No news is good news but good news is better

No news is good news, meaning some of today’s news is almost too good to be true. We were overjoyed last week when we read that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had been conferred the Ceres Award of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the international agency that hands out achievement awards to women leaders who have made outstanding contribution to the war against hunger. The award is named Ceres, the Roman term for Mother Earth, the protectress of agriculture and all the fruits of the earth. Ceres was the Roman corn goddess.

President Arroyo received the award from FAO Director General Jacques Diouf in simple rites in Malacañang. The award was actually in recognition of President Arroyo’s anti-poverty program in her efforts to provide jobs to enable every Filipino to provide food on their tables. Under her regime, the country poured P20 billion annually for agricultural modernization including the propagation of new high-yield rice variety and the construction of irrigating systems where most needed. Her goal is to create six million jobs if she is elected to a full term. The award received very little attention in the press.

We were also very happy to read that presidential candidate Eduardo Villanueva got close to a million people at a rally he held at the Quirino grandstand at Manila’s Rizal Park last Sunday. It made us glad because it made us realize that it is not only movie actors that can attract big crowds. If Brother Eddie can attract a crowd of more than a million, then other church groups can do the same and if they join hands, they could in the future elect a president. Another presidential aspirant Raul Roco is also doing a good job campaigning in schools.

But the best development that we have heard concerning the elections is that a debate has been organized that will allow all candidates to inform the public on their stand and their programs on the economic and social problems of the nation. We understand that with the possible exception of one or two candidates, these debates will materialize. Those who don’t want to be part of these debates do so on their own risk.

So far, it has been a peaceful and orderly campaign. There has also been a minimum of name-calling. The public must be educated. They should first and foremost realize that an election is much, much more than a popularity contest. What is most important are the qualifications and experience of each individual candidate. In the past few years, elections changed. The candidates did more to entertain the crowd than to inform them of their program, if and when elected.

The idea of having public debates is good both for the candidates and the voters. With radio and television, these coming elections should be much simpler and more efficient to conduct. We believe that soon, the election speeches like the ones that used to be conducted in Plaza Miranda will be things of the past. Why listen to candidates in the streets when you can listen to them on television right in your own living room? The important thing is for the candidates and the voters to agree on just what are the issues in this coming election. Let the candidates and the voters agree on the issues. Then let the voters vote accordingly to how the candidates respond to the issues. That way the elections will truly be meaningful.