election shmelection

yesterday, countless registered voters (me included) trooped to voting precincts all over the country to elect our next president and other national and local government officials. the media pundits all say this year's exercise was relatively peaceful and orderly. as i did in 2001, i voted Raul Roco for president, but he isn't topping the so-called quick counts. this morning the all-popular FPJ was leading the counts, followed closely by the diminutive GMA.

text exchange between me and kelvin:
chino: kadiri leading c fpj
kelvin: ...hindi tayo pababayaan ni lord. mandaraya si gma. Ü

widespread cheating, anyone? if FPJ wins, he'll be the second actor we will have elected to the highest office in the land. geez. will the filipino poll body never learn?

last night, cnn reported that the 2004 philippine elections had a record number of movie and tv personalities running for office. that, with the cheating, pretty much sums up electoral politics in the philippines. this goes to show that the elections have been reduced to personality-marketing. behold the showbiz-ifying of philippine politics. or is it the politicization of philippine showbiz? argh. phenomenon, i christen thee politainment.

is there no room left for intellectuals in politics? what's happened to the great statesmen of old?

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my mom has been texting me since last night and she says that the results look bad for my aunt, who's running for a local position in their home province. oh well. she can run again in 2007. she will at least have the benefit of campaigning experience and hindsight.

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the new blogger look is cool. so are the new templates. :)