Like, woke and protest votes in 2022 Elections
This article titled “how Filipinos will vote in 2022?” first appeared on ASKSonnie.INFO
The 2022 national election is a staple topic over coffee with businessman friends. The common Q I’m receiving is who will I vote and why.
Let me answer that at the end of this post. My immediate interest is to present this hypothesis and get your insights if this is likely to happen.
From the discussions I had, there will be swing votes for fear that a certain candidate will win the election. While the majority will still vote for their chosen candidate, some will set aside their first choice and vote instead for either Robredo or Marcos. Let me explain my theory by classifying 3 types of votes come election day.
The Like Votes
This is given to the candidate of choice or the first choice of the voter. Whether their preferred presidentiable is winnable or not, they will stick with their wo/man.
However, some voters may change their minds because their candidate is not faring well on the surveys and they strongly dislike the would-be winner. So on election day, they will either vote for Marcos or Robredo, to give this candidate a stronger chance to win against the other.
The Woke Votes
If a voter fears a Marcos return to Malacanang, s/he will vote for Robredo. For purposes of this discussion, I am calling this a “woke vote” because of the good vs evil narrative where Marcos is the evil personified
The Protest Votes
If, however, a voter is turned off by the emerging cancel-driven and self-righteous culture of the passionate Robredo supporters, s/he will vote for Marcos. I’m calling this a “protest vote”, because of their strong dislike for the divisive and purist politics of the Robredo camp.
Likely Scenarios
The woke voters believe the return to power of a Marcos is an accommodation to, and an alliance of all the shady figures of our political past- Estrada, Macapagal-Arroyo, and Duterte.
With this axis of evil in power, it is believed that human rights violations, impunity, and corruption will continue and abound. China and the West Philippine Sea policy is not likely to change.
Furthermore, a win of Robredo is thought to be a win for justice for the victims of the drug war, and a time of reckoning for the perceived corrupt officials. More government transparency, less corruption, and better social services. It is also believed that the friendly alliance with the west will return.
The protest voters, on the other hand, believed that a Robredo presidency is a reboot of the reign of the yellow. The switch in color is only a gimmick and meant to revert to hypocritical clean governance akin to the situation that led to the breakdown of MRT3 where the responsible officials were not held accountable. Another example, according to them is the demolition job against political opponents like what happened to the GMA appointees at the beginning of the PNoy term; Grace Poe and Jojo Binay during the 2010 election. Binay who was demonized for corruption by the same people backing Robredo is now part of the Robredo senate line-up.
With the purists and self-righteous at the helm. these voters believed the politics of vengeance is not far behind. Half of the energy and resources of a Robredo government are expected to look for corruption in previous governments’ projects. On-going projects might be stopped similar to what PNoy did in 2010.
A Marcos win, however, is believed to usher undivided attention to improving the lives of Filipinos because Marcos will only have 6 years to complete the rehabilitation of their family name. It is further believed that the voices of anti-Marcos and martial law victims are good enough to deter Marcos and its allies from committing the same evil of past administrations.
How this election reshaped our core values as Filipinos
I would like to believe that mainstream media is not being weaponized to support or destroy candidates and their supporters. (But I already accepted that some if not half of media publications and journalists are partisan)
One media outlet published an open letter of a son who said F*** to his mother. It’s good that another outlet published a loving mothers day tribute of the other son.
I received a PM from connections about an LGBT who committed suicide yesterday because an educator bullied him for supporting a candidate who is a thief and a liar.
I am waiting for any of the media outlets, especially the one that published the F*** letter since as fact-checkers, they can easily debunk this claim. I’m sorry I will not share the link here because I have no way to validate the allegations (I will update this and include a link once mainstream media decided to run the story.
But I am sad about how this election has reshaped our core values as Filipinos.
I just hoped the energy and passion these Filipinos have exerted for their candidates will still be present for nation-building, even if their candidate loses.
But if the cancel culture persists, then we are doomed.
Who will I vote for President?
Now let me share my response. I told my biz friends it’s too early to decide, but top of my mind, I have shortlisted 3. Nevertheless, I shared with them this simple rating sheet for the presidential aspirants. I will score each candidate with either 0-1, 0 if a presidential candidate doesn’t have it, and 1 if they have it. A simple summation of the scores will help me decide who to vote for.
- Not afraid to face tough questions and hostile crowd
- Walang playbook na nadaya at mag patawag ng rally, revolution o people power pag natalo
- Kayang sumuporta sa mananalo, at enganyuhin ang sariling supporters to support the winner for the sake of nation building, kung sya ay matatalo sa eleksyon
- Candidate and Supporters exhibits Filipino core values (do not encourage or amplify divisions in the family caused by politics; do not spouse and promote cancel culture even after the elections)
- Their ability to deliver basic services (example, COVID-19 response)
- Political will
- Willingness to bring political enemies to dialogue and work for the common good
- Hindi epal, patawa, or trying hard
- Inclusive (hindi iniitsa pwera ang di sang ayon sa sariling adhikain)
- Forthright and not deceptive (Integrity hindi binobola ang botante)
- Communicator
- With a clear grasp of the economic and debt problem we are facing, and have a concrete plan to deal with it.
- Not hounded with corruption issue
- Filipino first foreign policy (hindi sip-sip kay Uncle Sam or kay Kung Fu Panda)
- Platform anchored on social justice
- Rights based leadership and management
- Hindi tuta nang partido o nino man
Have you made up your mind? How are you assessing the candidates?
Vote wisely and participate in nation building regardless of the winner
