Refocus

The campaign jingles have stopped blaring from loudspeakers. The posters have been removed. Winning candidates have been proclaimed. Pundits have given their postmortem of the midterm elections. The elections are over. Now, back to work.

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One of the advantages of these electoral exercises is that they provide us an opportunity to recalibrate and refocus our efforts. It allows us to step back, assess what we have done so far and see the future in a different light. For one, the newly elected government officials — senators, congressmen, governors, mayors — will provide a new injection of life into the political process. In particular, there are many young public servants who will certainly provide a new generational perspective on political and social problems.

On the part of the administration, the midterm elections provide an opportunity to “renew” the mandate of the people. It is similar to midyear reviews that organizations conduct in order to evaluate their progress and set new goals for the remainder of the year. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. has expressed his own postmortem of the midterm elections. In an interview, the President said that “it's time, I think, to put all the politics aside.” He added that people are telling politicians that they are sick of politicking and that “it's time to... only talk about not political issues but developmental issues, healthcare issues, education issues, agricultural issues, supply issues, all of these things.”