Built-in edge

In our country and under our fundamental laws, public office is a public trust that requires utmost responsibility and efficiency aside from integrity and loyalty. But under the same basic laws, any natural born citizen, who is able to read and write, a registered voter, with the required age and residency can be elected to a public office from the presidency down to councillorship of a barangay. These qualifications obviously do not ensure utmost efficiency or even responsibility in public service. Running the affairs of the State definitely requires more than just being able to read and write and having the required age.

This flaw in our law surfaces once more as the 2010 election nears and aspirants for various public offices start announcing their candidacies. Prominent among these aspirants are show biz personalities and other celebrities who apparently failed to get Dolphy’s message cum advice when he declined to run for public office because “he might win”.

This is not to belittle or discriminate against show biz personalities and other celebrities who may sincerely want to “help the people especially the poor”, which is their usual reason for seeking public office. Actually they need not hold any public office to help the people. They are already helping people and rendering public service in their careers as they uplift the peoples’ spirit, contribute to a brighter national outlook and inspire them to strive harder through the roles they play. Indeed they could help the people much better if they just stick to their career and further hone their skills instead of performing other roles entirely alien to their jobs like holding public office. This is no longer public service but public disservice.

Public service needs some kind of training and experience in performing the functions of the elective positions being sought. Candidates must have some knowledge in the science and art of crafting laws, if one is running for a position in a legislative body; or in managing and running the affairs of government, if one is seeking an executive post. This kind of training and experience is seldom or never acquired in a show biz career or in other fields of endeavor where more brawn than brain is utilized and where fame is attained more by the physical rather than the mental attributes of a person.

Celebrities should honestly admit that they would not seek public office if they are nobodies. They know in their innermost self that the main, or perhaps the only reason they are running for election to a particular position is that they have bigger chances of winning because they are already well known rather than because they are more fit for the job than the other aspirants. To be sure even if they believe in their capacity to do the job, they would still hesitate to run were it not for their built in advantage of name recall that their opponents do not have.

In 2010 when our elections will be automated for the first time, this advantage of celebrities will be more pronounced especially in the matter of promoting their candidacy and eventual victory. Automation entails the preparation of a special ballot containing the names of candidates, way ahead of time. Hence pursuant to the law on automated elections, R.A. 8436 as amended by R.A. 9346, the COMELEC has been authorized to fix a deadline for the filing of the certificate of candidacy (COC) 120 days earlier than the start of the campaign period so that it could have more time in preparing the ballots. For the coming elections the COMELEC set the deadline on December 1, 2009.

Because of this earlier deadline, R.A. 8436 as amended saw the need to redefine the term “candidate”. It now provides that even if the aspirant has already filed his COC, he is not yet a “candidate”. He becomes a candidate only upon the start of the campaign period so that his acts of promoting his candidacy before the campaign period are still lawful.

But the Supreme Court in Penera vs. Andanar (G.R. 181613, September 11, 2009) ruled that after the filing of the COC, an aspirant has already explicitly declared his intention to run for office even if he is not yet a “candidate” pursuant to R.A. 8436 as amended. Hence if he starts promoting his candidacy before the onset of the campaign period, he may still be disqualified when he proceeds with his candidacy upon the start of the campaign period because his intention has become an actuality.

Now showbiz people are still asking the COMELEC to allow them to continue appearing in the movie or television shows even after they filed their COC but before the start of the campaign period. It is their contention that by appearing in those movie and TV shows, they are not engaging in acts promoting their candidacies or actually campaigning. They claim that they are not actually asking people to vote for them in those shows.

As usual, this is another example of making palusot that Filipinos are known for. It is true that these show biz people are not openly asking the people to vote for them in those shows. But after they filed their COC voters already know their explicit intention to run for a particular office. Hence even if they are not directly and openly asking people to vote for them when they appear in those shows, they are still promoting their candidacies by enhancing their built in advantage of name recall.

The COMELEC should therefore thumb down their request. It will only be making the playing field more uneven. If aspirants holding appointive positions are considered resigned upon the filing of their COCs, show biz people should also be stopped from further appearing in movies and TV shows once they file their COCs. They already have a built in advantage. It should not be augmented anymore.

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