Notes on the elections

EYES WIDE OPEN

- IRIS GONZALES

Tomorrow, the 12th of May, the campaign circus comes to an end, and the real thing begins. Will the winners really help the masses? Will the campaign promises be kept? The elections, for sure, will herald a new era in the country's political landscape.

But we have the power to make it better by not choosing trapos or washed-out celebrities who merely entertain the people during campaign sorties or throw cheap jackets on unwitting prey as if they're throwing bones for hungry dogs to devour, or the kind whose most memorable act in the Senate is to comb one's mustache during a hearing.

We should look beyond popularity and politics or showbiz. We are not voting for the next TV show host.

Willie Revillame may be funny and entertaining for some people, but if he does not have a platform at the Senate, as he has repeatedly said, what would he be doing in the esteemed chamber?

He wants to help the poor, he said. But anyone can do that freely without being elected.

On the other hand, I've recently sat down with some candidates who spent hours talking about their platforms. I've written about them in previous columns, including Camille Villar's pitch for OFWs.

It is up to the voters to assess if the candidates' platforms are worth their votes.

Abby Binay wants better PPP, LGU codes Binay, who helped transform Makati into an even better financial hub, said she wants a better Public-Private Partnership Code to pave the way for a more efficient PPP process at the LGU level.