Election blues

This newspaper’s banner headline last February 9 was: “They’re off and running,” referring of course to the official start of the campaign period for candidates seeking a national office. The key word in the preceding sentence is “official” for as we all know the race has been going on for several months, nay years, for many of these candidates. The irony though is that while we have entered the campaign period and that the actual elections are less than 90 days away (and counting), the ability of the candidates to get their message across to the voters (and the ability of the latter to obtain more information on them) is being curtailed.

The intent of the law (in this instance that would be the Omnibus Election Code as amended by the Fair Election Act) in controlling expenditures during an election campaign is indubitably salutary. Its purpose is to level the playing field so that resource filled candidates do not overwhelm their not as fortunate opponents. But is the law realistic? Is it really possible to level the race between the haves and have nots? Is this not akin to going against the law of gravity?

There is also the issue of proper monitoring. The Comelec has promulgated rules on the maximum amounts that the candidates can spend. The limit for Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates is P10 for every voter while for senatorial candidates the cap is P3 per voter. In addition, political parties are allowed to spend P5 per voter.

With around 50 million voters, this translates to a spending limit of P500 million for every presidential and vice presidential candidate, P150 million for a senatorial candidate and P250 million for each political party. These figures may seem sufficient at first glance but if you factor in the media spots, then you realize that P500 million may not be enough.

Let me momentarily segue to the limit for television and radio placements. The pertinent Comelec rule provides that each candidate may run television commercials of up to 120 minutes per station. There are 6 networks and over 50 cable channels. That means over 6700 minutes worth of potential television advertisements. With respect to radio, the Comelec rule sets the limit at 180 minutes per station. And with over 700 AM and FM radio stations all over the country, that means around 126,000 minutes of radio spots. Collectively, this air time will require a gold mine of a budget and given how candidates have been spending so far it is quite evident that the limits can be easily breached.

With its limited manpower and resources, can the Comelec effectively monitor the simultaneous airing of political advertisements in the various fora of mass media? Will it be able to enforce its rules so that candidates are tasked to comply with the maximum expenditure limits. In this regard, should Comelec also take into account expenses incurred prior to the official campaign period? Otherwise, would this not be a circumvention of the worthy objective to level the political playing field? And this is precisely why several quarters reacted negatively to the majority decision of the Supreme Court on the Penera case. Similarly, how would you account for the donations of friends? Should not these donations be included in the expenditure cap as well?

This leads me now to the challenge of implementation. On the assumption that Comelec is able to catch the violators of its rules, what meaningful and timely sanction can it impose? I overheard Comelec director Ferdinand Rafanan in a radio interview say that he is not aware of any candidate in Philippine electoral history that has been disqualified on account of overspending. I also mention timely because I am reminded of former Pasig Representative and Fil Estate chairman Toti Cariño who, after winning his three-year election protest, was only able to attend one session of Congress. Although Toti should consider himself lucky as Representative Celestino Martinez Jr. of Cebu may not be as fortunate for notwithstanding his protest being upheld, it looks like he will be unable to savor his electoral victory in 2007. As of this writing, several controversies including the gubernatorial contests in Bulacan and Pampanga have been decided by the Comelec post haste. Regardless of who the eventual winner is, you wonder why the case is only being acted upon now? The pernicious practice of promulgating last minute decisions just before a term ends is a good topic for another column.

Let me circle back to the original thesis of this column – that more than crafting a law which promotes a laudable purpose, our lawmakers should also take into account the context within which such a law will operate. In other words, any law needs to be realistic and readily implementable. Laws that are followed more in breach than in observance should be discouraged as they cast doubt on the democratic imperative of maintaining the preeminence of the rule of law. What comes back to mind is my “devilish” saying - “The road to hell is sometimes paved with good intentions.”

*      *      *      *

I recently attended a leadership talk conducted by Dr. Pablo Cardona of IESE Business School which is part of the University of Navarra in Spain. Dr. Cardona traced the evolution of leadership styles from transactional — where the management system is governed by tasks and assessed by mistakes, to transformational — where the management system is governed by objectives and assessed by results and the new buzzword, transcendental — where the management system evolves around the mission of a company and employees are assessed by their contribution to attaining such mission.

This is a timely idea given the current election season! Hence, this week’s four centavos go to Dr. Cardona, YPO event organizers Fred Uytengsu and Timmy Limcaoco, and Dr. Bernie Villegas who occasionally lectures at the University of Navarra. Happy VD and KHFC to all!

*      *      *      *

“I had the blues

’coz I had no shoes;

Until upon the street,

I saw a man with no feet.”

                   — Anonymous

*      *      *      *

E-mail:[email protected]