AS WE are getting closer to the elections, many organizations are helping out to spearhead activities that could guide people to know their candidates in the coming elections.In particular, if we follow the interviews of national candidates, we could be guided on who to vote for the top positions of our country. These interviews give us the idea of how our applicants for office would concretely address the issues and challenges related to the discharge of their functions once elected.No doubt we get the information we need in all of these discourses. However, we are not sure that this will all be reflected in the coming days after the elections. A lot of factors will determine the real situations after the elections.The choice of personalities who will compose the next administration and the realignments among those who have helped during the campaign, the scope of work, and the bureaucratic system.What these interviews, forums, and debates are telling is that those applying for public office are probably capable of discharging their functions under whatever circumstances and situations that would haunt them while in office.We hope observers and voters could keep a transcript or copy of these interviews so that we will compare them with the actual policies they have designed and implemented once elected.I saw some improvements in the level of elections this year because some are going into the question of competencies and qualifications of our applicants for public office.At the national level, many are posting on social media the academic qualifications and track records of the candidates. I can remember the late senator, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, as one advocate who promotes the need to look at the qualifications and competence of someone who should be elected.In some quarters, qualifications and competencies are not given focus in order not to deprive others of their right to be elected. But time might have changed now and we have learned some lessons. Someone’s academic training and professional qualifications are important elements we need to address the pressing issues and the many problems of Philippine society.In the local setting, I have seen candidates posting their qualifications, particularly the academic and professional experiences. Whatever is the way they present themselves to people, I am positive that these could help educate our voters and help them make the right decisions in May.It is sad that amidst this supposed plan to bring our politics to a higher level, we cannot avoid the preservation of patronage politics that has long been accepted by many politicians and aspirants. And worse, we stick to whoever can roll out the resources to finance a campaign and ensure victory.The party system does not look at the issues and concerns that every candidate is familiar and eloquent to discuss, but it is all about loyalty that should be given to a patron to win the elections. Hence, the kind of personalities we get and performance they show.To borrow the thoughts of Professor Edmund Tayao in one of his lectures, we are only getting the kind of politics and work of personalities that we chose to lead us. Something that we cannot complain about because we have chosen them with probably not considering their readiness for public office and their facilities that include their education and professional backgrounds.Simple activities to know our candidates can help us see what will be our future under them when they are elected into office.It is a wish that while we dream to slowly change our political landscape and personalities based on the true instruments that determine qualifications, our voters could discern what they should be looking for and what kind of society we will have in the future. After all, our choice of leaders will affect the state of dynamics in their family and society as a whole.