ROSARIO R. CRUZ
Teacher III
Virgen Delas Flores High School
City of Baliwag, Bulacan
It is now barely fourteen months before the May 12, 2025 midterm elections and politicians will again be at their busiest time.
Would you believe that serious talks about new and old alignments, positions, political parties, allies, foes, the weakest link, the strongest, the most powerful, the unbeatable, the the dark horse, the rookie, the first timers have begun as early as last year or even just on the day and night the newly elected winners on the May 9. 2022 elections were proclaimed. Voila!!
But above all these, there seems to be an enigma in politics particularly during election period, the “political butterflies”. Why did I say that it is an enigma? Because it is really something which we cannot really comprehend.
Manuel L. Quezon used to say that “My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins.” What an admirable principled man he was. Unlike his ideals where love of country and community, the service to people is the top priority and not himself or his family, many politicians these days are his exact opposite. There is no loyalty to the party, and what would you expect, a loyalty to the community and to the country???
For the political butterflies, they flew to where the polens and honey dues are. Party and service to the community and country come as the least priority, the least of their concern but themselves and their families. Staying in power and needing to fly even from one’s own nest to the next just not to lose their influence and money.
Here in our province, we’ve known a number of politicians who are branded as political butterflies. Many have remained strong and even became billionaires but many have also met their toll in the race of politics.
Another term for political butterfly is turncoat, leaving one party and ally that is deemed already weak and losing in favor of another party which is currently the stronger and the winnable one.
This early, fourteen months before the next year’s election, we have heard politicians who even switched allies, even aligned themselves to the weak and non-winning heads of a party just to make sure they will have a party to belong to.
On the other hand, there are political figures who do not abandon their ships even if they are sinking. They exhaust all means, efforts and energy to survive and prevent a tragedy. In the end, if indeed the boat sunk, they rather die together than be a “political butterfly”.
We are not judging them, and maybe at one point, they should be emulated and their surviving tactics become a model for every politician to survive in the stiffest time, but simple principles, values and virtues of loyalty, friendship and bond, respect, empathy, countrymen, people and community should ring a bell.
From councilor to vice mayor, to mayor, board member, vice governor, governor, congressman and senator, we can all see them flying, soaring high in bright and shining colors in the glaring sun of the day and in the darkest of the night in search of the best and sweetest polens and honey dues. One thing is certain though, we will vote for their foe.
