this year that I again set my foot in PUP… not that I am too
excited to see it but I also miss my old friends who go there.

Chamitos by the way was dumbstruck when suddenly out of nowhere
somebody gave a smack on her cheek. When she looked closely she saw
that it was our neighbor’s daughter. Eeeeww talking about plastic.

PS I want to thank my sisters for giving me their shares… thanks.