S1L30 – The Right of Suffrage and the Duck in the Cockpit, introducing Mr. Hilong Talilong
As I’m shuffling classcards for another recitation, I noticed a few classcards that look very new—I suppose there are some students that I have never called for recitation.
“Mr. Angelo Talilong, let me see you…?”
“Hello, sir!”
I know this guy looks and sounds familiar and “hello” is a reunion greeting, not exactly your classic response to a rollcall. “Didn’t you graduate last year already?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Well, what happened? Didn’t you take the Bar? Oooh, wait—the Bar Exam was cancelled last year. So are you taking it this January?”
“Yes, sir! I filed my Petition for Admission already, I have my exam permit and everything. That’s why I’m ‘sitting-in’ in your class as a refresher. By the way, sir, you can call me again by my nickname like you used to.”
“Of course,” I said before I realized I don’t remember his nickname. “Remind me again what your nickname is, Angelo?”
“Hilong, sir!”
“You want me to call you Hilong Talilong AGAIN??” The class burst into laughter, Deema did that cute thing again stomping her feet.
“He he he, yes, sir. I kinda miss it.”
“Alright, Hilong—maybe I’ll just omit your surname—tell me what you recall about the definition and concept of an election.”
“Sir, if voting is the SUBJECT of the right of suffrage, election is the OBJECT of the right of suffrage. It is how the citizens give their consent to be governed.”
“So election is not really about expressing your choice of, say, which candidate you like best?” I asked Hilong teasingly.
“No, sir! That is the perversion of election. If choice is the controlling factor, then if you are made to ‘choose’ which among three different poisons you want, you would still die whatever you choose. That was the last lecture you gave to our graduating class.”
“Yes, yes…I don’t think there were too many Benguet people sitting in my class back then,” I said.
Suddenly, Deema sat up straight and looked at me as if to say, “more! Say something more, professor.”
“Mr. Talilong, do you remember the concept of defeating an electoral mandate? If you do, tell your classmates what you recall.”
“Yes, sir! In an election, it is possible to distort the consent of the governed by handicapping the results.”
“Wait a minute Hilong, let me check if your classmates understand what ‘handicapping’ means. Does anyone know what ‘handicapping’ is all about?”
I saw Jack Makataruz raise his hand, “Yes, Jack Makataruz of Bauko, what is handicapping?”
“Sir, in the pal-lutan…”
“In the WHAT??!”
“Pal-lutan sir—uh…cockfighting arena—sabungan in Tagalog…”
“Oh, okay. Pardon my ignorance, go ahead…”
“In the cockfighting pal-lutan sir, the best cock can still lose by tying a heavy weight on one leg—handicapping it’s called—so that it cannot fly balanced, ensuring its defeat even by a weaker cock. Most cockfights are fixed games, people are losing their money blind. Some people actually know it sir, they are just in denial. Just like in an election…”
“Thank you for that profound insight, Mr. Makataruz. I’m not sure everybody understood it, especially among the ladies ..”
“Sexism siiiiiiir…!!!” Deema stood up angrily, “let me tell all of you chauvinistic men a thing or two about cockfighting you don’t even know. Us women, we don’t need your deep insights about that sport. We take one look at your pal-lutan and we know right away if there are idiots inside and if there is handicapping or corruption going on!” the girl from Tublay blared, complete with flailing hand gestures and eyerolling.
“Alright, if you insist, go ahead Miss Deema, tell these chauvinistic men what women know about pal-lutans.”
“Sir, when we see somebody bring a DUCK or PATO into the pal-lutan and enter it into the games, and they ALLOW it, then we know everybody in the building are idiots!”
“Yeah, but how can you tell if there is handicapping or corruption?”
“If the duck WINS, sir! Nu nangabak diay PATO!” the whole class burst out laughing, Jack Makataruz and the other men were red in the face and looking down. I heard Jack whispering an apology to Deema.
I banged the blackboard to get everyone’s attention again.
“Mr. Hilong Talilong, now that the whole class is clear on handicapping, what are the two ways of handicapping an election, or distorting the consent of the governed?
“They are GERRYMANDERING and PATRONIZATION, sir.”
“Mr. Juan Dimacaawat, explain gerrymandering.”
“Sir, it is either the deliberate alteration of political boundaries or the relaxing of residency rules making it possible for someone who is not from the political unit to participate in an election in the political unit to which HE DOES NOT BELONG—and even win.”
Deema’s eyebrows met in the middle of her forehead.
“Good. Mr. Cabo Buhan, explain patronization, please…”
“Sir, it is the employment of material incentives—like ambulances, police cars, infrastructures, etc.—to endear a candidate to the electorate and ensure victory in the election.”
“Back to you, Mr. Talilong. Tell us why elections fail because of this handicapping factor…”
“Well, sir, elections are a form of contract between the citizens and their elected officials. In ordinary contracts under the Civil Code, a contract is defective if consent is vitiated by mistake, fraud, violence, intimidation or undue influence. But for some reason when these same vices of consent are present in an election campaign, they are considered “normal” in Benguet sir—I mean—in elections.”
Deema spoke up, “It’s what I call the Valentine syndrome.”
“What’s that Deema?” I asked my student who looks like Winona Ryder.
“When I was in elementary school, sir, they entered me in this contest called ‘Search for Mr. & Ms. Valentine’…it was a school PTA project.”
“I bet you won handily huh?”
“No, sir, the parents brought out these envelops and distributed them around for people to put money in, and then they ‘canvassed’ the results by counting the money raised by each ‘beauty queen’ candidate. Anytime you use MONEY to decide the outcome of any contest, sir, only the UGLY people win…. I came in LAST place.”
The author is a writer and lawyer based in Baguio City, Philippines. Former editor of the Gold Ore and Baguio City Digest, professor of journalism, political science and law at Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF). He is a photographer and video documentarist. He has a YouTube channel called “Parables and Reason”