I'm not voting for Noynoy

One workday, over lunch, an officemate said she had an argument with her boyfriend regarding voting for Noynoy Aquino as president. The boyfriend had nothing against Noynoy. It's the fact that my friend couldn't explain why she is choosing Noy over other candidates that seemed to have triggered the argument. Up until that lunch, she still could not defend her choice.

I was itching to say a word but I let my other officemates who favored other candidates to butt in and say why she should not vote for Noy. I realized that many people still do not see the significance of this particular election to our future as a nation. Many will still vote based on the achievements and track record of the candidates. And many others will still vote based on personal leanings and loyalties.

If this were a regular election like any other elections we have had, any of the presidential candidates would be appropriate. Many of them, after all, are good in what they do, no matter what they claim or what others say about them.

But this is not a regular election. It is a vote for the future of the nation. When we go out there tomorrow to mark our ballots, we are either signing up for the death of the Philippines or for its continued existence as a real democracy. It is not a matter of who to choose but a matter of what we choose if we choose who we choose.

I'm not voting for Noynoy....per se. I'm voting for what he represents as a person, as a leader of the country if he wins. I'm not voting for him because he is Ninoy and Cory's son. I'm not voting for him because he is single and has no family distractions. I'm not voting for him because business groups favor him. And I'm definitely not voting for him because he is Kris' brother.

I'm voting for Noy because among the current presidential candidates, he is the only visible symbol of what GMA is not. He is not corrupt [no one with a secondhand car would be]. He is not vain [walking into a rally stage with an unkempt hair and sweaty shirt]. He is a member of the Aquino family, whose mother as president doesn't even use a "hagad" when traveling the streets of Manila during her term, even if she has the authority and power to require special treatment. He has always been in disagreement with Kris, and I think I don't have to explain why this is a good characteristic, if you know how Kris is.

Noy doesn't come from a "poor" family where a younger brother is claimed to have died due to the circumstances of the family's social position. But he did have a Dad who has been imprisoned for so long only because he strongly opposes the dictatorship, and Noynoy endured many birthdays and Christmases without him, continuously suffering oppression whenever they visit him. Noy has had his own set of adversities in life that made him strong and humble, but he doesn't really flaunt this like it's supposed to be the single most important criteria to being president.

I'm voting for Noynoy mainly because he is not another GMA. He is the only one we can be sure of who will prosecute GMA for all her sins to the country. All other candidates are mum or indecisive when it comes to punishing the proven corrupt administration. We don't need a president who is chummy with people who rob the Filipinos of their right to a good life, or their right to be told the truth.

We don't need a president who rubs elbows with any of the Marcoses, who have not at all suffered for their 20-year unconstitutional grip on power. We don't need a president who owes his big break to GMA and claims that his loyalties to her will not be absolute. Rubbish. Since when did politicians in the Philippines go against the wishes of those who had been instruments of their material and political power? And we most certainly don't need people who say one thing and live another. That is why we don't need a president whom GMA can easily persuade to be soft on her. Because if she goes unscathed after her term, it will be a precedent for future usurpists of the nation's wealth. They will think they can get away with corruption because GMA did.

So, I'm voting for Noynoy because I believe that the moral foundation of his government will be greater than that of GMA's administration --- if the latter has a moral foundation to speak of.

This election is special. It's a vote between the good and bad, the white and the black, the high and the low, the life and death of democracy in this country. There will be no gray areas in this election. You're either for the people or not. And for me, Noy is the good, the white, the high and the life of the Philippines as far as this election is concerned.

When I cast my vote for Noynoy tomorrow, I'm declaring war against all elements that threaten to destroy our institutions and the future of our children. I'm voting for Noynoy because I'm voting for the ideal Philippines that my own parents had the chance to see when they were younger. I would like my family and my children's children to experience that as well.

Maybe I should have told my officemate, do not vote for Noynoy because he is Noynoy. Vote for him because he, his parents and his whole family truly cares for us and the whole country. If they didn't, they would have gone back to Boston after Cory's term and left this country to rot.