Not that anybody is asking, but I feel I have to clarify why, despite being relatively center-left, I have devoted recent entries being critical of Leni Robredo's campaign and, more specifically, her supporters. I don't know. I feel like I have to defend myself from potential allegations that I am, heavens forbid, a supporter of Bongbong Marcos, just because I am not keen on joining the pink brigade. You know discourse these days and how you're just supposed to be on one side or another, and never in the middle.

There's really a simple answer to that: I write about what I see, and what I see, more often than not, are supporters of the vice president. You know social media algorithms and how it narrows your world view by serving you only the things they think you want to know. (Well, that, and you blocking people whose political views don't align with yours, in the holy name of "self care".) That, and I have more contacts who post about their support for the vice president with alarming regularity.

That means seeing their posts a lot over the past few days, when the Robredo campaign went on full swing with several rallies in vote-rich spots across the country. I never followed the minutiae of national political campaigns, but I can't help but know the narrative - their narrative, I suppose - of how powerful folks, both in government and business, most probably allied with the "other side" are preventing a huge turnout at the rallies, whether by canceling buses in Bacolod or starting road repairs in Cavite. And yet the power of the people prevailed: 40,000 people in General Trias, 70,000 in Bacolod. And they're keen to clarify that, nope, they're not paid. As if crowd size is the sole basis for one's popularity. Then again, we haven't really had crowds for two years, so I guess our perceptions are warped.

These contacts have also posted a lot about Bongbong's rally in Las Piñas, particularly the absurd claim from senatorial candidate Mark Villar that 500,000 people - pretty much the city's whole population - took part. Of course it's not true, the pinks said. (Police crowd estimates say as much; roughly over 10,000.) But you know how, in an event designed to get people fired up, people will say the most absurd things that elicits the required reaction? Anything to make you feel good. Anything to affirm your belief that you're with the majority, that you're on the right side of history, that a lot of people share the convictions you have.

So, with seven weeks left before the elections, we're left with boosters and supporters of the top two candidates - although, with PulseAsia's latest putting Bongbong at 60% and Leni at 15%, it's only nominally a "top two", isn't it? - fighting about crowd size. Nothing about recovering from the pandemic. Nothing about dealing with the accomplishments of the current administration (and I must clarify, that doesn't mean there are no atrocities, no, far from it). Nothing about dealing with evolving geopolitical complexities. Nothing about the looming (well, already happening, come to think of it) cost-of-living crisis.

But then again, that's an unfair assertion. Leni's campaign has released a bunch of policy position statements, most recently on the rising cost of fuel. Bongbong, well, he's coasting on his father's legacy, or at least the favorable aspects of it, to the point of refusing to appear in all but one presidential debate for fear of facing "biased" journalists, or perhaps, because he's so comfortable with how his message is getting across that he doesn't see the need to show up. Still, all talk of what one intends to do once in power is lost in a pissing match about crowd size. My crowd is bigger than your crowd. And we didn't have to pay them to go there.

All this tells me is that people are really still just concerned about being right, about being seen as on the right side. You think you're great because you support a presidentiable that's very much ahead in the surveys? Well, what about these photos of huge crowds in campaign sorties? What about all the pink streamers I see in my neighborhood? What about these stories from people who have changed their minds? What about these surveys from universities showing massive support for the presidentiable I support? What about the number of searches on search engines?

It was always too much to ask for a campaign that actually dives substantively into issues, although with a pandemic intimately affecting virtually every Filipino in the past couple of years, one would hope that it would be tackled somehow. But nope. It was about being on Erap's side in 1998. It was about being on Gloria's wave in 2004. It was about fulfilling Noynoy's destiny in 2010. It was about screwing Noynoy over in 2016. This year, the cycle continues, and somehow we're even more deluded that it will be different this time. I guess we're really hyped up by those pronouncements and those damn social media feeds.

You know what? Maybe we should break the fucking cycle for once. Don't vote for Bongbong, because he represents the worst time this country has had the misfortune of going through, which somehow is the best time this country has had the privilege of going through, if you ask certain people. But also, don't vote for Leni, because despite the window-dressing, she's going to be a pretty divisive president. Good idea, right? But then, it's scary realizing there are so many shades between black and white. It's scary realizing you're not absolutely right all of the time. Better to not ponder, to not overthink, to not shut up.