MUCH HAS been said about elections in the Philippines. But one thing that I find really amusing is the observation that there are really no losing candidates in an election – only the proclaimed winner on one hand and the mepurayit or the penekasan on the other hand. This is not to say however that claims of election fraud, whether in recent memory or those down in our nation’s colorful and controversial election history, have no bearing at all. In fact, we have a verified and documented list of election cases both in the national and barangay level where the initial winner made his or her way to the top through a dubious process, only to suffer a dismal political fall after overwhelming evidence of fraud, tampering and vote-buying have been unearthed by the opponent, and eventually presented and proven in court.
Quite understandably, this mentality has crossed the boundary of politics and has become evident in practically every activity where there are supposedly a winner and a loser. When a student does not make it on top of the class, the parents accuse the teachers and the school head of favoritism. When a basketball team fails to advance to the finals, the players, along with the coaches and the “miron” criticize the referees and umpires of poor officiating. When a pageant contestant does not make it to the top five, the handlers and the contestant’s family and throng of supporters question the results and even throw a shade on the qualifications of the judges if only to establish what they feel and believe is a biased evaluation of all the contestants’ overall performance.
Tiyope, Lutong Macao, Berirong, Cooking Show – these are just some of the terms we use to describe any contest when the results do not go the way we wanted, hoped or expected them to be.
While it may be true that there are contests that have produced questionable or unpopular results, the judges’ decision is always final and irrevocable. Remember the Erik Santos-Sheryn Regis tiff in the 2003 Star in a Million, the Olivia Culpo-Janine Tugonon buzz during the 2012 Ms. Universe, or even the Lyca Gairanod-Darren Espanto battle in the 2014 The Voice Kids?
Despite the time-tested, periodically revised and updated criteria that guide the judges, competitions such as pageants, dance, singing, speech and writing contests are in fact, subjective in nature. The ‘audience impact’ in the criteria, if any, could only do so much to influence the judges. To be blunt about it, even if more than half of the audience in attendance scream their lungs out for a particular contestant, that is not an assurance of a victory or even a special award. Unless of course there’s the “Darling of the Crowd,” a staple minor award in many gay beauty pageants.
More importantly, it is the judges that are given the task to choose the rightful winners; it is never the audience who would of course choose their own. While there are times when most of the audience and the judges agreed on one candidate, there are several instances as well when they disagreed. It has been 55 years since Gloria Diaz won the country’s first Miss Universe crown but to date, a famous beauty queen maker from Colombia still considers Diaz undeserving of the title. Conversely, many Filipino pageant pundits continue to cry foul over Evangeline Pascual’s first runner-up finish to Marjorie Wallace in 1973, in what could have been our first Miss World title.
As a pageant organizer, I always tell contestants and handlers to study the contest rules and guideline and the criteria for judging so they can prepare a game plan. I also encourage them to request a copy of the tabulated results after the pageant so they can erase even an iota of doubt on the integrity of the results, and eventually plan ahead and be more prepared and competitive in their next competition.
As for my students who compete in various academic, cultural and sports contests, I tell them the same words every year. If they want to win, they need to train very hard and be ready to make little sacrifices along the way. When they come to the contest venue carrying the name of the school, they know that they have been prepared well. Victory will simply be an icing on the cake.
What about people who do not want to lose in any contest? Well, I tell them not to join any contest, period! In this case, they will never experience losing. But then again, they will also lose something more precious than winning – and that is the joy of rising above their own limitations, and the satisfaction of being able to bring out the best in themselves.
