A democratic practice that is difficult to understand

The dynamics of people living in a democratic state is difficult to understand. With each citizen enjoying his supposed liberty of thought, the conflict of ideas resulting from the divergence of notions is itself infinitely mind-boggling. It is not unusual that we miss the whole picture because many of us are mired in petty concepts.

Let us take the case of the electoral activity like the one that we just completed last week. Election, as we know and practice today, is supposed to be our constitutionally guaranteed democratic process of choosing our leaders. Vox populi, vox Dei, all lawyers chorus. Every citizen is entitled to one vote. Democracy sees to it that each one has the same potent one vote as all others around him regardless of their uneven comprehension levels of how government should be run. So, if we vote for a leader, the winner's assumption to office is God's blessing, never mind if others had better preparation to perform the job.

This present democratic way of determining the composition of leadership is vastly different from the methodology of acknowledging the leaders civilizations ago.

In olden times, he who was a great warrior had to assume the leadership of his tribe. That was because, the leader's main role was to protect his community from unfriendly neighboring tribes.

Profound thinkers were also chosen to hold the reins of their form of government. Their depth of understanding what their communities needed made tribesmen rally around brilliant guys.  Because they were possessed with intellectual gifts to fathom what had to be accomplished for the proverbial public weal, people placed them in the totem pole of leadership.

The results of the last barangay elections present this difficulty to understand the need of democracy. Or, to repeat what I said in my opening statement, the dynamics of people in our brand of democracy seems to be incomprehensible. For example, let us examine, even if rather superficially, Barangay Sambag Uno of Cebu City.

When I passed by that barangay several days before the election, I noticed an election propaganda material of one Atty. Requina. I chose him for this article not because of information I got that his father was a friend of mine, but, because of my obvious personal bias for fellow lawyers. Hoping to be elected as a kagawad, Atty. Requina, was advertised as a young professional who offered himself to his community.

In Law school, there is such a subject as Public Corporation. As a branch of political law, it dwells into the theories that have led to the formulation of the kind of system suitable for this smallest political unit. Students are taught how a barangay is organized and what a Sangguniang Barangay can do to advance the welfare of the village.

There is also another study by Law students on local taxation. While taxation is an inherent power of the state, the barangay has but a limited scope of taxing powers. Here, in this subject of local taxation, law students are instructed on the sources of funds that barangays can resort to in order to amass the kind of money necessary to deliver basic services.

If a barangay council is composed of seven members, the barangay chairman excluded, electing one, just one, who is equipped with a basic education in running a barangay is an unquestionably pragmatic step in the right direction. An enlightened mind, whenever he is available, can always be helpful. His inputs can provide reasonable direction. The legal education of a lawyer is, by any means, useful in the administration of a barangay.  In this context, I was hoping that Sambag Uno voters would have a space in their ballots for Atty. Requina, especially so that in his youth, idealism should be a viable expectation.

In the earlier part of the running canvassing of votes, I was told that this young lawyer, had trouble making the grade. It saddened me to learn that the number of votes cast in his favor was not going to elect him a kagawad. His impending loss, truth to tell, was not going to be his. In fact, barangay Sambag Uno voters, by denying Atty. Requina his victory, lost an irreplaceable cog in their council. What made them do it is beyond my understanding.