Let the Filipino ‘kalooban’ shine

Here we are again — mid-term elections. Back to fiesta season with the dancing, singing, pole dancing girls grinding and vote buying. On one side, the public treasury runs dry with blatant corruption. On the other, the masses are dumbed down by the revelry of entertainers who take to the stage to entertain the poor away from their struggles. Dynastic representatives bring out their investment for vote buying with clear plans to bring that investment back. Behind the scenes, operators engineer the process. The same pattern through years back. The top runners, adorned in slogans and scripted rhetoric, move not as servants of the people, but as merchants of influence.

How can we break this direction, even as a minimally funded group of good candidates with integrity and more competence put up bravura like Davids to the Goliath political campaign spending? I have no answer except to say in union with all who want to bring back integrity and good governance: Boost the underdogs with proven track records who are on the edge of the Top 12. Vote for those who work quietly and effectively on education, clean audits, farmer support and good governance… for those who work to uplift the majority (from a text I received). It is the only rally cry that rides on hope that we carry. Despite this situation we see ourselves in, there is the light flickering inside those who want a governance system that works for the people.

Here is a Filipino story as ancient as time itself. Within our nationalist hearts or our kalooban, there is the diwa (our spirit, essence and consciousness) that looks, aspires and works for the light -- for all that is good, proper and right, in leadership, in governance. Anthropologists like Prospero Covar defined them to be the rallying cry or framework.

Once, we were a nation proud in its unity, a people driven by the spirit of bayanihan, where the hands that held each other in solidarity were stronger than the forces that sought to divide. We carried integrity in our veins, the wisdom of our ancestors whispering in our ears as we moved forward, a nation built on resilience and compassion.

But now, there is an eerie hush beneath the noise of campaign jingles and promises. It is not silence born from peace — it is the weight of hopelessness pressing against the very soul of our people.  I feel this for I am tired, as many around are. I admire those who continue to rally, to push, to fight, and each one of us, trying to make a mark with our vote.

Loss of cultural values

The game has changed. Leadership is no longer earned through statesmanship, wisdom and the ability to uplift the masses. Instead, it has become a theater of wealth and deception — a playground for power wielded through machinery built on greed and ambition.

The currency of leadership is no longer trust but money, and in this economy of political survival, the ordinary Filipino is the collateral.  

What happened to pakikisama, the genuine camaraderie that bound us together? Where has utang na loob gone, the deep-seated gratitude and responsibility to return kindness? It has been taken to the negative side of corruption. Malasakit, the empathy once woven into our daily lives, now seems an afterthought, drowned beneath the weight of self-serving ambitions.

As poverty stretches its fingers deeper into the lives of the people, as hopelessness takes root, these cultural values — once the lifeblood of our identity — fade into echoes.

The system, once designed to serve, has turned its back on its own. Those who should protect the people’s dignity have become architects of deception, crafting narratives that shift blame, convincing the weary to believe in illusions. Where does the answer lie?

Where the answer lies

Perhaps the answer is in the unbreakable spirit of the Filipino, the refusal to surrender completely to despair. In Mt. Banahaw where the history of the revolutionary spirit is contained, there is the Pamumuesto ritual to sacred sites that reminds us that we must at all continually seek the inner light of our kalooban, individually and collectively as a people, and break through all the challenges around.

In that Quezon mountain community, we work closely with the very poor fourth class municipality community, I see the mother who teaches her child to dream despite an empty table. I take hope in the farmer who continues to till the land even when the price of his crops dwindles and the daily struggle is so real. All around the country, I know friends, private sector groups in collaborations, in works that sustain poverty, attempts to come together to answer the main issues that make our country continue to backslide and fall way behind the rise of the community of nations in our region.

And yes, yes, there are some idealistic voices rising, seeking change not only through ballots but through action that cannot be bought. The answer is in the people — those who remember who we are, and who refuse to let our values slip away.  

Upheavals very possible

One lens I will look at this election period is through astrological transits. It will happen under a Scorpio Full Moon -- one of the most intense, transformative energy periods.

It will intensify emotional undercurrents, scrutiny, and expose hidden agendas and political scandals to be seen. So, yes, upheavals are very possible. There is also the planet Pluto in retrograde (4 May in Aquarius and for the next five months) that may push grassroots movements or reformist candidates to gain traction, as power slowly goes back to the people.

The post-election period (of the next five months thereafter) will encourage deep reflections and reassessment of leadership and power structures. There may be unexpected shifts in the political narratives that are being played out now. But everything still be chaotic because this is what our world is about today. And, thus, the need to root and go back to our positive cultural values.

May the elections not be a mere transaction of power but a reawakening. May we remember that leadership is not for sale and that change begins when we reclaim the values that have always been ours. Let us demand for more authenticity, accountability and transparency from the candidates. Vote for leaders with substance, with integrity and the capacity to actually do the work for the greater good.