people at my workplace are adamant BBM/SARA supporters because they think Leni is so lame based on what they see on some fb posts. LMAO. Can't they just say that they're a bunch of fake news peddlers who don't even bother to fact check every information they get from socmeds and always eager of joining bandwagons created by ill-minded trolls?
the problem with them is that they don't even acknowledge that politics is a serious issue bc they are too comfortable with their lives to consider those who may be oppressed when their president, who is an epitome of theft, wins.
This election makes me very involved & interested into politics. Sabi nga ni VP "Ang namulat hindi na muling mapipikit" at nararamdam ko 'yon in a way na may masasabi at masasabi talaga ako sa bawat maling aksyon ng susunod na administrasyon.
Campaign Diary of a Jaded Voter from Samar (The 2022 Election Chronicles)
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Inevitable
Day 1 – February 8, 2022 Campaign season officially begins. Within hours, every available vertical surface in Samar has been converted into political real estate. Tricycles now look like mobile billboards designed by someone having a psychotic episode in Microsoft Paint. The sari-sari store's walls have disappeared under layers of campaign posters so thick they could probably stop bullets—which might actually be useful come election day.
Even the street dogs are wearing political paraphernalia. I saw an askal with a "BBM-Sara" bandana looking more dignified than most of the candidates wearing the same colors. At least the dog's loyalty can be bought with actual food.
My Facebook feed has transformed into a war zone between inspirational quotes ("Ang pagbabago ay nagsisimula sa atin!") and jingles that sound like they were composed by deaf robots. I've started muting people with the efficiency of a professional assassin. Considering relocating to the mountains, but even the mountains probably have campaign tarps by now.
Day 12 – February 19 The Marcos-Duterte tandem officially launches. The symbolism is so heavy-handed it borders on performance art: the dictator's son partnering with the populist's daughter, like a political remake of Romeo and Juliet except both families are terrible and everybody dies at the end, metaphorically speaking.
Their "UniTeam" branding is genius in its shamelessness. Unity! Who could be against unity? It's like campaigning on a platform of "breathing air" or "not being eaten by sharks." The political consultants who thought this up probably congratulated themselves for discovering fire.
Meanwhile, the "opposition" is busy fragmenting into smaller pieces, like a turon that's been dropped from a significant height. Watching them organize is like watching a group project where everyone assumes someone else will do the work.
Day 23 – March 2 The campaign promises have reached peak fantasy fiction. Free this, free that, free everything except free from the consequences of electing these people. The math doesn't add up, but then again, math has never been Philippine politics' strongest subject.
Bongbong Marcos promises economic recovery while conveniently forgetting to mention the small detail of his family's ₱203 billion estate tax debt. It's like promising to fix your neighbor's roof while your own house is on fire and you're the one who lit the match.
Sara Duterte talks about education reform, which is rich coming from someone whose father thinks the solution to drug addiction is to kill people. But sure, let's trust this family with shaping young minds.
Day 48 – March 25 The dynastic mathematics are becoming clear. In Samar alone, we have Tans, Honsans, Fariñases, and other families whose names appear on ballots with the regularity of typhoon warnings. It's like Game of Thrones except with more corruption and less attractive people.
The poster wars have escalated. I counted seven layers of campaign materials on one wall, creating an archaeological record of democratic decay. Somewhere under all those faces is probably a poster from Ferdinand Sr.'s first campaign, still promising infrastructure projects that remain unfinished today.
Day 61 – April 7 The jingles have achieved weaponized status. "Bagong Mukha, Bagong Pag-asa" plays from jeepneys, tricycles, and someone's phone at 5 AM. My nephew has started humming "Iisang Bansa, Iisang Diwa" like it's the new BTS single. If I hear one more autotuned voice promising change, I will personally deliver my radio to the nearest carabao for disposal.
The psychological warfare is working. Even my dreams now feature campaign slogans. Last night I dreamed about buying rice and the vendor asked, "Para sa bayan?" I woke up screaming.
Day 74 – April 20 The debates have become elaborate exercises in question-dodging. Watching politicians answer direct questions is like watching someone try to nail jello to a wall—technically possible, but ultimately pointless and messy.
Leni Robredo actually answers questions directly, which makes her seem almost alien compared to the others. Her radical strategy of "saying what she means" and "providing specifics" is so unusual it's being treated as a character flaw. Only in the Philippines would honesty be considered a political liability.
Day 87 – May 3 The surveys are depressing but unsurprising. Marcos Jr. leads by margins so large they defy both mathematics and common sense. It's like watching a popularity contest where the most popular option is food poisoning.
The "Never Again" crowd is facing the "Never Mind" majority. Historical amnesia has become a campaign strategy, and it's working better than actual platforms or policies. Who needs facts when you have nostalgia for a past that never actually existed?
Day 90 – May 9, 2022 – Election Day Voted. The process felt like choosing between expired sardines and stale bread—both will give you indigestion, but at least you get to pick your preferred method of suffering.
The ballot was longer than a CVS receipt and twice as depressing. Senator candidates included convicted plunderers, former action stars, and people whose only qualification was having famous last names. It's like American Idol except the contestants are running for public office instead of recording contracts.
Stood in line with fellow citizens who looked equally resigned to their fate. We shared the camaraderie of people about to undergo minor surgery—not excited, but determined to get it over with.
Day 91 – May 10 Results are in. BBM-Sara wins by a landslide that would make geological formations jealous. 31.6 million votes for Marcos Jr., more than doubling Robredo's 14.8 million. It's not just a victory; it's a statement that the Philippines has collectively chosen to remake Groundhog Day as a political system.
The celebrations are surreal. Fireworks explode across Samar like we've just won the World Cup instead of electing the son of a dictator. People are dancing in the streets, apparently convinced that history is a comedy that gets funnier the second time around.
I celebrate by going home and cooking pancit canton. At least noodles have never lied to me about their ingredients or promised to be something they're not.
Day 93 – May 12 The victory speeches begin. Marcos Jr. talks about "healing and unity" with the sincerity of someone selling life insurance to cancer patients. The irony is so thick you could use it as construction material for the infrastructure projects he'll probably never complete.
Sara Duterte promises to continue her father's legacy, which is either terrifying or reassuring depending on your feelings about extrajudicial killings as government policy. At least she's honest about what we're getting.
The international media is having a field day with headlines like "Philippines Elects Dictator's Son" and "Democracy Dies in Tropical Paradise." Meanwhile, local media is already practicing the kind of selective amnesia that kept us employed during Martial Law.
Day 112 – June 30, 2022 – Inauguration Day The ceremony is peak Filipino political theater. Marcos Jr. takes his oath using his father's Bible, because apparently irony is dead and we're defiling its corpse. The symbolism is so on-the-nose it's practically performing surgery on itself.
He promises "to do better" without specifying what "better" means or compared to what. His speech could have been written by a particularly uninspired AI trained exclusively on campaign literature from the 1970s.
My neighbor Kuya Eddie watches with genuine optimism. "Baka may pagbabago talaga," he says. I reply, "Oo, mula sa lumang script papunta sa lumang script na may bagong font at mas mahal na presyo."
The TV coverage treats the event like the Second Coming, complete with teary-eyed supporters and solemn commentary about "new beginnings." The only thing new is the date; everything else is a rerun we've seen before and will undoubtedly see again.
Day 120 – July 8 First week of the new administration. Inflation hits 6.4%, the peso continues its impersonation of a falling rock, and gas prices climb higher than most people's aspirations for good governance. But hey, at least we have unity! You can't eat unity, but you can certainly starve together.
The appointees start rolling in: familiar faces from previous administrations, family members, and people whose main qualification is knowing how to spell "Marcos" correctly. It's like a high school reunion organized by people you didn't like the first time around.
Day 135 – July 23 The honeymoon period is already showing cracks. Rice prices are up, typhoon season is starting, and the promised 20-peso rice remains as elusive as the Marcos gold. But the administration's response is to blame the previous administration, which is rich considering they spent the entire campaign promising to fix everything immediately.
The messaging is already shifting from "change is coming" to "change takes time," the traditional Filipino political bait-and-switch. By next year, it'll be "the previous administration's fault," and by year three, it'll be "the global situation is complicated." Year six will be "look at all we've accomplished" while pointing to projects started by other people.
Final Entry – August 15 Two months into the BBM-Sara era, and the patterns are already clear. Same cast, same script, same promises, same disappointments. The only thing that changes is the font on the campaign materials and the faces on the billboards.
In Samar, we continue doing what we've always done: planting rice during planting season, harvesting rice during harvest season, and paying more for gas regardless of the season. We survive typhoons both meteorological and political with the same resigned competence, knowing that both will return with predictable regularity.
The "unity" they promised is real, in a sense. We're unified in our shared experience of being governed by people who treat public service like a family business and democracy like a customer loyalty program where the only rewards are the privilege of paying higher taxes.
But here's the thing about Filipinos: we're world-class at surviving terrible leadership. We've been doing it for centuries, through Spanish colonizers, American occupiers, Japanese invaders, and local dictators. We'll survive this too, not because of the government but despite it.
We plant our rice, raise our children, help our neighbors, and find ways to laugh at the absurdity of it all. We make diskarte work when institutions fail. We create community when leadership divides. We practice hope when evidence suggests despair.
The politicians may recycle the same promises, but we recycle too—our resilience, our humor, our stubborn refusal to let terrible governance stop us from living decent lives. They campaign for our votes; we campaign for survival, one day at a time.
And you know what? We're winning that campaign, even when it doesn't feel like it.
The pancit canton is still affordable. For now. And sometimes, in the Philippines of 2022, "for now" is all the certainty you can reasonably expect.
Next election: 2025. Mark your calendars. It'll be the same circus with different clowns—or maybe the same clowns with different costumes. Either way, the peanuts will be overpriced and the show will be disappointingly familiar.
Here is a six and a half minute Video of Harry Roque that to me, encapsulates what is wrong with the Administration of Bong Bong Marcos (BBM) right now, which is the constant Interference of House Speaker Martin Romualdez on the Affairs of the Country, and how BBM for some Reason is allowing him to do so
The partnership that broke conventions! #SolidBBMSara #UniTeam (at National Museum of the Philippines) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfbcOYMuqmy/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
Ngayon ko lang naramdaman ang saya! I have so many stories to tell but it will have to wait. For now, I will celebrate this historic day. #SolidBBMSara #UniTeam #SamasamaTayongBabangonMuli #MahalinNatinAngPilipinas (at Manansala Mansion) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd-n5JAOY7a/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
