Everybody is excited about next Monday because it will be a non-working holiday and we can splurge into some summer activities before summer ends.

But why is it a holiday anyway? It’s the polls— the time when schools become precincts where we name, through a sacred ritual called election, who will our next leaders be. In other words, we decide for our future.

The process is simple—shading names in a ballot, dropping it in the infamous PCOS machine and leaving without worrying about tomorrow. All this seems so easy as if it’s like choosing which channel to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. But the repercussions are serious and bold!

However, we would rather go watch Goin’ Bulilit than worry. We cannot blame ourselves for not taking the elections like it’s between life and death. Maybe we did at first, but we grew tired of hoping and waiting for change— the same thing we always hear when a new one comes out. We have put our bets on these kinds of people and hoped, they were gleaming with great promises but someday so soon, the system erased all of those.

It’s the system. As they say, once you join them, you be like them. Of course, this is a hasty generalisation and an insensitive observation. But this is the common notion and a fact to be told. The Philippine Trust Index, in fact, found that only 15 percent of Filipinos trust the government.

To be fair, there are surely good leaders out there. But how do we name them? Or more appropriately, how do we know an apple from an orange or a duhat? Which leads me to asking, what qualities of a leader do we need?

Enter campaign jingles and ads! Do we believe in the candidates’ supposed credentials and achievements? Do we take them seriously or do we just enjoy the gimmicks, the songs, the endorsers who are paid? But these ploys work for the candidates— so we’ll recall their names come Election Day.

Enter what money can do. Vote-buying is a reality even the Graders know about and see in broad daylight. Politics is business so entrants need to invest and at a later time, reap results. If only we would be so wise not to vote for those that insult our dignity. Sadly, some votes are so cheap.

We are told to vote wisely, but at the end of it all, we vote with our conscience and wait if anything happens. This sound hopeless, can’t help it.