The ability of the voters to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason has never been so manifested but in this recent electoral exercise. With names of leading bets revealed in the National Movement for Free Elections’ (Namfrel) quick count and the Commission on Election tally and local winners already proclaimed, it is not hard to discern that a significant number of the voters had voted based on their analysis of the situation and the motives behind the issues that raged during the 45-day campaign period.

        At the national political derby, the trend of the voters giving their mandate to the majority of the Genuine Opposition (GO) and opposition independent candidates is revealing in the early days of counting that there’s a strong rejection of through-and-through traditional politicians like Prospero Pichay, who thought voters could be hoodwink into voting them through catchy slogan like “plant pechay in the Senate” and barrage of personal advertisements. More so, the early Comelec results also showed that those allied to and protecting the continuity of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were mostly dislodged with only Joker Arroyo, Ralph Recto and Edgardo Angara making it to the Magic 12.

        Defying standard election campaigning, Antonio Trillanes, the Army officer imprisoned for rebellion with his role in the Oakwood Mutiny, showed a surprisingly good performance based on the initial reports. Though it’s still premature to predict that Trillanes could make it to the Senate, the performance he was showing in the elections is surprisingly unexpected knowing that he did not campaign because of the charges he was facing.

        But the poor showing of the TU with only three of the candidates in the top 12 is not automatically a sign that majority of voters reject the president. Rather it can also mean that voters were not easily swayed by posters, ads and propaganda materials. What else can explain the good performance of Trillanes in the polls, who in the entire campaign period stayed in his detention cell?

        The midterm elections showed further that voters are now rejecting candidates who earned popularity in other fields like the movie industry and sports. Richard Gomez and Cesar Montano and Manny Pacquiao are the classic examples of candidates that voters now reject, probably because of the dismal and frustrating performances of previous movie and sports stars in the Senate. “You can fool the people sometimes but you can’t fool the people all the time,” goes the line of Bob Marley’s song “Get up, Stand up”.

        At the local intramurals, voters in Pampanga province are showing indications that they had enough of the traditional and patronage politics that draw its life from illegal gambling and corruption in government. The performance of priest-turned-politician Ed Panlilio leading the three-corner fight in the gubernatorial race, with the president’s allies, Lilia Pineda, wife of suspected jueteng lord Bong Pineda and Governor Mark Lapid, fighting each other and him, is a clear indication that a significant number of voters there wanted change.

        In Camarines Sur, the overwhelming victory of Governor LRay Villafuerte despite nasty black propaganda employed by his father-adversary Congressman Luis R. Villafuerte drives home the point that voters care less about personal and family feud blamed on a candidate.

        The small town of Magarao, a town ruled by the Señars (first cousins of Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya) for decades, had totally rejected the candidacy of spouses Lourdes Señar and Salvador Señar in the mayoral and vice mayoral races, respectively. “It’s the height of insult if we still vote for husband and wife in the mayoral and vice mayoral positions,” according to a voter in Magarao.

        Finally, if there is one thing that made this midterm elections different and worth remembering, it’s the great number of voters who voted based on the dictates of their conscience.