Placeholder

 

     Placeholder, this word is almost omnipresent on my News Feed these past few days. A politician filing a certificate of candidacy for president, or vice president, then waiting for someone to substitute for him or replace him is a placeholder.  It is panakip-butas in Tagalog. In a romantic relationship, panakip-butas means someone choosing you because the one they really love can’t be with them, and they’re probably getting old or are being pressured to be in a relationship so they look around and see who’s available and quite presentable— and they see you.

     Come here, baby, they will tell you, it’s a relationship with you or bust. My true love can’t leave his millionaire wife and I can’t wait anymore so I have no choice but to be with someone free. You will do.

     And if you’re someone who’s really in love and doesn’t really care much about dignity, you’ll accept them.

     Of course, they will leave you as soon as the one to whom their hearts beat for is free.

     You’re just a placeholder, remember? It doesn’t matter if you’re already married, they will divorce you or maybe, if they think a divorce or annulment is too fussy, they’ll just sneak into the shadows of the night to have a decadent tryst.

     So a placeholder, whether in politics or in relationships, isn’t really ideal. In politics, it will make you a weakling or a pushover, one who works not for the people and country but to a few shady individuals. One who is treated like a leashed dog, who will only bark and bite when told. And in romance, it will make you a patsy, or a laughingstock, someone that’s hard to love, unless the person you love runs out of choices. 

     But then, love and politics, like life, aren't always fair.