bumoto ka!

This year, a bunch of my friends and I registered to vote in next year's elections. We had not voted in ages. The last time I voted, I was still in school. I didn't really take the right to vote seriously-- no big deal if I miss an election or two.

But the 2010 elections are different. There's somehow a sense of... urgency. There's a feeling that something significant is going to happen here, and around the world.

I think it all started with him:

Stressed out.

When Obama ran for the presidency of the world's most powerful nation and won, black people rejoiced. Women rejoiced. Gay people rejoiced. Middle-class professional America rejoiced. He represented every misfit and outsider, but was accepted by the insiders.

Our local version:

Not autistic, OK?

What does it feel like to have not one, but two parents who are considered saints and national heroes? I would be catatonic. But he stepped up. The problem is he doesn't look the part. I think, though, that he will win because his name is Benigno Aquino.

And on our island, we have:

Hanging out with the Vice.

John Yap: Scion of a clan of public servants. Eldest son of a beloved ex-mayor. Groomed from the crib to rule over our mini-kingdom. All he had to do was file his certificate of candidacy, and he had won already. So ready for the job, but he doesn't know it yet.

These three men have the power to change the world around them. They have so much potential to do great things. So many people's hopes are riding on them. They are our Pied Pipers. We will follow them anywhere.

We are on the cusp, the razor's edge. The future of the Earth will depend on what these three men do.