The duty of the electorate!

It is only fitting that for our final show in Straight from the Sky for the year 2009, we bring you His Excellency Robert Desjardins, Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines, who came to Cebu to wish us a Merry Christmas and to do the final taping for us. So be with us at 8:00pm on SkyCable’s channel 15 for a talk with the Canadian Ambassador about the healthy and wonderful relationship between the people of Canada and the Philippines.

* * *

With the elections drawing closer as the Year 2010 approaches, we the electorate must ensure the election of worthy candidates, people who have shown interest in our country, our province, our cities and our very neighborhood. When we wrote our piece last week entitled, “The Electorate Should Demand from Politico” it was because too many of us complain that nothing is being done in our respective localities by our public or elected officials. More often than not, people write to columnists or call radio commentators who would only be too happy to oblige the caller to lambaste that erring public official on air, which doesn’t help the problem much.

We do not properly scrutinize whom we should be voting for. We merely vote the candidates whom we can recall immediately, even if that particular candidate was famous for his misdeeds done against the State. How do you think Sen. Antonio Trillanes got elected in the first place?

The rule of thumb is simple: If and when you see a candidate present himself or herself as a candidate, the first thing to ask is, what has this person done for the community? If that person hasn’t done anything at all, then why bother voting for that person? Then there are the perennial candidates who’ve run for this and that position in almost every election in this country. That these people have lost but are still running defies logic. But then, there is no logic in running for public office in this country where the candidates spend millions but receive less than half this figure as their official salary. So we ask the electorate to put their candidates on a weighing scale to check their character, integrity and morality before choosing them. In response to that article, I got this email from Mr. Alvin Dizon:

“Dear Bobit: I always read your Freeman column online. I like your piece today entitled “The Electorate Should Demand from Politicos.” I totally agree with you that some of our candidates seeking for public office are not presenting any programs or platform to the electorates. A lot of them are spending millions of pesos to project a different and a more attractive image. Competence, credibility and good governance have been replaced by popularity, prominent family names and wealth.

I am running for Cebu City Councilor (North District) under BOPK in next year’s elections. If I would decide by myself, I would not want to subject my life to unbridled public scrutiny and the nuances of politics. I was a product of series of soul searching in order to reconcile my convictions as a social development worker who spends a great deal of my life criticizing the inadequacies of government and working for accountable governance and the compromises and risks involve when I would become part of the system that I have been very critical about.

I have come to know and internalize their issues through participatory mechanisms and processes, which have time and again proven to be very effective in empowering barangay communities. I hope to impart and hopefully institutionalize these participatory technologies when elected into office. To help promote transparency and accountability, I will give a regular report of my legislative work to the general public through a people’s assembly. These are some of the innovative ideas that we plan to embark on. I look forward to seeing you after the holidays. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. Sincerely Yours, Alvin Dizon”. Alvin, in my book, is a fresh face for BOPK!

* * *

Call it surreal that a woman jumped off the cordoned area in St. Peter’s Basilica to lunge at his holiness Pope Benedict XVI who fell down on the marbled floor as the woman was tackled by the Pope’s security cordon. This 25-year-old Swiss-Italian named Susanna Mailolo wasn’t armed and had a history of mental problems. This was the same woman, wearing the same red jacket who also did exactly the same thing a year ago, but she was instantly stopped by the security.

 While the 82-year old Pontiff was unhurt and continued with the Holy Mass and the greeting to the World with his Urbi et Urbi, French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray who also fell down fractured his hip and needed an operation. We should pray that the Pope stays healthy for 2010.