I AM FOR…

In 1997 and 1998, I ran as representative in our student council. I lost but didn’t mind. In 1999, I ran as senator, and lost again. I was teary eyed! In 2000, supposedly my last batter to hit my 1st base of student governance, I ran as vice-president. I lost. I was what Miriam Santiago described as , “suicidical, ballistic, and fuming in the mouth! If this was boxing, the ring announcer would have introduced me this way, “On the red corner, weighing never mind, from Dumaguete City, with four losses and zero win, Jay Famoso.

They say high school life is one of the most exciting parts of our growing up. I’d say not quite! I was defeated 4 times. I asked? Where did my friends go? Am I not lovable? Am I not intelligent? Oh well, I settled for this reason. Maybe all my supporters were absent on Election Day!

My political career was a plain monochrome. Four losses and zero win. But wait until you listen to this.

Fresh from college, I was invited by a friend to attend a meeting. Out of nothing to do any way, I nodded to her request. I stepped inside a huge hall clueless of what will happen. So I just smiled to everyone meeting my gaze, waved my hand in the air, and uttered hi and hello’s. A woman, quite advanced in age, grabbed the microphone and announced the election for President. In her flawless English, she said, the floor is now open for nomination. Then a young lady stood up and said, “I nominate, paused for a while, shifted her gaze to my name tag, and continued Jay for president. I tried to recall if we have met before but to no avail. I just smiled back as a sign of gratitude. And the results are ready. And the president is …ME. Oh finally, I made it! But wait. This is not yet the end. It’s not the happily-ever-after kind of ending. Someone stood up, made a protest to the advisers, and questioned my membership. If I have the power to disappear in an instant, I would have disappeared. Until now, I am still looking for the person who protested my presidency.

On May 10, 2010, two events will unfold. One is already a public knowledge and the other is soon to be a public knowledge. After casting your votes, please send in the gifts to the birthday celebrant. Greetings are good but cash is better!

My first participation in a National Election was in 2004. If I will recall, the moving force that prod me to do it, is the excitement of doing things for the first time. I am now exercising my right of suffrage, the essential element of democracy. That’s the student in me speaking!

Next year, I am voting again. Let it be known that I am for a candidate who is not necessarily knowledgeable but is aware. Aware in the plight of the poor. Aware in the current state of our environment. Aware of the social plagues that continue to eat-up every fabric of the sanctity of life.

I am for a candidate who puts premium in the dignity of the public that he is serving. A man with conscience, grit, and integrity. A man who acknowledges that the tax of the people is a product of sweat and blood.

I am for a candidate who leads by example. Someone who believes that talk is cheap. We need actions not words!

Above all, I am for a candidate who fears his God. Truly then, I can say, public office is a public trust. Vox populi, vox dei. The voice of the people is the voice of God.

They say, power without abuse looses its charm! I say, power without responsibility looses its charm! Power in the right perspective! That’s Charm!