Obstacles to HOPE

With the kind of candidates running for public office in the coming elections, from president down to the city and town mayors and councilors, it looks like we will have more of the same kind of corrupt, inept, dynastic and oligarchic government we have since we became a democratic republic. From the list of those who filed their certificates of candidacy, even if pruned downed to remove the deranged and weird aspirants, the main task left to the electorate now is still to at least ensure that the candidates who will win are not crooks and plunderers based on their past record of service both in the public and/or private sectors.

The electorate can fulfill this main task only if we have honest, orderly and peaceful elections (HOPE). But under existing election laws and with the kind of electoral methods and practices in place, several obstacles exist stifling and dimming that HOPE.

Foremost of these obstacles are the political dynasties. Political dynasty exists when members of the same family by consanguinity or affinity, occupy or succeed to the same or several elective public offices. It is common knowledge that in every election we had in the past, more and more husbands and wives, fathers or mothers and sons and daughters, as well as brothers and sisters occupy or succeed as governors, mayors, vice governors, vice mayors, board members and councilors in most of the towns, cities and provinces all over the Philippines, including some cities in Metro Manila. Even in the Lower and Upper Houses of Congress, political dynasties are slowly gaining a firm foothold and increasing steadily.

It is now quite clear and obvious that political dynasties have not only deprived others of equal access to opportunities for public service. They have also seriously undermined the process of finding out the true voice of the people (vox populi) as expressed in the ballot. Families in power see to it that they remain in power by ensuring that their constituents remain poor and entirely dependent on them through dole outs and thus forever grateful to them come election time.

Actually however, the proliferation of political dynasties is not only inimical to the workings of a real democracy. It is also detrimental to good governance. When elected family members assume office, matters of public interest are usually discussed and decided in the privacy of their bedrooms or dining tables. And so the principle of checks and balances and transparency in governance are thrown out of the window.

But most detrimental is that political dynasties breed and perpetuate corruption in government. Members of the same family holding public offices and wielding political power will not wash their dirty linen in public. The natural tendency is for them to help each other in covering up shenanigans and other money-making government transactions they are involved in. They close ranks when implicated in order to protect their firm foothold and solidify their political power so that they can continue to cover up their involvement in government anomalies.

Another obstacle to fraud free and clean elections is the so called “command votes” coming from certain religious sects which binds and subjects their members’ right of suffrage allegedly to their religious beliefs. There are also the command votes on a more massive scale coming from specific areas all over the country where the voters choose their candidates dictated by   influential and powerful personalities in their area. Thus we have the “solid north”, the Bicol or Visayan bloc”, and the “Mindanao votes.” Lately we also have the command votes supposedly delivered by local officials all over the country comprising the main cog of the well-oiled political parties financially backed up by business oligarchs. As shown in past elections, these supposed “votes” explain the dagdag bawas scheme that some candidates used to win elections.

Also an obstacle to a free, clean, honest and orderly election is the allegedly scientific “poll surveys” periodically conducted to find out who are leading or lagging behind in the race for a specific national position especially the presidency and the senatorial seats. Accurate or not, these poll surveys also undermine  the process of finding out the real, honest to goodness choice of the voters as to the candidates who will promote their interest and contribute to the common good. As shown in past elections, voters sometimes opt for candidates whom the surveys reveal as leading in the polls, believing rightly or wrongly that the candidates whom they prefer would lose anyway. This kind of “bandwagon effect” somehow makes “win-ability” as one of the qualifications in choosing a candidate and thus affects the electorate’s “intelligent vote” especially considering that the surveys are not completely reliable and credible. In fact, there are candidates “leading” in surveys that eventually lose and thus claim that they were cheated by the candidates “losing” in the surveys who eventually won in the election.

Then of course, another obstacle to an honest to goodness election is what is known as the “celebrity politics.” In this country, this kind of politics thrives well and has significantly grown because majority of our voters come from the C, D and E sectors who are enthralled by personalities they often see on TV, movies and newspapers especially sports heroes and movie stars. Hence when these personalities decide to run for public office, the instinctive reactions of these voters is: “Iboboto ko yan” without finding out anymore whether they are the most qualified and best fitted for the position. To these voters, anyone lionized by media is magaling and their “idol.” Moreover, inside the polling booth during crunch time when they encounter hardship in filling up the ballots, the names that immediately come to mind are of course their “idols.” This “name recall” is another unfortunate reality in our elections that has adversely affected the wisdom and intelligence of the peoples’ choice. It has even impeded unknown but better qualified and well meaning citizens to seek public office.

And so HOPE will not spring and bloom in this country because of political dynasties, swing votes, poll surveys and celebrity politics. Let us get rid of them first.

*      *      *

E-mail: [email protected]