MEDIUM RARE

As the 2025 elections loom, and it was time for our group to meet again, a group proudly apolitical, we sat down in a Chinese restaurant for lunch. As it turned out, out of the six present, two will be actively involved in the elections, in different degrees and for different reasons.

Gringo Honasan, whose name was inevitably preceded by “cashiered Colonel” once upon a time – he later became secretary of Information and Communication Technology -- confirmed he will be throwing his hat into the ring again, for senator again. Willie Villarama, a true-blue disciple of the late Blas Ople, both of them sons of Bulacan, is pushing for voter education and reform to fight voters who’ll be willfully submitting themselves as “bobotante” – foolish voters voting for the funds of it.

Gringo said his Reform Party will focus on exactly what the name says: economic, electoral, social reform, a pro-Filipino outlook that will not lose sight of the importance of spiritual reform that begins in the self, within the family: “Because we cannot give what we do not have.”

A national election will cost hundreds of millions to mount: how will he raise the funds? Gringo smiled a Mona Lisa smile. . . Maybe we can pry the formula out of him next time?  
Better yet, if Willie’s formula works for the Colonel, then Gringo wouldn’t have to work so hard to come up with a respectable campaign chest; his supporters will voluntarily come to his aid.

This is Willie’s wish: “With proper education, voters from disadvantaged backgrounds can make informed choices in the election. By embracing Schumacher’s principle of ‘small is beautiful’, we focus on a manageable sample of 100 voters in a pilot program. Assuming each family in our target sample has access to a smartphone, candidates will upload their video responses to YouTube.” Given a learning period of 60 days, voters will thereby participate in a mock election where ultimately, the goal is 65 million voters in 650,000 groups of 100 each.

Elections are all about numbers, numbers don’t lie, but they can be manipulated by man and machine, with another M looking on maliciously – money.

For the doubters and outers, let’s see how the next one’s going to be different.