Voter education

Foreigners have often marveled at the high turnout in all elections in this country.

Judging from the interest generated by the mock elections held the other day, the turnout will be no different in May.

We carp about venal, shameless politicians, several of whom are hitting new lows in the midterm elections as they seek to have their relatives sit alongside them in the Senate. Others – shades of the Ampatuan clan – try to fill every available elective position in their fiefdoms with family members.

We rail against our dysfunctional electoral process, against chronic cheating, against guns, goons and gold, and now glitches in the automated voting system.

And yet every election day we turn out in droves – the average is over 80 percent of registered voters – to cast our ballots. In 2010, people waited in line patiently for up to five hours to vote in the first nationwide automated elections.

Those long lines were due to the confusion over precinct clustering. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) should make sure this is not repeated.

But even with the prospect of waiting in line again for a long time, in the blistering summer heat, I think the turnout will still be high.

There are several reasons for our abiding faith in the power of the vote. One is that hope springs eternal for the Pinoy voter. We think our vote matters, that it can make a difference, that it can lead to change and make the country a better place. In a democracy, elections are the manifestations of people power. Voting is a civic responsibility.

Then there are those who vote out of fear that if they don’t, the worst candidates will win.

There are also those who owe their jobs, or business, or daily sustenance to the continued stay in power of a particular candidate. Waiting in line to vote is a small price to pay to keep a benefactor in office. Some of these voters don’t care if the candidate cheats or commits murder to remain in power.

Then there are the mercenaries – people who sell their votes in every electoral exercise. Recognizing the reality that many impoverished voters won’t turn down money proffered by a candidate, the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin famously advised the faithful to take the money but vote according to their conscience.

The Comelec has said the automated system has discouraged vote buying, because it eliminated one step whereby a politician could verify if those paid actually voted for him. But old habits die hard. In 2010, there were reports of voters lining up in houses where local leaders of certain politicians and political parties gave away cash. It didn’t help the candidates mentioned in the speculative reports, so maybe the voters remembered Sin’s advice.

In some hot spots, some politicians think the bullet is more powerful than the ballot, but they can’t intimidate all voters.

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Since we have such faith in the power of the vote, the campaign should be used as an opportunity to educate voters about their stake in good governance, and why they should pick the right candidates.

The campaign is a good time to remind the people that we all pay taxes and we have a right to demand good government, from the president down to the barangay tanod.

Even those who are too poor to pay income tax actually still contribute to national coffers, through value-added tax slapped on food, medicine and other basic items. Fees are collected for every business transaction with the government including licenses for tricycle drivers. The government imposes VAT and additional fees on the basic costs of water, electricity and telecommunications; look at your bills.

There’s an amusement tax and a road user’s tax. Where do our taxes go? Nice highways are being built, but they are mostly toll roads with rates that can cripple average-income motorists who need to use the roads regularly. The high toll rates defeat the purpose of decongesting old roads and urban centers.

Local government units impose their own fees, including for garbage collection, so people should get mad when public funds are spent by local politicians on self-aggrandizing billboards and streamers, or on road repairs that disintegrate in the first downpour.

The campaign period is a good time to demand transparency and accountability in the utilization of public funds by elective officials. The administration of daang matuwid should do what it can to strengthen the Commission on Audit so it can fully carry out its mandate under the Constitution.

Technology boosts transparency in public finance. Requiring government offices to upload their funding requests and itemized expenditures on their websites can make the work of state auditors much easier. Technology can also enhance transparency in bidding and procurement.

Since the government has a share in what we pay for almost every product we buy or service that we use, we should demand the judicious utilization of our money. Those who insist on opaqueness should not remain in public office.

We can’t escape taxes, but we can escape the crooks in government who misuse public funds. That is the power of the vote.