Buying is Like Casting a Vote
The 2025 mid-term election is just a few days away. As citizens, we hold the power to shape our country’s future—not just by casting ballots, but by the choices we make every day. Voting for the wrong leader—someone whose vision extends only to the next election—will lead our communities into further disarray. But voting doesn’t happen only at the polls. We vote every time we buy, consume, and support systems that either uplift or oppress.
When You Buy, You Vote. Every purchase is a political act. Choosing between local or foreign, organic or inorganic, essentials or junk—each decision shapes the economy, environment, and society.
Take, for example, the dominance of foreign products. Filipino consumers continue to overwhelmingly support goods made overseas. The result? We boost the labor and economies of other countries while our own industry suffers. The Philippines becomes a dumping ground for finished goods and a cheap source of raw materials. This extractive economy forces over 3,000 Filipinos to leave the country daily, desperately seeking work abroad, leaving loved ones behind—like passengers abandoning a sinking ship.
We consume what we do not produce. This is not merely economic—it’s psychological. Corporate globalization bombards us with advertisements designed to captivate and control our desires. Even when our local dairy cooperatives produce healthy, nutritious milk, many still opt for foreign alternatives—even those tainted with melamine. A country that consumes without producing will always suffer from slow, unsustainable growth.
The Cost of Inorganic Choices
When it comes to agriculture, inorganic products still dominate. These are produced by conventional farming systems reliant on chemical inputs—systems heavily promoted by the Department of Agriculture. This corporate-controlled agriculture profits everyone in the supply chain—seed and fertilizer companies, usurers, middlemen—except the farmers who endure back-breaking labor under the harsh sun and heavy rains.
Choosing organic means reducing our dependence on costly, toxic chemicals that harm our ecosystems, pollute water tables, and contribute to rising cancer rates. It means trusting nature’s processes, reviving the population of beneficial insects, and supporting farming practices that nurture both land and life.
Essential vs. Non-Essential: A Culture of Consumption
Sadly, we now live in a culture where junk prevails over essentials. Corporate advertisements encourage endless consumption based on a flawed “money-must-grow” principle. The result is a hollow system where money is used not to enhance well-being but to feed greed. This unrestrained materialism sacrifices Mother Earth, treating nature as if it were inexhaustible.Mahatma Gandhi once said: “Reduce your wants and provide for your own needs.” These words remain urgent today.
Vote Well, Live Well
This time, let us vote wisely—not only in the polls but in our daily decisions.BUY LOCAL. BUY ORGANIC. BUY ONLY WHAT IS ESSENTIAL.In doing so, we support Filipino labor, strengthen our local economy, and uplift the lives of the poor. We reject the market-driven economy advanced by corporate globalization—a system now faltering under its own weight. Like a giant losing balance, it runs to stay upright, trampling communities and ecosystems in its wake. The result? Widespread destruction, impoverishment, and ecological disasters becoming the new normal. Awaken. Resist. Transform.
We must now awaken. In unity, we must fight for what is right, true, and just. Let us liberate ourselves from the prison of materialism and consumerism. Let us reject the ego—the devil that thrives in vanity and selfishness. We are not just physical bodies; we are embodied spirits, made in the image of the Unseen, Formless Being we call God. We are Consciousness itself. Can you not feel it? Spiritual development is not a luxury—it is our purpose. The Bible tells us: “Deny thyself.” This calls us to transcend the mundane and enter the sublime—to dwell in that sacred space where Universal Intelligence governs, not ego.
Look at our urban centers—symbols of modernity yet filled with ugliness, noise, and disconnection. Now look at nature—magnificent, awe-inspiring, a direct reflection of the Creator. Yet, billions of species are now extinct, sacrificed at the altar of profit and greed. The Homo sapiens—supposedly the most intelligent of God’s creation—have become the most destructive.
Return to Nature. Reclaim Our Humanity.
Immerse yourself in nature’s beauty. Feel its stillness. Know that true abundance comes not from malls or supermarkets, but from rivers, forests, and soil. As Christ said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” That abundance is not of material excess—but of harmony, balance, and peace with the natural world.
This is our real vote. Let it be for Life.
