By Junelie Anthony Velonta | February 23, 2021
The “Run Sara Run” early campaigning has recently made rounds in social media. Of course, as divisive as the current political climate is, netizens were quick to react in support of or lambasting the early campaign. Of course, it is an insolent move. However, the insolence is not wholly on the politician. After all, it is not an isolated case.
All over the country, early campaigning efforts are slowly popping up. While it is said that these election efforts are funded and headed by private entities or individuals, it can’t be denied that once the politician is indeed elected, these private individuals or entities have the first pick on the “utang na loob” tree. It makes it even more insulting that these campaign backers have profit in their minds, banking on politicians with high-chances of winning, even when said politicians have records of being incompetent or outright corrupt. The pandemic revealed those. I’m pretty sure everyone has a list of names they won’t vote for.
It becomes clear that these calls do not have the welfare and future of the people in mind. People are taken advantage of, recruited to join these election rallies, not knowing that someone richer than them doesn’t care who they elect as long as their businesses will have new government contracts.
Not everyone, as expected, is aware of this. Most Filipinos still treat politicians as celebrities and they still would follow them, even if they’ve had “bad roles.” It then becomes the responsibility of everyone to know who is backing these early election campaigns, and reveal what their ulterior motives are. They are, after all, profiting from our taxes.
