Refusal to Engage...

In all honesty, I really find our upcoming elections too satirical. My goodness! I feel so ashamed thinking about how the international community views this. Our political system reflects a drama of combined immaturity & irony.

Anyway, I had already voiced out how I feel about Fernando Poe, Jr's gunning for the highest post in the land. To think of it gives me the jitters. Okay, maybe I am biased because of what other people say about him. But thinking about why he still refuses to engage himself in a debate among with other contenders is entirely beyond my comprehension.

His “asungots” always claim to the press that he had less time reaching out to people, talking to them during his campaign. People from all walks of life have been questioning him what can he tell the citizenry of the Philippines about his platform of governance. He has been elusive ever since giving curt replies to questions of enormous significance. He always let his “asungots” do the talking for him.

Yes, I do understand that it is his right to refuse not to engage himself in such debates. His choice must be respected. Everybody has choices and it is only right that they are given due respect. I knew that he thought that the debate will come to nothing and might further divide the country. Probably he really wanted to be different from the traditional way our so-called “trapos” persuade the people to vote them for office. Maybe he is truly a man of few words and not the traditional man of less act, more talk.

In spite of these justifications I have for him, I still perceive his refusal as a representation of weakness. It is his right to refuse but it is also the right of the people whom he will lead to know more about his platform and how he will lead this poor country of more than 80 million people to the threshold of light.

Accept that he may be poor in words & that this ability is not a requirement for seeking office but it is a skill one must hone and acquire to fully associate himself with his constituency. A skill that will render him the ability to explain and elaborate his platform of governance. The people must be able to acquire answers from him when he is pressed with inquiries relating to his capacity, his ways to lead the country for 6 years out of its poverty. It is his business to speak out, to reach out to people.