You are free to take what I'm going to say with a pinch of salt, or a block of it. For one, the things I see are different from the things you see. Also, the last time I predicted who will be the next president of the Philippines, I was way off the mark. I thought Jejomar Binay would win. He finished fourth. I have blind spots.

All that said, considering what I have observed and articulated, it's inevitable Bongbong Marcos will win.

Now, this is not my preferred result. Not at all. My last name and my vague Ilocano heritage - not to mention my reluctance to say "Leni should be president" on this very blog - does not equate to support for the frontrunner of this campaign. But the world does not revolve around us, no matter how hard we try. Just because we want something so bad doesn't mean we'll automatically get it. "The universe conspires" was always bullshit to begin with.

Sure, the results may be much closer than the surveys - the latest of which show Leni gaining ground, but not enough to erode Bongbong's 56% ratings - suggest, but after six years of Duterte still being popular among Filipinos, there is a legitimate apprehension among many that his accomplishments will be for naught. To them, Duterte is the embodiment of that vague concept of "political will" that we've fashioned into the silver bullet that will move things forward in this country. He got things done, any and all opposition be damned. Why waste all that on someone who represents the way things were under the "yellow menace"? Let's just go for someone who had something done. Well, his dad did, but you know, like father, like son, and all that.

I'm betting the majority of people who think that wouldn't say it out loud. It's similar to what happened in the United States in 2016. Hillary Clinton led the opinion polls, but there was always a niggling feeling that people who preferred Donald Trump didn't want to say it out loud for fear of being scorned. True enough, he won. I think the same is happening here. The almost fanatical approach of Leni's supporters - saturating social media and portraying themselves as a growing club you can't resist joining - definitely isn't helping. You know how we go when we feel cornered.

Again - I can't stress this enough, again - I'm happy to be wrong. A(nother) Marcos presidency may continue some of the accomplishments of the Duterte administration, sure, but at what cost? Imagine things getting built only for them to not be used, because everybody's left.

Speaking of leaving, what would you do if Marcos became president?

I'm pretty sure it's my cynicism talking, but I had the impression, especially during the early days of the campaign, that the people in my feeds who scream loudest for Leni are the ones who can get up and leave if they don't like the result. Like, leave the country, give up on the country. I get it. I've reached the point where it feels like no matter how hard you try, you really can't move up any further. But not everybody can afford an exit plan, or even has one, for that matter. It struck me how it's the privileged and well-off who are shouting for her the loudest. Then again, if you're in a comfortable position, you'd have more time to be active in these things.

Of course that isn't entirely the case. I'm guessing most youth will go for her, and they're not all from the upper classes. But if I'm from the lower classes and I see them tell me why I should vote for Leni, I'd probably scoff. I'd feel spoken down to. (The "si manong, kay Leni na rin!" posts on social media are patronizing, if you ask me.) I'd probably actively resolve to do the opposite of what they want me to do, because we're petty that way.

My thinking is, the people whose actions scream "I love this country" will be the first to say "this country is hard to love" when they don't get their desired result. Maybe whine about why people who don't pay taxes, or those without a college education, are allowed to vote. Maybe actively call for actually undemocratic measures to be taken for the sake of the country. Perhaps they will be the first to leave. In any case, the masses probably think you're in it just for yourself and have no reason to trust you. It's a divide that's difficult to cross, and I bet many are unwilling to do it.

So, what would you do if Marcos became president? Pack your bags and go? Prove that your departure is proof that the country is going down the drain? Reject the reality in front of you because it didn't go your way?

To be honest, I don't know myself where I'm going with this thought. I've held it for months, hoping to make a proper essay out of it, but as time passes I've been thinking, maybe it's too harsh, maybe it'd lose me more friends than I already have (we're petty that way). I thought about my experience in dealing with government, about the differences between politics and governance, between the motivations of elected officials and the civil service - but I thought maybe I'm being too naïve. Maybe I'm too deep in my work and my beliefs to see things their way, to understand why they're anxious, to make sense of why they're wrapping themselves in pink.

But maybe it's too much to ask, to have a campaign that is truly centered on the issues and not on the personalities, to have a conversation where people are talking not to secure numbers but to enlighten, to have a society that is not reliant on personality cults. (I don't trust stans when they say they'll be the first to be critical of Leni if she wins. There will be the need to save face. That's where we are on the toxicity scale.) Is it too much to ask, though, that if the inevitable happens, we continue to keep watch and be a louder voice? At least until all opposition is banned like in the First Golden Age of the Philippines back in the 1970s and 1980s?