Filipinos are not Juan Tamad and Juan Tamad is not the Filipinos

“Si Juan Tamad Ang Diablo at Ang Limang Milyong Boto” is truly a play that was made and was performed to raise awareness and incite involvement not just for the youth but also for the general Filipino population. Isla Filipinimon featured the modern typical Filipinos at the height of political electioneering. This play is an insinuation that there is something wrong in our political system that is affected by these succinct negative Filipino traits which were conveyed through relevant serious jokes. These political jokes are subject to cynical qualities or disposition of Filipinos that are corollary to the failures of the Philippine politics.

I, as apolitical science student find this play very relevant to convey the inquisitions of how was our political system has been going. This play is a relevant tool to play sarcasm on the harsh political realities of Filipino politics and then slap these on our faces.

The statement of Juan Tamad that went like: “Mag-vitamins nga kayo! Kung gusto ninyo akong mag-register puntahan n’yo ako sa bahay ko”, showed the utterance of the unintelligible laziness. The vitamins has nothing to do with the slow bureaucratic process is and Juan Tamad is not a special person who can demand the COMELEC employees to have a special treatment for him. There is a conveyance of a fallacy of Tu Qouque, which is clear when the COMELEC officials throwed back the guilt at him a statement that goes like: “Eh paano po kasi ngayon lang pokayo nagparegister sa araw pa ng last registration , eh hindi po kayo ma-accommodate lahat”. The funny truth is that this is the clear consequence of mañana habit which was still observed during the last registration of voters for the coming May 10, 2010 elections.

The scene in the last day of registration portrays the palakasan system. Through Juan’s argumentum ad misericordiam and special pleading, he was able to win the favor of a certain COMELEC girl officer upon using his charms as he winks the opportunity to have someone who can process his voter’s registration papers. One could have an assumption that such palakasan and other forms of same favoritism exist in our bureaucratic system. It may also imply that these unethical transactions may exist not only on one government office but also in other offices. A further implication may suggest that there are other forms these unethical transactions in our bureaucratic system like in the forms of: bribery, corruptions, red tapes and under-the-table-transactions that concomitantly must call for the attention of the Filipino electorates to reflect on our society. One must start to question why do they exist? What or who made them exist? I think the answer is clear because obviously, “walang manloloko kung walang magpapaloko” and “walang magpapaloko kung walang manloloko”. The change in our democratic system must start within us.

The problem with our attitudes every election is that we usually regarded every campaign speech as mere appearances of every candidates for elections. Why not take some time listen intently and contently to every word they say? See for oneself that you may find the very substantial chunk of what they have to say in every relevant issue concerning our nation. The diablo is right when he said that elections are like “peryas” or amusement parks. It goes when the “politicos “ were having rallies that seemed like amusement parks, their political campaign as spectacles and the electorates are the spectators of whose going to be hitting another “kandidato”.

There was a serious joke upon the portrayal of the four candidates in Isla Filipinimon which could be true in the literal sense. The character of Bungisngis represents those political personalities that run for office during elections that uses his influences to compel the voters to vote for him. When the character showed his gun, it is clear that he represents those election personalities that love to use violence in all means to win. Mariang Batibat is the another character in the play that represents those election personalities that were trying to flirt with the masses through speaking for herself as a simple candidate who wanted their support and possesses sympathy for the masses but on the contrary she goes out in the public displaying her extravagance. Sigben on the on the other hand is the representation of those fresh politicos who belonged to the lineage of a very prominent political family or dynasty who brags with his foreign acquired education with all those accents during his speeches which could amaze those electorates who are not so well verse of the English language. He displays all his “karisma” to fool to gain the peoples support. Many people believed that it is “karisma” who can bring a candidate into victory. This statement possesses a light of an argumentum ad ignorantium that even intensifies the ignorance as manifested in some irresponsible and immature electorates.

The most striking candidate is the character of Elsa Mananambal who vies to venture chance against these popular candidates even though she got no huge resources for her campaign. She possesses all those servant traits of a leader but she is unpopular for she got no money and appeal. She appeals to the people with statements that provoke emotions that are somehow leading to an argumentum ad misericordiam just to convey all she has to say as a candidate. It is very sad to say that we have those kinds of potential leaders but they haven’t got any resources.

The play conveyed and portrayed the harsh realities of Filipino politics especially during elections. It wants to open the hope that for every Filipino society to avoid and must change the negative perceptions of the international community that posed a hasty generalization that the Philippines has no hope for change because it has been plagued with all those traditional politicians called as the “trapos”. The international community even viewed the Philippines as one of the corrupt country in Southeast Asia as accordingly : The Philippines is ranked as the fourth most corrupt country in Southeast Asia out of 16 surveyed by over 2,000 expatriate businessmen, according to an annual poll. But this statement posed a fallacy of skewed sample (cited from Inquirer.net available at:http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100309-257646/RP-is-4th-most-corrupt-country-in-Southeast-Asiapoll.Date of access May 1, 2010). This also calls for every Filipino not to allow such a fallacy of converse accident that not just because Philippines is left behind development, all Filipinos will be labeled as lazy.

The play has broken the genetic fallacy of the character Juan Tamad which accordingly was deemed to never ever have the chance to change his attitude of laziness. This can also serve as an example that Filipinos can change if they have the political will to stop being so indifferent, being lazy and being so uninvolved. Let us not nurture the crab mentality and let us not yield into having that “ningas cogon” mentality. Let us persevere and continue to guard the results and the outcome of our votes. Let us continue to check on the leaders that we have voted for even if we did not vote for the candidate who has won the post.

Filipinos are not Juan Tamad and Juan Tamad is not the Filipinos. It is just that we continue to nurture the diablos into our system. These diablos are those traits that hinder our goal for development like: mañana habit, crab mentality, ningas cogon mentality, palakasan system, utang na loob, bahala na system etc. Santa Banana!! We are the new breed of new electorates that our nation really needs. “Timbangin, sukatin at bantayan ang mga kandidato na tatakbo hanggang sa maka-upo sa pwesto”. We should say to ourselves: “Boto ko ang magbabago ng bayan ko”. This may fall into the fallacy of the future but it is us who composed this nation so then it is from us where the change should start from. Let us not just voice out our concerns towards the government or just mutter upon it because it may all fall into drudgery but act upon it!! Go out of your couch potato!! Don’t just what Juan Tamad did in the play. Our nation would not want to have more Juan Tamad! Go out and vote!