This week marks the first in another year that is sure to be filled with action and challenges for us Lagunenses.
Even as 92 percent of Filipinos (according to surveys) are sure to welcome this new year with hope and optimism, let’s not let this optimism blind us to the trials that we are all going to face in the next twelve months.
Being the year before the scheduled midterm national and local elections scheduled in 2025, expect 2024 to become yet another “crucial year” for our local politics.
In fact, there’s already sure signs that the 2025 elections in Laguna province will be more tense and heated than previous election periods.
As we all celebrated Christmas in the “back to the old normal” mode after three years of restrictions, isolation and uncertainties brought by the pandemic, fresh uncertainties have surfaced in our local political scene as political bosses begin to flex their muscles and hand-pick who will run for various local positions in 2025.
And as 2024 is the year of the official filing of certificates for candidacy, this is the year that voters will finally see who’s in and who’s out of the pre-election “preliminary rounds.”
Expect heightened mudslinging and “kampihan” among our local officials as they start to curry favor among our voters.
In fact, even as our province has rarely experienced a bout of election-related violence that has become a part of life in other areas in the province, let’s not let our guard down this year.
Meanwhile, uncertainties in our local, national and global economies also meant that we Lagunenses may have to tighten our belts even further, even as all indications are that the economy is recovering.
Still, there's a reason for us to hope and work for the best.
This new year is one of those – another opportunity for us to become better persons than what we have been last year, another chance to improve our lives, another set of 365 days that we could use to make our province a better place.
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