Uncertain Colors

Do you remember the first time that Luzon went on lockdown? About two months after that big twist and turn of events, just when passenger vehicles were partially allowed to run along the roads, I wrote an article which I title Out of the Woods? Because in my naïve mind then, I thought we were really starting to make our way out of the woods of Covid. I actually thought that it would not make it here and that it would be confined in its origin, at least within, China. Well, I had to choke on my own words. Almost two years after I thought we were getting through the treeline, we have been circling within the woods. So now, as we are surrounded with more and more people going out, life which is much more “normal” as compared to the middle of 2020, news reports of cases going down, and few to none of friends and acquaintances getting sick, I feel that I want to be careful before I tell myself that were out of the woods now. Maybe this is just some clearing in the middle of the forest, and maybe there is still some dense swarms and swamps ahead.

Don’t bluff me, you, virus, you. I was already out late at night sometime at the end of 2020, thinking that the worst was over, then came Delta. Towards the end of 2021, there were already talks about face to face classes, then at the local level, classes despite being in the distance modality, had to be suspended for weeks. Now that the coast seems to be clear, I’m too anxious to poke my head out of my foxhole for fear that bullets may whisk by all of a sudden.

Didn’t thousands converge in Plaza Quezon just last week, then a supposedly greater number gathered in the Quezon Memorial Circle (hey, what’s with the Quezon, maybe they should have a rally in Quezon Province.) and there had been and still are similar rallies across the nation, and with all those people, we should have had a surge by now. Not that I’m asking for it; but there hasn’t been any. I guess these are times when lights are confused whether to go red or green.

Let’s look at something which is just as uncertain. A few years ago, when candidates ran for senatorial positions, lines were clear between Hugpong ng Pagbabago and Otso Diretso. You would know who’s allied with whom. Then, in the next episode of candidacies and campaigns, we have a collage of mixed colors and crisscrossing lines. What’s happening? There are senatorial candidates who are included in the senatorial slate of one presidential and vice presidential candidate tandem, and at the same time, is included, adopted or informally a guest of a slate of another team of candidates. So, what happens is one senatorial candidate goes with the campaign sorties of one tandem, while still affiliated with another. One presidential candidate claim that they have had a gentleman’s agreement that one candidate would only tag along with the other team, and not endorse their candidacy. How does that happen? A candidate’s mere presence in the rally is already a statement of support. So, a senatorial candidate may share the same stage or entourage with a presidential candidate, and still not endorse the candidate? One vice presidential aspirant who is a candidate of one party, is also the adopted candidate of another party. One presidential candidate used to represent a wing of a party, with the other wing having their own candidates (who withdrew anyway). At least, he and his lineup decided to carry their own banner to distinguish then from the other.

I often hear of sentiments of scorn against this setup, that the Democrats vs Republicans systems supposedly is much better; with candidates clearly running under their party’s principles and policies. (I’m not too sure about that. Look at the mess those two parties are in over there.) In this year’s election, a candidate could be associated with multiple groups who are running against each other. So, does that mean such candidates run against themselves? So, what principle or policy are these senators pushing? Oh, I forgot, this isn’t really about party principles. It’s all about personality principles.

If you look at it in another way, it only means that our public officials possess the flexibility to associate and affiliate with different parties, groups or coalitions, and potentially cooperate with each other when they’re already in office (or at least, some of them could and would).

So, I guess, that’s how it is nowadays, a time of flexibility, of being watchful to adjust according to what works for us.

“The one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” -James 1:6