T Elections are dirty per se. Look around the surroundings and the reason is obvious. And they are dirty because the players chose to play it that way. Hoping for clean elections is quixotic at best . Under the present circumstance, it’s still like tilting the windmills but hopes spring eternal that one day elections will be any different from the previous ones and the coming one on May 13. At any rate, we are hoping against hope that any day soon, the people will be educated to observe the rules of engagement to a new level so that sanity will finally reign upon us in the manner of how elections are conducted.

Meanwhile, prepared as we are for the best, we are also prepared for the worst.

And the worst in Philippine elections is upon us in the run up to the May 13 polls with practically every Tom, Dick and Harry seeking public office engaging in high octane mudslinging, muck-raking, character assassination and the like churned out by the dirty tricks unit of each candidate of note. This means digging or exposing the dirt of each candidate is fast becoming fair game to the opposing camp to the delight of the covert operator. And vice versa. So tit for tat. Our research showed that when a candidate runs into trouble or roadblocks in his or her campaign that are traceable to the other side, he/she can easily charge his/her opponent with dirty tricks. Often, the candidate is right in this accusation, but one candidate's "dirty trick" is another's "political strategy." The distinction changes with the times. Of course imputing the discovery of a past misdemeanor to the other side can be considered a "dirty trick" in its own right.

However, manufactured, irrelevant, cruel and incorrect rumors or outright falsehoods designed to damage or destroy an opponent are easily described as dirty tricks. They serve to tie up the opponent into defending against and answering false charges rather than explaining their policies and platform. Sometimes dirty tricks are not only aimed at slandering the opponent. Dishing the dirt against your candidate's opponent can be effective at alienating voters in order to turn them off from the entire project. These tactics may reduce turnout in order to assure your candidate gains by having his/her core voters show up at the polls; thus, an operative molds the outcome by angering everyone. The effort to lower an official's or a candidate's popularity in the polls is called "driving the negatives"

Closer to home, candidates of all stripes, colors and parties are under the impression that they are vulnerable to accusations by their opponents of every sin and crime ever described, from graft and vice to bribery and communism, polygamy, womanizing, drug use, drug trafficking, spousal abuse, fascism, pedophilia, miscegenation, adultery, stupidity, demagoguery, mental illness and vote-buying. Call any candidate any name and that is considered part of the anatomy of dirty tricks. Let’s face it, that’s democracy in action and it works to the delight of the electorate. And as we come down to it, there’s nothing more exciting than be part of where the action is.