Count our blessings

Five more days and 2016 will be history.

Depending on how things turned out for you this year, it is either annus horribilis (or horrible), or annus mirabilis (or wonderful).

Like all fresh starts, the beginning of this year was greeted with optimism and hope. The majority of our people looked forward to the May presidential elections with enthusiasm.

After six years, the Aquino administration was headed for the exit and a new leader was to be chosen by popular vote.

As usual, the campaign for the two highest posts of the land was boisterous and intense. Although there were sporadic incidents of violence, the electoral process was, by and large, peaceful and orderly.

Filipinos love elections, especially if they involve the presidency and vice presidency. This political exercise is the only instance in the country when the rich and poor, educated and uneducated, and wise and crazy are on equal footingótheir votes carry the same weight.

The presidential candidate who made up his mind to run only at the eleventh houró then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterteógarnered the highest vote among a colorful field of aspirants.

Although Mr. Duterte received less than the majority vote, in particular, only 32 percent, the people welcomed his assumption to power. To the credit of his opponents, they conceded defeat and accepted the results of the election without recrimination.

In less stable democracies, the failure to get the majority vote would have been an excuse for the defeated candidates to question the results of the election and goad their followers to go to the streets to protest.

This is something, among others, that we have to be thankful for this year. Except for some politicians who did not make it and could not accept their defeat, things settled down quickly after the final election results were posted.

The country went through several natural and man-made calamities that resulted in the death of hundreds of our countrymen, tremendous loss of properties and other forms of deprivation.

Whatís more, to date, some 6,000 people, and counting, have lost their lives in the aftermath of the Duterte administrationís campaign to eliminate the illegal drug problem of the country.

The jury is still out on whether these deaths can be blamed on government forces, or the result of a turf war among drug lords and their henchmen. Sadly, these incidents have attracted adverse international reaction and put our country in a bad light.

These unfortunate events, however, should not make us feel pity for our country or say that the Fates have conspired against us to make the lives of our people miserable.

We are fortunate to have been spared the humanitarian crisis that the people of Aleppo, Syria, are going through at present. While there are pockets of rebellion in some parts of the country, the ceasefire agreements between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the New Peopleís Army have held for some time already.

Thankfully, too, no suicide bombings (knock on wood) in the manner that hit Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Jordan (and the latest Berlin, Germany) have happened in the country.

Credit must be given to the law enforcement agencies for keeping at bay the terrorist groups that want to replicate those barbaric acts in our shores.

We have also reason to be grateful that the national economy is generally in good shape, and that basic food commodities and the elementary requirements of daily living are available to the majority of our people.

In Venezuela, a country with vast oil resources, people have to line up for hours to buy food under rationing conditions and carry bundles of their currency to pay for them.

If anyone has doubts about the vibrancy of our economy, all he has to do this holiday season is go to the jampacked public markets, malls and other places of commerce to see if the country is suffering from a financial crisis.

Indeed, for all the troubles that weíve been through, we should appreciate the blessings we have received.

The famous line of Helen KelleróìI cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feetîóshould be food for thought for those who may think that 2016 is annus horribilis.

Happy New Year!