Because everyone has one

As my summer vacation reaches its inevitable end, I'd like to share the story of the activity that pretty much ate up all of my free time. Armed with a plastered smile, basic knowledge of the Ilocano language, LSS of the campaign jingles after hearing them at least a hundred times, friends and more than a handful of freebies, I was, for the first time, part of the circus that is the Philippine election's campaign season.

I did it for a lot of reasons. First is that I'm bored. Second, I know they'll feed me. I also wanted to take the chance to show my gratitude to Boh's family. It's the least I could do after consuming half of their coffee supply for a year. Lastly, I know I like meeting people and I know I would see a lot of interesting characters during the house to house campaign.

True enough the characters from the campaign are,well, colorful. Let's start with the people we tried to win votes from. I grouped them into four categories:

First are the pleasant ones. They are very polite and they would promise to vote for your candidate. Some of them are just genuinely nice while a lot of them are just being nice so they can get a free shirt or cap. I appreciate that they know how to say thank you. I like these people, they made my life easier.

The second type is my least favorite, the obnoxious demanding ones. They won't stop until they get every piece of freebie I have. You give them a fan and they'll ask for a cap. You give them a cap and they'd ask for a shirt. You give them a shirt and they'd ask for money. And there my friend is where I draw the line. I can't forget this one incident, it was 3 in the afternoon and the sun was furiously hot. I decided to start handing out fliers by myself and gave a flier to this guy, not knowing he was drunk. He kept on asking for money and won't listen to any word I say. I smiled, walked away and he shouted "Ang lakilaki mo wala kang pera!" I wasn't able to hold my laughter as I kept walking. They're hard people to deal with but i try not to hate them. I remind myself that the campaign season is probably the only time they are given the right attention by their public servants and they're only trying to get the most out of it.

The third type are the friendly chit-chatty types. They ask tons of questions, comment on the candidate's picture and often times offer their unsolicited advice. There was this one chit-chatty guy who had mistaken me for the then candidate AJ Ponce. He is probably drunk or has the poorest eyesight in the entire first district of Cagayan. Me and my friends had a good laugh when I told them the story. Not all drunkards are obnoxious and demanding, some of them are friendly. Like this group in Alcala who even asked me to have one shot of GSM blue. Binulabog lang ang bahay alak ko.

The fourth type are the indifferent ones. It's kind of embarrassing when you give fliers to people and they acted as if nothing happened. Maybe they're just too sick of politics. Maybe they're rooting for another candidate. Either way I don't hate them too because they are the group I most identify myself with.

A lot of people from campaign team are interesting too. There's lucky nine, baks, bellar, gemma, the two teens from Camalaniugan who met at the campaign and ended up dating, drivers and bodyguards who would take every chance to play pusoy with us, good-humoured kuya AJ in the morning, AJ the politician who says "apo" a lot during campaigns, tired AJ at night, Ate My, Mylene Ponce the politician's wife, the supportive family, friends and Kuya Jun. It's impossible to forget Kuya Jun and his heavy snoring.

Lots of firsts in my first time campaigning! One event that's really memorable was finally attending a "pasala". Growing up in this side of the country, I always see a "pasala", or "boda" if you're ibanag, but I never had the chance to attend one. A pasala is a traditional festivity that takes place the night before a wedding. Loud music plays while everyone can dance and request for the song of their choice. Young boys and girls take it as a great opportunity to socialize. Think of it as their way of making up for the absence of a bar. It is a chance to raise money for the couple about to be married because everyone has to pay for a song or a drink. It's a also a great opportunity for anyone running for office to be seen and make papogi. I attended two "pasala" in one night. Too bad I was not able to show my moves because I was wearing shorts and flip flops. I know what you're thinking,"What moves?"

A month after the elections and after numerous victory parties, it's nice to look back at the experience. I learned a lot from the campaign. Politics is definitely not something I'm wired to be part of. I don't see myself being part of it in the future. I believe that the guy I campaigned for will deliver. However I hope I won't be campaigning for him the next time he runs for office. Not because I no longer believe in him, but because sana graduate na ako noon at may pagkakaabalahan na sa summer. Hello, ang tanda ko na kaya!