CONFESSIONS OF A SELF-DISENFRANCHISED

Tomorrow, May 10, 2010, is Election Day; but here I am, feeling such a "loser."

Wanting to scale down my nonchalance over the country's political sphere, I had sunk my teeth into election brouhaha these past weeks (that I so much believed in).

For one, I made myself aware of considerable lowdowns on the nine presidential aspirants and the eight "vice-presidentiables." Thanks to the country's top broadcasting networks and several newspapers' efforts to provide each candidate's profiles for voters to get to know them better, well that is besides the candidates' efforts per se.

I liked the concepts of Channel 2's citizen journalism campaign "Boto Mo, i-Patrol Mo: Ako ang Simula" and its counterpart in GMA-7 "YouScoop" and the "May Magagawa Tayo." Both aimed to instill a social responsibility in Filipinos to push for clean elections. These campaigns, in particular, actually got me thinking that this year's Election Day is "quite" a big deal, let alone that it's going to be the first automated one in a large scale. Everyone has been apprehensive, and I think that's normal, considering that this event will be "a crossing over our Rubicon" (to borrow it from a columnist's wording). There are just some who have overimaginative preconceived notions, but we can't blame them either.

I did mull who the "best" candidates to vote for were and if a chance to personally endorse them to people I know was there, I had gladly grabbed it. I likewise followed at least some election-related stories in newspapers, the pre-election surveys in particular (well, I was actually "compelled" to, given that my job is to "read" news stories everyday).

Everything’s been set. I have this "small" problem though: I did not register to vote.

Fine, I am a loser. I accept the degrading label (which was actually the outright reaction of a friend when I told her I was not a registered voter). I am hurt, too, when I hear someone say that nonvoters don't have the right to complain about the corrupt government officials, ineffective public infrastructures, deficient health care services, and whatnot. I'd defend myself by insisting that I'm a taxpayer, which actually is effective in making me feel better about myself at times.

Despite of this particular shortcoming on my part, I pray for a peaceful Election Day tomorrow. I also salute every group and individual involved in this life-changing exercise. And I do pray that my bets would make it. Oops! Ok, I pray that the deserving ones slugging it out either for national or local positions would make it. Though I know I won't literally be a part of this big occasion tomorrow, I wish a lot of Filipinos would be.