Proper selection of would-be leaders

Democracy is a kind of government where the people are given the freedom and opportunity to choose the leaders who shall run the government for them. This process of choosing a country’s leaders is through the exercise of the right of suffrage in an election that is conducted on a regular basis.

Still, democracy as a form of government, unlike in an authoritarian regime where the people have no such freedom, can only be successful if the people themselves properly exercise this freedom by selecting the right leaders to run the affairs of government. Failing in this, it is obvious that government’s capability to effectively deliver the essential needs of the people will be seriously compromised. Consequently, the expectations of the people that they will have a better country and quality of life is frustrated and unrealized. The national dream for progress and development is shattered.

In the Philippines, our attempts to practice democracy through the electoral process pales in comparison to established democratic countries elsewhere as we are unable to produce good leaders via the power of the ballot. All the while, we manage only to elect people who are worse than the previous leaders leading to the worsening of the lives of our people.

Consequently, the suffering of our countrymen, especially the bulk of the masses embedded in dire poverty, becomes graver. As we write, 12 percent of our entire labor force of 34.2 million Filipinos are unemployed, 20.8 percent are underemployed, and even the lucky 87.3 percent of the labor force who have work do not earn enough to secure a decent life for themselves and their families.

The problem, in the first place, is in the failure of our electorate to exercise their right of suffrage properly. Many of our voters are neither sophisticated enough to understand the issues involved in an election nor are discerning enough to cull from the candidates the real good leaders who can run the country well. The bulk of our people, being poor and unlettered, could not empathize and relate to the intelligent and capable candidates when they discuss the issues with them at the hustings. Instead, the people are attracted and can relate only to the candidates who dance, sing and provide them with transient entertainment. Their bias are in favor of these inane candidates. Worse, owing to their poverty, they are susceptible to the lure of the money. So, they sell their votes.

To be sure, we have had our fair sampling of intelligent leaders. Intelligence alone, however, does not a good leader make. The reason for this is the reality that under Philippine democracy the electoral process is endemically flawed. It corrupts even the intelligent and capable leaders who, during their term, have to accumulate a hefty war chest in preparation for the next election which will be more expensive then the previous one. Simply put, we have a seriously defective election system that relies primarily on horrendous spending in order for a candidate to win. In the process, therefore, even the erstwhile good, intelligent and capable candidate turns out to be a disappointment when elected as he is gobbled-up by the system that requires of him to amass wealth in order to stay in power. The inevitable result is graft and corruption.

We therefore need an alternative system where the good, intelligent, capable, honest and dedicated candidates can be elected into public office without them spending money. Their legitimate election expenses should come from the voters themselves who support their candidacies. This way, when elected, these good candidates will remain as good leaders, committing their loyalty always to the country and people.

While intelligence and capability are definitely requisite attributes of a potentially good leader, it is obvious that strength of character that keeps him away from corruption is an equally, if not more important, trait of a great leader. The likes of Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Mahathir of Malaysia are fine examples. Coming from multi-lingual, multi-culture and multi-religion countries, it is essential for them to have a strong and visionary leader – of integrity, honesty, intelligence, capability, dedication and strength of character – to unify their peoples and lead them to peace, progress and posterity. These both Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir, even at the most trying times and conditions, achieved successfully for their respective countries.

In multi-lingual, multi-cultured and multi-religion Philippines, we direly need such a leader to likewise unify the country and lead us to peace and give a decent quality of life for our people. For it is axiomatic that without unity there can be no peace and order, without peace and order there can be no ample business, and without business there can be no employment for our people.

In fine, the importance of the election process cannot be overemphasized. The seriousness of the event must be realized by our people so that they will take it in their hearts and in their minds to elect only the right people to govern them.

With the right leaders, our country can still have a fighting chance to take its rightful place as a united, proud and developed country, equal to our neighbors.

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(Editor’s note: Atty. Roxas is writing a limited series of articles dealing with financial matters and other important business topics. He is available for speaking engagements on the subject matters of his articles.)