Fernando favors return to two-party system

MANILA, Philippines – Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando proposed yesterday the return to a two-party system with the government shouldering campaign expenses of the two presidential candidates to prevent corruption.

Fernando said campaign-spending reforms would discourage the winning presidential candidate from stealing from the government to recover his campaign expenses.

He said if elected president, he would implement these electoral reforms.

“Philippine politics has historically been based on personalities. Celebrity, name-recall and wealth, not issues, have dictated the outcomes of political contests. This has got to stop. We have to reform our politics, do away with personality politics that only serves the interests of the rich and the powerful,” Fernando said.

Fernando said the best way to eradicate graft and corruption in the country is to reform campaign spending of candidates.

“The government should bear the costs of the campaign of the two presidential candidates of the two major political parties. I want to see a return to the two-party system from the current coalition-building anarchy that encourages any number of disparate political blocs to compete in national polls and politicians to fly like butterflies from one bloc to the other,” Fernando said.

Fernando said this compel the parties to campaign on issues through distinct political platforms.

“These reforms will encourage smaller parties to coalesce with the major political organizations. For the first time in years, Filipinos could have a majority president,” Fernando said.

Fernando cited that former President Fidel Ramos won the presidency with just 25 percent of the popular vote in 1992.

“Candidates Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were the plurality presidents in the 1998 and 2004 elections. A two-party system whose campaigns are funded by public money will moderate poll spending and minimize vote-buying and other forms of electoral fraud,” Fernando said.

Fernando said a campaign based on issues and on distinct political and economic philosophies will offer voters a genuine choice during the election.

“A responsible campaign financing law will penalize and prohibit unconscionable campaign contributions and influence buying by big political patrons. This practice corrupts the electoral process by making politicians beholden to vested interests,” Fernando said.

Fernando said the government should not allow politicians to make a mockery of the electoral system to make the reforms complete.

“Election protests pending before the electoral tribunals sleep the sleep of the dead. Cases are decided years after the elections are over. The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow. The will of the people is frustrated. If blessed in 2010, I will look into how we can abbreviate the electoral protests so that the will of the people can prevail. Only then can we serve justice and observe the true meaning of democracy,” Fernando said.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD forms arbitration boards

The ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD started the creation of national and local arbitration boards to settle disputes of party members who are running for the same local positions.

Sorsogon Rep. Jose Solis, senior deputy secretary-general, told The STAR after a news forum in Quezon City that the arbitration boards would resolve the selection for national and local candidates, including the presidential standard-bearer of the party in the 2010 elections.

He said the arbitration body is part of the program of the newly merged Lakas-Kampi-CMD to consolidate the party’s unified machinery nationwide.

The principle of the equity of the incumbent will be adopted wherein incumbent local officials seeking re-election will automatically become the party standard-bearer in that locality.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD deputy secretary-general Ray Roquero said that while there may have been 20 areas of conflict between Lakas and Kampi members, the merged party will pursue a policy of “no free zones as much as possible” to produce a unified single slate in the local polls.

“We’ll be applying the equity-of-the-incumbent principle, which may leave us with about 15 percent conflict areas,” he told The STAR, adding that most likely it will be former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay who will head the arbitration committee.

Pichay, head of the Local Water Utilities Administration, projected that the country’s largest political party would be expecting at least 10 percent of members to defect to smaller opposition parties.

Conflict areas are La Union (three congressional districts), Pangasinan (five districts), Cordillera Administrative Region (Benguet and Mt. Province), Bulacan (five districts), Nueva Ecija (six districts), Pampanga (San Fernando City only);

Tarlac (three districts), Batangas (four districts), Romblon (one district), Camarines Sur (four districts), Catanduanes (governors only), Masbate (three districts), Guimaras (one district), Cebu (nine areas), Samar (three districts);

Zamboanga del Norte (three districts), Zamboanga-Sibugay (two districts), Misamis Oriental (two districts), Compostela Valley (one district) and Davao Oriental (two districts).

Pichay, one of the designated spokesmen and Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s vice president for membership and recruitment, downplayed reports of Lakas and Kampi members jumping to smaller ships.

“There might be defections of our partymates to other political groups, but it is only 10 percent of our total membership,” he told reporters, citing the “political reality” that realignments are part of the game, especially once the election draws nearer.

Solis said the equity of the incumbent would include immediate family members – wife, husband, children – but not other relatives.

In case of a conflict, party members who are running against incumbents will be offered other elective posts under the administration party.

Solis said that the process of selection of the standard-bearer must not be based on popularity surveys but on the consensus of party members.

He said with a national political machinery in place the party could produce a strong candidate that will win the coming elections.

Solis said the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party has 146 congressmen, 58 governors, 120 city mayors and 1,507 municipal mayors that represent 72.7 percent of local executives nationwide.

“The support of the congressmen, governors and city mayors is crucial in the election of the next president of the country,” Solis said.

He said the series of straw votes, which will be conducted in key regions, would give every party member a chance to be nominated as the presidential candidate of the party.

Solis said the party will adopt the process of elimination and when only two nominees are selected, the party will then call for a national convention to choose the party presidential candidate.

He said, however, that the selection would depend on several criteria including capability to win and track record. – With Perseus Echeminada