Retrospect.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Carlos Isagani T. Zarate

DURING a trip to my hometown of General Santos City for the traditional family gathering on Christmas Eve, telltale signs of the election season were unmistakably everywhere.

The two-and-half-hour trip from Davao City to the country's "tuna capital," can never be boring as one counts and mentally records the expensive posters of politicians, ostensibly extending to the populace good tidings for the season, that are unabashedly hung from almost every street lamppost. Next to the posters, the second very common campaign device is the glossy calendar, particularly pocket-sized ones, which supporters distribute in bus terminals and eateries that dot the highway.

But mostly, these obvious early campaigning receive some apathetic response from people, who would rather wish, I suppose, that the poster or calendar be instead converted to cash and distributed to them.

Indeed, for many who celebrated Christmas the general feeling was, it is enough "na nakaraos din," aptly reflecting their resignation to the current state of our economy.

While it is not surprising for these politicians to maximize every opportunity available to score "pa-pogi and pa-guapa" points with the people, one can only desire that they do this with some finesse and delicadeza. For example, during the traditional Misa de Gallo and during the Christmas Day Masses, politicos who in the past years shied away from being seen in public were suddenly visible, waving to each and everyone, while smiling from ear to ear. Yet the most repulsive among these lot are those who cannot resist the temptation of advertising their names even in the face of grave tragedies, like those in Southern Leyte and other parts of Visayas and Mindanao. Donated bags of goodies were plastered with the names of these politicos.