When it comes to our history, our politics, our religion, our movies, and our pop music, we Filipinos unfortunately have an unhealthy love for repetition instead of progression. 

 

We held a presidential election in 1992.  We are holding another presidential election twenty-four years later.  According to the Chinese calendar, the years 1992 and 2016 are both Year of the Monkey.  The Year of the Monkey can be both unpredictable and tumultuous, as explained to me by my father. 

 

The president before the 1992 election was an Aquino.  It will be the same for the 2016 election. Both Aquinos replaced widely unpopular, unquestionably corrupt, violent and oppressive, long running regimes before them: The Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship and the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime respectively.  Both Aquinos’ candidacies were helped in no small part by public outrage and sympathy for deaths in their family: Ninoy Aquino’s assassination in 1983 and Cory Aquino’s death from cancer in 2009.  Both Aquinos’ campaigns promised a “change for the better” which unfortunately remained campaign promises for the most part.  Both Aquinos entered the presidential race as a result of other scions of elite political families –who were also running for the presidency–“stepping aside”, namely, Doy Laurel and Mar Roxas.  This was perhaps to make way for someone who had a better chance of winning because of more “charisma”, or perhaps more Pinoy ‘pakikiramay’ votes. (With the only difference being Laurel getting a shoe-in as Vice President because of the EDSA People Power Revolution that helped bring down the Marcos dictatorship, while Roxas to his consternation lost to Jejomar Binay in 2010).

 

The final years of both Aquino presidencies warned of a looming “power crisis”.   The final years of both Aquino presidencies have both been marked by a seeming rise in scandalous and horrible headline-grabbing heinous crimes.  The final years of both Aquino presidencies have both been marked by historical and horrific calamities (The Baguio Earthquake, Mt. Pinatubo Eruption, The Bohol Earthquake, Typhoon Yolanda).  The aid and rehabilitation for the survivors of these calamities and the rebuilding efforts all fell prey to unacceptable incompetence and despicable government corruption.  

 

The year 2016 purports to be as wild and wooly a presidential race as its 1992 simian counterpart. 

 

In 1992, Imelda Marcos ran for the presidency.  In 2016, her son Bongbong Marcos has similar plans to reclaim their lost “family honor”.  (But can you lose something you never had in the first place?) 

 

In 1992, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, the self-styled “Dirty Harry” and “scourge of the underworld” with a questionable human rights record, ran for the presidency.  In 2016, Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with coincidental similarities to Lim’s hammer-fisted style and “human rights optional” policy may join the race. 

 

In 1992, Joseph Estrada ran for Vice President and won by a landslide.  In 2016, before he was jailed on charges of plunder, his son Jinggoy Estrada may also have planned a similar ascent.  This is because if there’s one thing ‘artistas’ like them know very well and that’s a good formula with the same story and “happy ending” will usually have good box office returns.  (Should Senator Grace Poe – another individual connected to show business through her late father, the King of Philippine Movies, Fernando Poe, Jr. – replace the younger Estrada then ‘artistas’ also know a lot about recasting).  Should the older Estrada make a run again at the presidency despite having also been jailed on plunder charges during his presidential term, then ‘artistas’definitely know a lot about the surprise plot twist.       

 

In 1992, Miriam Defensor-Santiago ran for the presidency.  In 2016, despite her health problems, she may run again.  In 1992, Defensor-Santiago was controversial, widely popular and considered the front runner.  In 2016, Vice President Jejomar Binay holds this distinction along with reported and alleged charges of corruption that are difficult to ignore.  In 1992, it was widely believed that Defensor-Santiago was cheated out of the presidency by administration candidate, cabinet member, Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos. 

 

So perhaps that means, if history will indeed repeat itself in tragicomedy style, then Binay will lose (or be cheated). Cabinet member, DILG secretary Mar Roxas may win.  (Or by some strange case of comical poetic justice, Defensor-Santiago will finally win).    

   

 In any event, how many times are we going to keep pressing “repeat” and “play”, my fellow citizens?  How many times are we going to laugh at the same bad jokes?  This tape’s already worn out and at the point of snapping.  Our laughter has long been empty and hollow.  Like a battered spouse that keeps coming back for more, hoping that her abuser has finally “changed”.  The bruises and wounds may heal, but we are still bleeding on the inside.   Our tragic situations repeat, not because we are a cursed nation.  These patterns keep repeating themselves because we fail to recognize them. We go on "living" in the same predictable, scripted scenes of the third, fourth, and endless sequels of a tired, drawn-out movie.