The 2025 midterm elections circus has come to town, as they say, and what a joke it’s turning out to be.
There are 18,280 elective posts and each voter will elect 12 senators, one district representative, one partly-list representative and local officials in each province, city and municipality, according to the Commission on Elections.
I waited for the filing period to end before writing this piece, hoping that at the last minute, there would be more respectable candidates and less of the laughable ones.
But judging from the long list of individuals who filed Certificates of Candidacy, it’s become a dizzying crop of wannabe politicos.
One can only conclude that Philippine politics has spiraled down deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole of dark comedy, horror and entertainment all rolled into one, accompanied by an underlying dystopian vibe.
There’s a long list of trapos, dynasties, ex-showbiz personalities or washed-out celebrities, children of convicted scammers, content creators, online personalities and just about anyone who can actually sign that piece of document, hold it for the cameras and formally file it with the Comelec.
Actually, even those who cannot go to the Comelec and file the certificate themselves can send someone to do it on their behalf just as what the self-anointed Son of God and alleged human trafficker Apollo Quiboloy, who is detained at Camp Crame, did last week.
Now, it has become difficult to tell the nuisance candidates from the supposed legitimate ones. What a sorry state we’ve unwittingly found ourselves in. It’s nausea-inducing, indeed.
But most of all, it’s dangerous. Is this the kind of society we will be bequeathing to our children and our children’s children?
This is all happening because Philippine laws practically allow just about anyone to run for public office.
If you are running for president and vice-president, for instance, you must simply be a natural-born citizen, a registered voter, able to read and write, resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years and at least 40 years of age on the day of election.
If you are running for the senate or the House, the qualifications are similar except the age and the residency – at least 35 years old to qualify as a senatorial candidate and at least 25 years old to qualify as a congressman.
And if you want it easier, just opt to be a Philippine party-list representative. You just need to be a natural born citizen and you must be able to read and write.
It’s so easy isn’t it? One can even just fake the required documents.
It’s no wonder that alleged Chinese spy Alice Guo became Bamban mayor and quietly built an offshore gaming empire right in her backyard.
While these basic qualifications were supposed to make our electoral system inclusive, the opposite has happened instead. It’s a system that mostly favored the elite, the trapos and the political dynasties because they are the ones who can afford to mount a successful campaign.
And where do they get the funds? Just ask Baguio Mayor and anti-corruption crusader Benjamin Magalong – from roads and other infrastructure projects.
It’s the reason why we see the same names elected into office, election after election while the masses see little changes in their lives.
Ever wonder why so many slum areas remain dirt poor? That’s because the politicians want to keep vote-rich communities that way so that come election time, they are easy prey because they remain desperate and vulnerable.
Even the party-list system, which is supposed to represent the marginalized, has become bastardized by the trapos, making it a backdoor entry to the House of Representatives to those who cannot win in their districts.
I also can’t help but notice that more and more controversial individuals who have been convicted or are facing cases in court are joining the circus. They should be barred from seeking an elective post. In Singapore, if you are running for the presidency but have been convicted locally or abroad, you are automatically disqualified.
‘For the fund of it’
Others do it just for the “fund of it.” Running gives them the opportunity to ask money from tycoons and businessmen even if they don’t really have a strong chance of winning. Maybe they want to raise funds for their retirement.
But are we so helpless to allow this? We must institute electoral reforms and raise the qualifications of political candidates.
Hope
This is not to say that the candidates for next year’s elections are all a bunch of clowns. There are incumbent mayors seeking reelection who have done a lot of positive reforms in their cities especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are also progressive candidates who are running for a seat in Congress. Even some candidates for party-list representatives give us some hope.
The decision is on us, Filipino voters and we must take on the challenge to vote wisely. The voting public can choose alternative candidates and not be swayed by popularity or some love song or a silly dance.
We need men and women who will save this country from further political, economic and moral decline. We need solons and statesmen, not the usual crooks and clowns who steal our money.
Remember that for many of these traditional politicians, politics is just like showbiz – it’s all show and big business.
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Email: eyesgonzales@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.