On my Facebook wall the other day, I saw my friend's post saying she might not vote this coming May for the national and local elections. "Why bother when nothing has changed all this time?" she said.
Now that may or may not be true depending on your vantage point.
From a poverty standpoint, indeed nothing much has changed since 2006, if we are to believegovernment data. Many of the poor are still poor.
From a macroeconomic standpoint though, there has been progress. The infamously sick man of Asia is becoming a tiger, says the World Bank.
From my own microeconomic point of view, my P1,000 a few years ago could buy a lot of groceries. Nowadays, the P1,000 can barely cover 12 items, qualifying me for the express lane in the supermarket.
And yet there's progress from my small vantage point: government services like renewal of passports and driver's licenses can now be done in the growing number of malls, in between grocery runs. Now that's a bit of progress to me.
But back to my friend's post: she has decided she's not going to vote.
I, on the other hand, am scheduling a trip to the Comelec head office in Intramuros this weekend to take advantage of the early voting for media practitioners. This is the first time journalists are being allowed to do this, giving us the same privilege as soldiers, teachers, and other government workers who have election duties. Many more of my colleagues will be able to vote. Now that's a positive change too.
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