Build Up

Rainbow World (Published in Sunstar Baguio)

Raye V. Baquirin

Build Up

I was walking along Gov. Pack Road, on my way to COMELEC to register. I bumped into my brother who came from work. Bloodshot eyes and all (working in a call center does that), I dragged him to COMELEC so that he too could register. He stopped in his tracks as soon as I said that. ‘I don’t want to vote’ he says as he continues to walk. When I asked him why he just said ‘what for, nothing happens anyway.’ It was my turn to stop in my tracks because nothing much has changed. There are a thousand reasons why this could be so. One of the reasons is there is very little faith in the whole electoral process. There have been too many cases of fraud and cheating. Too many elected officials have abused their power. In other places outside of Baguio there have been massacres that was election related, still unsolved to this day. People have all but lost hope in the very people that took an oath to serve the interests of the people.

On the other hand, there are people who allow their votes to be bought. Nothing about buying and selling votes is right, at least in my book. For the one who sells his vote, it is like he says to himself that my vote does not count anyway, my voice is not important, it is okay to sell it. For the ones who buy votes the message that they send out is ‘your voice is not important if it does not serve my interests’. To try to change these kinds of politicians would be futile. They have been doing this for far too long. They are set in their ways where they benefit so much at the expense of the people. They no longer think in terms of what will help their constituents to have a better life. For every pot-holed road, for every unusable bridge and for every public school that do not have enough chairs, are politicians who in their inaction, are saying they only care about how much they are going to make out of these deals. Never mind if Baguio loses its trees, heritage sites and its landmarks, as long as their pockets are fat and bank accounts big. Never mind if the people lose faith in them, never mind if people forget that they are the reason why Baguio is beautiful.

There might be hope if we focused on the people of Baguio. If there was a way to make them realize that it is up to them and that they can make a difference still. Even if those traditional politicos are still there, enriching themselves.

Everyday I ask myself how faith can be restored, how people can somehow shift from hopelessness to a renewed belief that the system can still be trusted. It is so easy to say that the ‘ole boys club’ must go… far away. Far enough so they no longer create more damage. But since the people of Baguio is what makes Baguio what it is, (aside from the climate and whatever is left of the trees, that is), they hold the answer. Build up Baguio’s citizenry so that we are all strong enough to fight against beliefs and habits that have harmed us. There must be a way for Baguio citizenry to at least have faith in their own voices so they stop selling their votes and become more involved. I am aware that I cannot hope to change people in one fell swoop but at least I can start one person at a time. I can make sure that my brother registers himself as a voter. And then he can convince his girlfriend and then his girlfriend can convince her officemate and the officemate can tell her husband, until the community of people who care for Baguio’s welfare will stand together and make sure their voices are heard and their votes counted.