by Melissa Luce-Borja
The Upcoming Philippine Midterm Elections and the Japanese Concept of Wa (和) “Kaya nating magbuwis ng buhay para sa pamilya, pero para sa isang prinsipyong makabayan?” - Heneral Luna
May kaaway ka na naman sa Facebook. Ah, alam mo na, eleksyon na naman. Hindi maiwasan makipagdebate. Minsan di ko na ma-take ang pagka-troll nya. Block mo na lang bes. Typical chat message between Pinoys these days. Ang mga wall posts, tadtad ng hashtags at emojis. Walang nagpapatalo. Pero hanggang saan ba talaga ang tapang nating mga Filipino? Hangang social media na lang ba? Ano pa ba ang magagawa natin para baguhin ang kalagayan ng ating bansa sa panahong ito. May silbi pa ba ang pag-iingay, mapa-social media man o sa kalye?
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It’s a month to go before the Philippine midterm elections on May 13, 2019. A total of 134 party-list groups are vying for 59 seats in the House of Representatives and a total of 62 candidates for 12 Senate seats with 7 reelectionists while 7 are seeking a comeback. This will be my third time to vote in Tokyo via Overseas Absentee Voting, the previous ones were in 2013 and 2016. When I first exercised my right to vote in the 1998 Presidential elections, I was so excited. I studied my choices very well. When the results came, I was disappointed. Feeling ko nasayang ang boto ko. But 21 years later, almost after every election, I still feel the same way. Walang pagbabago. The Filipino electorate would time and again vote for the same corrupt and traditional politicians. When we moved to Tokyo in 2012, a national election was about to be held in December (and coincidentally, local elections this year will be held on April 7 and 21). Since then, I began to observe the ways in which our political culture
MARCH - APRIL 2019
can be compared with the Japanese way. Baka sakaling may matutunan tayo. As a student of Nihonggo, I came across the word WA (和) or “group harmony’. My sensei’s favorite word. I learned that this WA is one of the most fundamental concept of Japan's moral, social and political system. The WA puts a strong emphasis on social harmony, to rise above one’s personal feelings for the good of society. It evolved out of Japan's agricultural history when cooperation between farmers was essential in order to maintain the irrigation systems necessary to grow rice and other crops. The community had to work together to survive. Prince Shotoku Taishi in A.D. 604 even incorporated WA in Japan’s first constitution. In baseball, this WA is practiced by performing a sacrifice bunt in order to move another runner closer to scoring, allow a runner on base to advance to another base. In politics, this WA is manifested by the Japanese by being more party-oriented than candidate oriented. Policies over personalities. Even as online campaigning was allowed in 2013 elections, the Japanese people rarely obtained or engaged with the news on social media. Fake news and other online election methods were less effective with the Japanese because they deemed it offensive to openly express dislike against a person or policy. They’d rather keep their opinions to themselves
