In the Philippines, an ex-President’s namesake runs for a barangay post

I don’t know in other countries, but in the Philippines there is no law that prohibits a former President of the Republic—and my, a convicted felon, albeit, pardoned, at that—from running anew for public office.
There also isn’t any law that penalizes insult to the sensibilities of the unsuspecting, pliant masses—that’s the majority in us—who are also, by the way, short in memory that’s why they keep electing and trusting with power even the most idiotic politicians. And the crooks, the cheats, the drug dealers, the corrupt, the thieves, the quack, ad nauseam.

We can’t even punish those who, riding in the popularity or notoriety of some politicians, expropriate for themselves the popular or notorious names of these personalities just to get elected. If we can, then perhaps I would have been the first to advocate stoning these animals to death as punishment, which was allowed in biblical times. This suggestion was inspired by the news yesterday that a certain Jose Serra, a candidate for barangay captain, was stoned by irate members of the Workers’ Party. Don’t blame me; blame the news.

This is why the well-meaning among us could only shake our heads in disbelief when news came out that Joseph Estrada is running for barangay council member in Digos City in the October 25 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

Goodness gracious! What else does ‘Asiong Salonga’ needs to prove? Or perhaps, the proper question is, “What else does he would like to disprove?”

When former Trade and Industry secretary, the millionaire Jose Concepcion, lost in the 1987 senatorial election because his campaign slogan, “Isip Agila”, did not fly, I thought that was the end of his brief carousing with politics. But no. Subsequently, he ran for barangay captain in the rich enclave of Barangay Forbes and won. Mysteriously, nothing spectacular was heard of him as barangay captain and the rest of political Philippines, well, rested from his incessant exhortation for them to realize their dreams to become millionaires by transforming themselves into “People’s Economic Councils”, his pet economic strategy.

What if Joseph Estrada wins?

That will be good for our democracy. That will telegraph to the world the message that Filipinos are serious about their democratic values; that we adhere to the universal tenet of freedom of choice. That will inspire—some would say—countries like China to institute political reform ahead of economic re-engineering which, by the way, China had done in reverse and look where it had brought the Middle Kingdom: to the enviable position of being now the world’s number one economic powerhouse.

And et tu Philippines?

Well, the ultra-nationalists tell us not to mind our economic sustenance. It will come as long as we allow one-man-one-vote as the norm of our political life. Regular elections, these behind-the-times theorists say, will propel us to economic prosperity.

Joseph Estrada, the barangay kagawad candidate, must be thinking so. You may wonder about his motivation, but that’s not hard to divine. He wants power although his means of acquiring it insults me no end.

But what can I do? In this country where people are afflicted with the illness of imitation and the penchant for christening baby boys and girls with the names of Hollywood stars and other famous people, we are helpless and headed for another headline-grabbing gossip.

Thus, the candidacy of this upcoming Digos City politician with the name of the man from San Juan is a classic.

Joseph Estrada, the Digos City native, may retort that he, too, is helpless (he can claim innocence when his parents named him after the San Juan City overlord). In this case, it’s the voters who will decide his fate, a proposition that certainly will sit well with the apostles of American democracy Philippine-style.

Whatever, this does not appease me. I don’t want any Tom, Dick, and Harry using my name in vain, particularly putting it on the ballot.

The reason is simple. If that Tom, Dick, and Harry wins despite of my name or on account of it, and commits a crime, then I’ll be damned. My children would not like their father’s name tied up to a heinous deed.

In the meantime, I am happy that no politician, famous or trying to be one, has thought of expropriating “Nicon”. Thanks to my mother and my father who christened me with a name that turns off voters.