As Filipinos, we approach yet another election—this time on May 12, 2025—with a familiar mix of hope and dread. Every few years, we line up at polling stations, ink our fingers, and cast ballots, believing our votes will reshape the nation. Yet, time and again, we wake up to the same broken system: a government off the people, bought by the people, and masterful at fooling the people. Why? Because our political culture doesn’t just fail to nurture moral giants—it actively kills them off, while propping up moral pygmies who thrive in the muck of our electoral swamp.

Look around. The names on campaign posters rarely change. Dynasties dominate, their faces plastered across tarps like monarchs claiming divine right. These are not leaders forged in the crucible of integrity or vision; they are products of a system that rewards name recall, wealth, and moral compromise. Our politics celebrates the loud, the flashy, the corruptible—those who can afford to buy loyalty, charm the masses with empty promises, or weaponize patronage to secure votes. Meanwhile, potential leaders with spine and principle are sidelined, drowned out by the noise of trapo politics or crushed under the weight of a system that demands they play dirty to win.

This is no accident. Our political culture is a machine designed to churn out moral pygmies—small men and women with smaller values, who see public office not as a calling but as a business. They thrive because we, the people, let them. We clap for their dance moves, sing along to their jingles, and pocket their cash handouts, mistaking these for leadership. We’ve normalized vote-buying as “practical politics,” excused corruption as “just how it is,” and shrugged off accountability as a pipe dream. In doing so, we’ve built a government that mirrors our worst impulses: one that serves itself, buys our complicity, and fools us into thinking we chose it.

The cost is staggering. Our nation staggers under the weight of poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and systemic inequality, while those in power grow richer, their dynasties fatter. Moral giants—those rare souls with the courage to prioritize the common good over personal gain—could change this. But they don’t stand a chance in a system that punishes integrity. Try running as an honest candidate in a barangay where votes go for P500 a pop, or in a province where political clans control everything from jobs to justice. You’ll be outspent, outmaneuvered, or worse, silenced. The system doesn’t just discourage good leaders; it devours them.

This May 12, we have a choice—not just between candidates, but between perpetuating this cycle or breaking it. Voting is not enough; we must vote with eyes wide open. Stop falling for the same tired names, the same hollow promises, the same bags of rice dangled before you. Demand more than charisma or cash. Seek out candidates who’ve shown, through action, that they value principle over power. They exist, but they’re often drowned out by the circus of traditional politics. Find them. Amplify them. Vote for them.
Better yet, demand a system that doesn’t choke out moral leadership. Push for reforms—end dynasties, enforce transparency, punish vote-buying with real teeth. Hold your barangay captain, your mayor, your senator accountable, not just on election day but every day. Refuse to be bought. Refuse to be fooled. Because every time you sell your vote or shrug at corruption, you’re not just choosing a moral pygmy—you’re ensuring a government that thrives on your suffering.

We deserve better than this. We deserve leaders who are giants in courage, vision, and integrity, not pygmies scrambling for scraps of power. This election, let’s stop fooling ourselves. Let’s build a government truly of the people—one that serves, not deceives; one that uplifts, not exploits. The ballot is in your hands. Use it to demand a future where moral giants can rise, and where we, the Filipino people, are no longer complicit in our own betrayal.(TAMBULI NG BAYAN - Ronnie Estrada).#PhPolitics #PHVote
#Eleksyon2025 #Trapo