We are Filipinos first

WITH THE 2016 general elections over and done with, the Filipino people should now take the time to heal the pains, applaud the candidates, and accept the results.

The mudslinging and verbal barrages should stop now. The candidates who won and lost should start picking up the pieces. And the general population should return to normalcy—and start doing their share in nation building.

This year’s election can easily become the most wicked in recent memory. All the words that have been said; all the actions that have been taken; and all the posts in social media have been filled with vitriol. When the heat of the election campaign starts to die down, some of us may offer apologies for words uttered and posted; but all of us must support the winners. For this is the essence of democracy—majority rules. And even if our chosen candidates were not as fortunate, our being Filipinos should behoove us to support the winners in all means possible.

The 2016 elections brought out the best and worst in all of us. We have resorted to name-calling; threatening supporters of other candidates; and literally stepping on other people just so we could make our chosen candidates rise. Ethnic and tribal roots also took center stage; we have become more Ilocanos, Bisaya, Pangasinense and other geo-political groups than being Filipinos. We seemed to have forgotten that before anything else, we are Filipinos first.

And it is in this notion that we have to understand that whatever the results of the elections are, we are all bound to accept them—and to acknowledge the winners as our elected officials.

The gains we have all attained—a growing economy, a stronger democracy, and the freedom to virtually say and do anything—would amount to nothing if we do not participate in the process to move our country further forward. More so, we should all remain vigilant in guarding not only our freedom and democracy; but also see to it that the campaign promises of those who won are realized.

The time for bickering and politicking is over. It is now time to prove that we meant who and what we voted for.

And before everything else, we have to remember again that we are all Filipinos first before we are anything else.