I voted today.

I tried to go to the Philippine Consulate General Dubai last Saturday, but at 9 AM, there was already a queue of voters wrapped around the block as Jesse and I drove up. I didn’t want him to have to wait for hours and decided to come during the week instead.

So on this Tuesday morning, I got up before the crack of dawn, took a taxi, and arrived at the Consulate 1.5 hours before opening time at 8 AM. I came fully prepared to block out the noise around me, not wanting to listen to any lies being spread, or bickering about whose candidate is better or worse. I had a couple of podcasts downloaded on my phone, so I stuffed my earphones in as I walked to the back of the queue. About 20 people were already ahead of me.

Queue outside the Consulate

Summer in the UAE is quite brutal, but it’s early enough in the year when the heat is still tolerable, though not comfortable anymore. A few meters away, a tall, middle-aged man in a fuchsia polo shirt took his handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his brow. A young woman wearing a baseball cap and a black shirt with a fist on the front emerged from a taxi and fanned herself as she wandered around, trying to figure out where the queue started. I stood with my arms folded, sweating, as the sun rose higher. The (much longer) queues for passport renewal, obtaining an Overseas Employment Certificate, as well as other services were overlapping the voting queue. And as always, whenever I’m at the Consulate, I got annoyed at the mediocrity of it all.

I recalled seeing the standalone, beautifully landscaped, three-story building of the U.S. Consulate at Al Seef. I couldn’t help but compare it to the dilapidated villa (inaccessible by public transportation) that serves the over 450,000 Filipinos living in Dubai (versus only about 40,000 American citizens), and it frustrated me.

This is how we give dignity to the so-called “modern heroes” of our country, I thought sarcastically. Pwede na yan. That’s all they need and deserve.

In 2020 alone, during a global pandemic, OFWs (overseas Filipino workers, for those of you unfamiliar with the term) sent 1.29 billion USD in cash remittances from the UAE to our home country. Our nation’s main global export is its own people, bringing in 31.48 billion USD in 2021. Nurses, cashiers, janitors, waitresses, engineers, nannies, programmers, all sending their hard-earned money back home to give their families a better life.

And we can’t even serve them in such a simple way as making our only government office here efficient, convenient, or comfortable. 

I decided to pull my earphones out and just listened to the chatter around me. There was a group of two young women and one young man behind me. They, too, were complaining about the heat.

“Para lang sa mahal kong Pilipinas”, one of the women said, half-jokingly.

No one was fighting or arguing. No one was making snide remarks about others who were in the “other” color. There was lighthearted joking. When a couple of women wearing pink shirts walked up and asked where the voters queue was, one man loudly said “Ahh, Pacquiao kayo, no? Diyan kayo pumila!” pointing to what was obviously the wrong direction, and we all laughed together.

We were all just there because we want to make our country better. No one wants to see our country get worse. NO ONE. We may disagree on many things but we all want better opportunities, better lives for our families, and to enjoy life. We are being pitted against each other and we’re falling for it.

And this is why I decided to vote this year. 

As soon as I knew one candidate was running, I decided this election was too important to not vote. If he wins, I can at least sleep at night knowing that I did my part to stop it from happening. The lies and historical revisionism from his camp that I once dismissed as beliefs of extremists on the fringes of Philippine society, have come roaring into the mainstream. And I don’t blame the people for believing it – the money poured into online troll farms and fake news peddlers can be very persuasive. Don’t blame the victims, blame the perpetrator.

I decided to register for the first time since 2004. I’ve become largely cynical and jaded about democracy, and often actively removed myself from political discussions for many years. I didn’t see any difference in the lives of those in the most vulnerable parts of the country from the time I was a child until I finally left for greener pastures. I was fortunate enough to be born into a middle-class family. My privilege allowed me to be apolitical because, to be honest, whoever was in office didn’t really affect my everyday life. Until I heard that this man was running. No way was I not going to vote.

But who to vote for? Were any of them really any better?

I considered Isko Moreno, who seems to be an effective mayor and had a pretty good COVID pandemic response. I considered Ping Lacson, who trumps everyone in the race in years of experience. I considered Leody de Guzman, whose genuine heart for the poor (rare in presidential candidates) could overshadow his somewhat radical leanings. Sheesh, I even considered Manny Pacquiao, whose politics I absolutely do not agree with, but whose love for country cannot be questioned.

But the opposition leader seemed to be Leni Robredo.

My family all voted for Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas in the 2010 and 2016 presidential elections, respectively. I didn’t vote. I ACTIVELY refused to vote because I honestly believed none of the candidates had the Philippines’ best interest at heart. Before Noynoy’s election, I even had a back-and-forth email argument with my mother, who tried to convince me amid tears and frustration. To this day, I still refuse to accept the simplified narrative that the rise and fall of the Philippines comes down to Marcos (evil) vs. Aquino (good), because that is not reality. Reality is often much more nuanced than simple, and oversimplification breeds dichotomy.

So seeing Roxas’ running mate, current Vice President Leni Robredo, running for the top post gave me mixed reactions. I liked that she was a new name in politics and not a member of one of the old political families. But was she just going to be a puppet of the Aquinos? Was she going to be in over her head? Does she even know what she’s doing?

When she filed her certificate of candidacy in 2021, I was leaning toward her simply because it seemed like she would have the best chance of winning. But over the next few months, as I read up on each candidate’s achievements, advocacies, and body of work, I became more and more convinced that this was the leader I wanted to choose. By the time I cast my vote this morning, I knew in my heart I had made the right choice.

My main reasons for voting the way I did today are as follows.

FACTS:

  • The Marcoses plundered the Philippines, amassing at least 10 billion USD of unexplained wealth, of which only 3.28 billion has been recovered.[1][2][3][4] The rest is still being enjoyed by this family, and is being used to win this election with armies of paid trolls. [5][6]
  • Martial Law was a brutal and horrific part of Philippine history: human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings [7], no freedom of press [8], famine [9], and massacres of Muslims, which led to the formation of many rebel groups [10] . These were not our “golden years”, as the Marcos camp claim.
  • Marcos Jr. has never had a job, or run a business. Like the rest of the Marcos family, he makes his money by being a career politician. [11][12]
  • Remember the much-loathed Janet Napoles, the scapegoat of the notorious pork barrel scam in 2013? Marcos Jr. was one of the senators who was involved. He endorsed a bogus NGO, funneling 100 million pesos of his Priority Development Assistance Fund into it. [13]
  • Marcos Jr. is being endorsed by Gloria Arroyo [14], Erap and Jinggoy Estrada [15], and Juan Ponce Enrile [16]. Look up their histories.

OPINIONS:

  • No, Marcos Jr. is not responsible for the sins of his father. In fact, if he had spent the last decade trying to make amends, returning whatever was stolen, and helping the families of the victims of martial law, I would at least hear him out and might even vote for him. However, trying to distort history and actively suppressing truth makes him untrustworthy.
  • Marcos Jr. has his own corruption cases and there is no way I would even consider voting for him.
  • The fact that our country’s worst plunderers are so vocally campaigning for him, tells me everything I need to know about him.

FACTS:

  • Robredo’s office was given the highest rating by the Commission on Audit, three years in a row. [1]
  • Robredo’s track record shows her dedication to serving the people since before she was involved in politics. For example, she was a coordinator for Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligan, a nonprofit legal organization that does developmental legal work for the marginalized, disadvantaged, and exploited sectors in the Philippines. [2]
  • Robredo’s legislative history shows a clear pattern: government transparency [3][4][5][6], environmental sustainability [7][8], education [9], women’s rights [10], local government empowerment [11], and socioeconomic advancement for the marginalized [12] and the poor [13] . There are too many bills she has written and contributed to for me to post here. You can view all of these on the official Philippine Congress website and use the search function for “Robredo”.
  • Robredo has vowed to urgently push the Freedom of Information Bill once she is elected [14].
  • Despite very limited funds, the COVID-19 response of the Office of the Vice President was quick, efficient, and compassionate [15]. It provided PPEs, transportation, and dormitories for front liners, distance learning assistance for students, and promoted mass testing and vaccination.
  • The OVP founded Angat Buhay, which is “the flagship anti-poverty program of VP Leni Robredo, bringing together the private and public sectors to address the needs of families and communities in the farthest and the poorest areas in the country.”
  • These are just a handful of the many, many contributions she has made to the Philippines, many of which were during her time as Vice President. The Vice President’s main job is just to stay alive in case the sitting president dies. But she didn’t sit around and do nothing. She kept working.

OPINION:

  • I appreciated that Leni distanced herself from the Aquino brand. She doesn’t have to ride on their coattails to make a difference – she already did that prior to her being pulled into their ranks.
  • With all her opponents watching every move she makes, if there had been something to find, they would have found it. Instead, they resort to fabricated lies, cruel memes, and fake news on Facebook and Tiktok. Leni’s track record seems remarkably clean and free from corruption scandals.
  • I think what really convinced me to vote for Leni is the number of volunteers and supporters who have been inspired to come out and serve. Yes, there are still some toxic supporters who spew hatred and call BBM’s supporters foul names (and I strongly oppose that). But for the most part, what I’ve seen in the last few months is a spirit of personal responsibility, people calling out corruption, clamoring for change and transparency, and helping others. Leni does a great job of modeling servant leadership, and that’s something I can definitely get behind.
  • I wholeheartedly support Leni’s pushing the FOI bill. Before we can be “great”, we need to have a government and a country that we can trust. We need to cultivate a culture of receipts! I also voted for senators who would support this.
  • I am for everything that Leni stands for: accountability, transparency, human rights, uplifting the poor, supporting our workers and teachers, and more. If she fails to deliver on these, I will call her out, as is my right as a Filipino citizen. But judging by her body of work, I don’t doubt she will be a very busy president.

This morning, after the doors to the Consulate were opened, it took me around 30 minutes to get through the inside queue, get my ballot, fill it up, put it in the counting machine, check my receipt, and head back outside. All things considered, it was quite smooth and uneventful. I felt a little bad for (internally) complaining about the office and its building. But as I looked back at the long line of my kababayan waiting patiently in the hot sun for their chance to let their voice be heard, I said a prayer.

Lord, finally, please allow us a chance for excellence, not just “pwede na”.

A verse of comfort for those who, like me are struggling with election anxiety:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (Psalm 46:1-3)