After thousands of voter’s IDs were recovered from the mansion of Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. in Shariff Aguak, Col. Leo Ferrer, 601st Infantry Brigade commander, was asked whether the IDs were authentic. He said he couldn’t tell — how could he when he didn’t even have a voter’s ID?
Well, that makes two of us. I don’t have a voter’s ID either. I haven’t been a registered voter in more than a decade. I’m just not one of those people who still believe that changing the people who hold the power in government will lead to genuine change and progress in this country. I’ve taken a look at the list of people who have filed their candidacy for the May 2010 elections and I see no reason to take a different position.
And I am still taking a good hard look at the attitude of voters. Again, I see no reason to believe that the 2010 political exercise will not turn out to be a circus like the elections before it. Too jaded? Look at it this way.
We have an ex-President who has been convicted of plunder, granted pardon, is seeking to become president again as though his conviction never happened. Not only that, his lawyers have come up with an unbelievable interpretation of the Constitution to skirt around the issue of disqualification. Where in heaven’s name is it written that only the incumbent president is disqualified from seeking re-election?
Second, we have an incumbent president who seeks a downgrade by running for a seat in Congress after her term as president. So, okay, there is no law that prohibits her from doing that. But there’s a jarring note somewhere. I won’t use words like “humiliating”. My father, a lawyer, once said that if life in the Philippines were to become so desperate and jobs were really scarce, he didn’t see anything wrong with using his car as a taxi and driving it himself if it would put food on the table. But this president seeking a seat in Congress is not exactly doing it for income.
What her real reasons are, only she knows and we can only guess. What we do know is that people have sought her resignation as president by utilizing some oft-forgotten legal provision that he who seeks to get elected is deemed automatically resigned from his current political post. I won’t get legalistic about the law. Suffice to say, and we all know this already, that the Supreme Court said it violated the equal protection clause and was, therefore, unconstitutional.
In strict legal interpretation, the Supreme Court wasn’t wrong. Section 66 of the Omnibus Election Code which specifies that only certain, but not all, incumbents (person holding a public appointive office or position, including active members of the Armed Forces, and officers and employees in government-owned or -controlled corporations) shall be deemed resigned upon the filing of the certificate of candidacy does violate the equal protection clause.
The real question is why the logic behind this legal provision has never been made universal. It makes sense. It acknowledges the reality that he who holds the political power wields control over vast resources that can give him undue advantage over his political opponents. And that is true whether the incumbent is a barangay captain, mayor, governor, congressman, senator or president.
Once upon a time, under the Omnibus Election Code, the deemed-resigned clause applied to all including elective officials. Section 67 provided that all elective officials, except the president and vice president, would be deemed resigned too. The playing field was level. Well, almost. Then came the Fair Elections Act which excluded elective officials from the deemed-resigned application. How did that happen? Well, some lawmaker with foresight (and I’m not using the word foresight in a positive way here) realized that he would be deemed automatically resigned if he sought a second term. Why would he want that when having the resources of his office at his disposal would give him every inch of advantage against all his opponents? So, a bill was drafted and it eventually became the Fair Elections Act. Which President signed it into law? Gloria Arroyo.
It’s all about wanting to retain power. It’s all about being able to legally gather all available resources to quash the competition. And it is a strategy that has been employed by just every politico in history. Who the hell in Congress cared if appointive officials, members of armed forces and employees of government-controlled corporations were deemed resigned when they filed their certificates of candidacy? The important thing for every congressman — and for all his family members and relatives who hold positions in the local government — is that he himself is not deemed resigned when he seeks re-election. And that scenario is something he wants to retain when he becomes a senator someday.
Is it a situation that inspires somebody to participate in elections? Oh, not me. Definitely not me.
What do I want? Disqualify all incumbents. If they want to run again, they should finish their terms first—do their work instead of campaigning—then run for office in a subsequent election. That should have no “built-in” advantage.
When I think about it, candidates are just 49% of the equation, 51% is still held by the people. It’s really simple: if a candidate is power-hungry, or self- (or angkan) serving, or an idiot, or an inadequate pet of a media company who keeps shoving him down our throats, HUWAG IBOTO.
49% isn’t really the problem here. The 51% is. A big part of that 51% are the ones who refuse to do their homework and simply go with whoever his/her kaibigan, katrabaho, kasama sa bus, ka-puso, ka-pamilya.I say, katarantaduhan. People who can not — or refuse to! — think for themselves need not even register, much less cast their vote.
HUWAG IBOTO!… HUWAG NG BUMOTO!.. ALL, and i mean ALL of them dont deserve even the humblest position.
Where are the people like you in the public life of this nation?
I couldn’t believe it when I read GMA is running for a Congressional seat. Where is the dignity? The delikadeza? Besides, being an ex-president is probably one of the best jobs in the world.
I thought she would be just what this country needed before she was became president. Now, I just wish she would go.
unsentpostcards, I believe it’s a vicious cycle. Dumbing down (by media, mostly) of an already uninformed electorate. All we see are stupid shows and gimmicks, people get used to them (including the lies in advertisements) and by the time it’s election season, a certain attitude has been imbibed. Handlers of candidates know this and market their candidates they way they would commercial products. And people choose candidates the way they choose their shampoo or laundry detergent.
Faye, I’m with you there. All the way.
Miguk, delicadeza seems to have become a very rare thing in politics. And getting more rare with each passing day.
I agree, Gloria is not doing it for the money. She probably already has money enough to support her and her entire family for a thousand years. Perhaps she’s eyeing to see this title in her future: “Queen Gloria of the Philippines.” What irks me the most is that she seems to do anything she wants and gets away with it. I hope our next president is someone who will seriously go after her and have her punished for everything she’s done wrong. I just wish.
I haven’t encountered the word “delicadeza” in your post. I agree with you with your comment – “So, okay, there is no law that prohibits her from doing that. But there’s a jarring note somewhere. I won’t use words like “humiliating””
Those politicians and political analysts “kuno”, they always want to make an impact with the use of the word “delicadeza”. Those same politicians who used proxies in elections once they can’t run anymore for the same elective office who loosely use the word “delicadeza” every time they fart. Political analysts who can’t find any constitutional violations except to summon for the emotion of the public.
Can anybody here tell the readers of this blog that for “delicadeza”, Noynoy Aquino, for his running as a presidential candidate is not a fight of good against evil.
(Baka magalit sa kanya si Bro. Eddie. OK lang kung mag react si Erap.)
Delicadeza you say? You don’t expect Filipino politicians to have them. Otherwise, there won’t be any corrupt government official.
Vic, re “What irks me the most is that she seems to do anything she wants and gets away with it.”
It’s called power.
Trosp, re “I haven’t encountered the word “delicadeza” in your post.”
It’s not something that crosses my mind when writing about politics.
pano kaya nakakatulog sa gabi tong mga politiko “natin”… i mean do you think they have family meetings about who gets which portion of their loot? How do they justify these actions to their grandkids? Heck how do these kids grow up to be looters themselves? You think GMA said to Mikey whilst growing up that the Macapagals have been political stalwarts because they do care about the country??
Wala just ranting… nakakainis kasi
For me, Philippine politics was, is and will always be a choice between evils. Always hoping that you choose the lesser ones.
Sometimes I can’t help but think if ligthning strikes on all corrupt philippine government officials and their successors-in-waiting may matitira kaya? Ilan kaya mababawas sa Philippine population?
So by what standards is the “lesser evil” measured? Lahat merong bahid ng evil—at mas lalo pa yung mga mapagpanggap o huwad na “lingkod ng bayan” — puhleezz, sana naman tigilan na nila tayo with that worn out line ” to serve the people” or ” para paglingkuran ang dukha at maralita!!!”
It should be reverted back to the old law wherein all incumbents are deemed automatically resigned.
Of course our legislators would not do such a thing at the present, perhaps the people could, via initiative? (wishful thinking again…)
I don’t think people (the majority at least) even realize there’s something terribly wrong when incumbents use public funds to pay for those tarps with their photoshopped faces and their fiesta and holiday and lenten greetings.
They do!? Now that is just outrageous
I hope that Pacman looses the election. I would hate to see go from National Hero to just another corrupt politician.
I second the motion. He ought to know how to quite while ahead.
If Pacman loses this election (hopefully), he may probably realize that he should have not joined politics. EVER!
I’m just wondering how Pacman suddenly will become a corrupt person once he became a politician. We can put in a lot of things or whatever it is there, but in my book, with his standing (ma-pera na di ba? Of course, power corrupts or whatever…), we may also consider his endeavor as a fulfillment of his life. Pwede din di ba?
Pero bakit corruption agad?
In my mind again, during Cory’s presidential fight against Marcos, sabi ng marami lalo na yung masa (read: Erap voters) – “si Cory magpapayaman pa yan pag naging presidente, si Marcos, mayaman na yan, hindi na magpapayaman yan”.
Bakit ganyan tayo???
Our political culture breeds it. Only a very few (if at all) manage to remain unscathed. If our political culture were different (no pork barrel, etc), there wouldn’t be any “automatic” connotation.
It’s not the greed for money that breeds corruption. It’s the opportunity to wield power without being accountable. It’s like the corporate boss who can hire and fire. Or the teacher who can pass or fail. Money is just an offshoot.
Hi Sass,
I can name some in our modern time who managed to remain unscathed in the issue of corruption. My number one is Sen. Joker Arroyo (how I wish I could include Ping Lacson for his “deferment” of pork barrel. Perhaps, it is beyond his pay grade to handle a pork barrel or nobody think he is that useful idiot in the senate to be bribed to). Then there is Palawan mayor E. Hagerdon, and Las Pinas mayor Nene Aguilar (Manila’s mayor Lim? Duh…).
In my book (again), greed for money always breeds corruption. A living example is Erap. As for GMA, I don’t know if there are still pending issues relating to corruption in the congress that have still to be cleared except for this martial law thing. (Someone to go after her after her term – anong kaso? Basta corrupt lang sya?)
If we’re talking about politics, IMO, money might not be enough to corrupt but the greed for it.
Seems to me, in politics again, that the classic example of a person who always want to wield power but always avoid accountability is no other than Mr. Unprecedented (dati Mr. Obstruction) – Barak Obama.
Cheers
Hi Ms. “sassy” Connie,
Indeed I agree with you, not to cast our vote even to the “lesser” evil political candidates. I am 43 years old now, and I never had a taste of voting for the presidential elections. Why? Exactly the same reason as yours. I’l rather not give my vote than to regret in the future that I belong to the bandwagon of “stupid” voters who placed that “corrupt”, “unhumane”, “power-hungry” politicians. But I am always praying that these politicians will suffer the most deadliest disease of the lifetime and they will be able to realize that their “looted fortunes” will not buy the medicines to cure their ailments. In that way, they still have time to confess and reflect on their sins they had committed.