This coming 2004 election, I expect to be sitting at home waiting for results to appear. This, I would do, while munching on some chips and reading whatever novel might interest me at that moment. I will not be out there, lining up, all sweaty from the eternal wait to finally press my be-inked thumbed onto a sheet of yellowish paper. Instead, I will be safely and comfortably tucked at home.

I did not register to vote this year. I never did. The Philippine government is more like a second-hand vehicle. You may tinker with its engine to make it start anew, or give it a full paint job. In the end, it's the same car. It never changed. It was just given a jump start so it could function for a couple of months, years, then conk out on you again, like it did with its first owner.

I used to believe there is something we can do to improve the government. But reality dictates that there isn't. You cannot change what doesn't want to be changed. You cannot alter what 8.3 million people have already been accustomed to doing and living with. The best thing we can do is accept and make the most out of it. Idealism holds no place in this wretched land.

This is not my excuse for not wanting to participate in electoral procedures. I'm just lazy so I don't. Sue me.