Reality and fiction

‘Twas a comedy, drama, romance and suspense thriller rolled in one. And I’d like to think all of these were part of the recent May 10 polls, but not exactly. But some twists are parallel to our first computerized elections, which are now being thrown in a mayhem by, I believe, several fronts which want to discredit the success of the polls, if they were indeed successful; or may break further our trust in the Commission on Elections, which has yet to recover from the ugly taint of the fraudulent Virgilio Garcillano of 2004.
I love Robin Williams, his films being among the very few that I care to watch, this rubbernecker being a sucker for good comedy.
When I first saw Man of the Year, Williams’ 2006 movie about the possible imperfections of computerized elections, which we tried and are now debating its success—or failure, however we look at it, I grabbed a copy of it with nary a care from a street stall of pirated DVDs in Quiapo, ignoring the whispers of a heavily perspiring vagrant, who pestered me with “Manong, triple X!”
I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life when I curtly replied: “Hindi ako nanonood nyan, pari ako! (I don’t watch triple x films, I am a priest!).” To which he retorted: “Yung pari sa amin, apat asawa! (The priest in my town has four wives!).”
I made a hasty exit, not wanting to become a recipient of some rapid fires of bullets coming from the hobo and his associates’ hands.
Dissecting the movie was as quick as my flight. It dealt with a television comedian (we’re back to Robin Williams. And no, we’re not talking about Manny Pacquiao!) who made a daring joke about running for the US presidency and was egged on by numerous fans that his joke became real.
For a quicker overview, Williams’ character Tom Dobbs won the polls, surprising even himself. Until a woman named Eleanor Green came out to claim there had been a major glitch in the computer system, which its manufacturers did not want out to protect their fortune, thus leading to Green being hunted to be killed. And then the movie turned interestingly serious.
The malfunction centered on the possibility of a big anomaly in the computers. In the movie’s plot, Dobbs tallied more numbers than his actual votes when the computers counting the ballots diverted counts to his name, which bore double Bs, as against the incumbent President Kellogg (Double Ls, and Gs); and another candidate, a fictional Senator Mills (Double Ls). The B, being the second letter in the alphabet, intercepted the votes for the double Gs and Ls.
Although the movie was of creative imagination, it bore similarities with our recent polls.
The results of the elections, even with Sen. Noynoy Aquino receiving an overwhelming number of votes, are under question. They are also being muddled further by interest groups, some with legitimate concerns and causes for their protest, that put the Comelec in a bad light, weeks after receiving accolades for the quick counting of votes, which was initially thought as a gauge for the computerized polls’ success, only to wake us up on what appear now as possibilities of malfunctioning PCOS machines (at the least); and at worst fraud, that may lead to another failure to have clean and honest polls.
This new saga in the Philippine electoral system is equally interesting to watch. It seems complete and with various scripts that were recently adorned with foul words Al Pacino blushed at in his murderous Godfather movies.
And there was “Koala Boy” who calls himself Robin (not Williams, I suppose), the self-proclaimed whistle-blower whom many pray should not be Ador Mawanay. He does not look as convincing as the Eleanor Green character in the Robin Williams movie, but we have to wait for the final turnout of this new, very interesting script.
And who’s behind him? Could he be the losing presidential contender the Comelec wants us to suspect? Or is he part of another Malacanang ploy to serve its own end, as Cong. Teddyboy Locsin vowed to reveal soon?
A comedic blunder would soon unfold before us. And we’ll just accept this as another bump in our lives, which we cannot seem to perfect.
Life, like the movies, are alike.
It draws inspiration from each other, even in the high-tech world of computers, and fiction, and plots to destroy the world, or an election.
But this one is no laughing matter.