Does Your Vote Matters?

Setting: The Philippines, where positions are seen as power rather than responsibility.

Living in a society when people in government offices are seen as powerful as they can be is one of the worst scenarios in life. People who are handled by the government or are sitting in a chair where many people can be controlled are more likely to see themselves as queens and kings of an area.

Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people who do their jobs and help the people, as well as the community. But on top of the top, there is much evil ruining the atmosphere.

During the last election that happened here in the Philippines where the lower to middle sectors when it comes to government positions are voted, I was one of the voters. And from my perspective, it was not as magical or as powerful as I thought it would be. As I was finding room for me to do my votes, I have heard a lot of conversations that talk about the people who are nominated. And since in every election, there will be groups and individuals who can run, people are distributing lots of papers containing the names of those who are in a group.

In my view, I voted those people who I see as good as they can be. Although I have to admit, I voted the people who turned out to be nothing when it comes to properly do their job as the voice of the community. And that is the wrong action that still haunts me up to this day. But on top of that, I'm still proud of those who make sense in their positions.

As we live in the modern era, it will be hard to "cheat" when it comes to the number of votes. Although I may say that somehow, some people out there are really intelligent on the technology itself. But anyway, still votes are validated properly this time.

Now my take on people voting people. I voted on the area in the city because I have to and I'm required to. As I went back to my place after voting which is like a 4-hour trip, it was a completely different story.

I have heard different news that is shocking but is truly happening in life. The first one is that people are getting blind over money. They don't care about how these people who they want to be in positions are not worthy of the power. At some point, I had the idea of getting the money and still pushing for the votes I want, especially since people don't know me in the area I am voting in. But unfortunately, in my area of being born, it is not the case. Since in this area, there are very few people, they know each other inside and up to the farthest relative they have. And it might be hard to change votes since violence is a normal thing for people with wealth and power. There is this movie where it talks about elections in urban places. And one scene is that this main character catches one woman who happens to give money to a family to vote the names written on the given paper. He then punched the woman since he realized that she was one of the "people" of his soon-to-be mayor. The woman was faking her pregnancy to be able to get that sympathy from people. And the movie is an indie film, it reflects the true story of what happens in life.

I got vaccinated last week and I had my vaccination where the Mayor goes there every day to see the people. And the funny thing is that the Parish Priest told him straight to his face, questioning him about his presence and if that presence is because the elections are coming. I wanted to see the faces of those who hear that statement and for sure, the Mayor himself got awkward in that scene. The Priest is right, to be honest. Since online classes are the new norm today, I didn't bother to go back to the city for my classes and during my stay here, I haven't seen him except if he has visitors visiting his villa, which is not that far from my place.

In my experience, I'll be able to say that most of the time, the votes matter but voters don't exercise their rights to vote. And that's the biggest problem today.