Thank God It's Over!

The winners of the last elections were finally proclaimed last Wednesday and now all of us could finally take a sigh of relief. The last eight months were excruciatingly mad; there were mudslinging, accusations, and even violence. It was as if all of us were dragged into a telenovela with a totally convoluted plot.

Last Wednesday's proclamation may be considered as the grand finale of those tumultuous months. Consider yourself lucky if you chose to stay home or in your office and watch the proceedings in comfort. The Session Hall of the House of Representatives where the event took place was in total chaos. Decorum and protocol were dispensed with as supporters of the winning candidates came in droves.

I don't know if it can be considered as a good start but the two groups engaged in a cheering contest. There were no insults or disparaging remarks but it seemed that the order was the louder the better. I don't understand why they have to resort to this since both there principals were already winners and honestly, it was too juvenile.  Good thing that they were seated on the opposite sides of the hall, away from each other.

Many supporters of the winning Presidential candidate considered themselves important people so they wanted a seat in the first gallery.  What happened was plastic chairs were lined up in the Session Hall floor which, ordinarily, was a total no-no.  It came to a point that we could not identify anymore who among the people there were members of Congress and just guests.

Some members of the committee that canvassed the election results were given a few minutes to speak.  Surprisingly, the crowd went silent except at times that they had to applaud the one speaking but everybody was still subdued.  It was like this until one Senator started saying nasty things about the running mate of the winning Presidential candidate.  Those on the side of the winning candidate was cheering and clapping, but those on the side of the losing candidate appeared to have clenched their teeth and seething.  The speech was totally uncalled for, maybe the Senator was just too bitter that his son and daughter both lost in the two consecutive Senatorial race and there'll be no one to replace him in the Senate.

When it was time for the members of both Houses of Congress to approve the Canvass Report, the crowd went wild, drowning whatever the Senate President and Speaker of the House were saying.  The cheering erupted like someone scored a triple shot in a highly contested basket ball game.

And when the winners were finally called to the rostrum for the proclamation ceremonies, the whole place was justa bedlam of catcalls, screams and all the kind of noise a human can make when he or she is in a state of ecstasy.  Nobody could hear anymore what was being said infront of us.  All I was able to see was the leaders of Congress raising the hands of the winners.

It was all over in a few minutes.  Everybody went out of the Session Hall still buzzing with the excitement of what has just happened.  The crowd continued to distance themselves from each other.  I don't know where they all went but after just over an hour, the halls were empty again, except for the cleaners.

As we put those months behind us, many of us look forward to better days. The just proclaimed winners will be taking office at the end of this month and every one who gave them this position will be watching them.  Me, I will see if the incoming President would be true to his words - no corruption.