There is a reason why voting booths are semi enclosed — because The Vote is private. Those who feel they need to shoutout who they’re going to vote for do so because they are presumptuous in their thinking that their opinions matter that much.
Rather than proclaim who they are voting for and assume that others would follow suit on the basis of that endorsement, campaign groupies should, instead, articulate the principles they espouse and leave it to their audience and followers to vet and evaluate the different candidates guided by those principles.
Presumptuous at best, an insult to the intelligence at worst; partisans who shoutout their “personal lists” are no better than the religious cults they criticise for being too prescriptive on their respective flocks’ voting decisions.
The bad habit of personality-based partisanism needs to be stamped out of Philippine politics. It’s time Filipino voters grow up and start focusing on ideas and platforms and less on the publicity stunts and empty sloganeering of traditional politicians.
