Palakasan or Clout?

According to the latest survey it’s a political dead heat in Ontario’s electoral contest.
The Ontario Liberals and the Provincial Conservatives are neck and neck with the New Democratic Party following very closely that it puts the liberals and the conservatives on tenterhooks. The Green Party follows as poor fourth which is not a surprise of course.
If the survey just released, which is the latest as of this writing, is to continue as a trend until Election Day then it would be anybody’s guess really. The final week would be the clincher. A defining moment, if there would be one, has still to emerge to change the game’s landscape.
But although I am not a betting guy I believe it would still be the Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals to lord over this province again but with a slim majority.
Whichever party wins it is of no major impact to the little lives, like mine. Little lives, yes.
“You would remain little because you do not have clout,” someone told me. That someone belongs to the group of people (always the same people, mind you) who always say that Filipino-Canadians do not have political clout. Collectively, and in an organized way, we therefore should push for a Filipino participation by supporting a Filipino candidate so the same could carry the voice of the Filipino-Canadians in this part of Canada, these people would argue. That of course is only one of the means but that’s another story and deserves another column in another issue of this paper.
What does the word “clout” mean, anyway? “Clout”, according to my home copy of The Concise Oxford Dictionary, means “influence, power of effective action especially in politics and business”. Influence. Power of effective action. Very Good.
But doesn’t influence and power create imbalance only to graduate into abuse? Don’t we already have the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom that guarantees a level playing field?
Canada has laws that make sure all rights and freedom are protected. The implementations of these laws although not perfect are effective. The cultural mosaic that we are makes Canada a beautiful tapestry where people remain equal, individually and collectively.
I don’t know. I may be naïve or dumb or both but as far as I am concerned societies should really not form blocs as power may dangerously tilt to a precarious imbalance.
In the Philippines, the Catholic Church, the Iglesia Ni Kristo, the charismatic groups, etc. use the very same power and influence to make politicians kowtow to their cause even if these causes are detrimental to the population in general. This is exactly what is happening to the pending Reproductive Health bill in the Philippine legislatures.
The Catholic Church which is opposed to the bill uses its might to pummel those who are for the bill to become law. The Church opposes it even if by doing so it disadvantages the poor, which is the majority of the Filipino people.
Some Church personnel due to ignorance or feigned ignorance oppose reproductive health with the government as implementer because as they argue it would promote abortion and sexual permissiveness. They believe that contraceptives are abortafacients; meaning would kill the fetus in the womb of the mother.
Of course not. Any nincompoop knows that contraceptives prevent the sperm cells and ova to meet. Mahihilo kasi sila as an effect of the pill kaya walang ng lakas si sperm namakipagtagpo kay ova. In fact it prevents the fertilization of the egg unlike the wire hangers and herbs rampantly used napanglaglag sold within the perimeters of the Quiapo Church in Manila.
But back to our main topic on clout. Let us suppose that we indeed will attain the so called clout; who then would really benefit? Wouldn’t it be those so called leaders that cling to the coattails of politicians? Do you really think that as a group we will be given preferential treatment over and above other groups in Canada? If so, it would tantamount to palakasan, a practice that we thought we abhor and we left outside the door when we came to this country.
As far as I am concerned I would rather see individual freedoms and rights effectively and evenly distributed to all regardless of ethnicity because that is what Canada is all about.
We will support candidates who uphold these principles whether they are Filipinos or not. And in this upcoming election in our province that should be our guide.