"Instead we get the least qualified, the mediocre, and the hopelessly corrupt."
"Instead we get the least qualified, the mediocre, and the hopelessly corrupt."“‹
As the new year unfolds, politicians of various persuasions and their rabid supporters will begin girding for battle in the May midterm elections. Up for grabs are 12 senatorial positions, several hundred seats for party-list and district representatives and thousands of local positions from provincial governors to city and town mayors.
In the case of the forthcoming senatorial election, no less than 152 individuals filed their certificates of candidacy, including someone who declared himself as Jesus Christ, another who claimed to be the ex-boyfriend of Kris Aquino, while yet another said he was the ex-boyfriend of a blogger who claims a huge following of some five-million people in social media.
Here we’re reminded of what the late 1960s the Pop Art icon Andy Warhol said that “in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” It seems that the election season brings, from out of the woodwork, a cast of characters desperately craving for attention, if not fame, even for less than the obligatory 15 minutes.
We really do not know who the card-carrying crackpots or the ordinary people who believe they deserve to be in the Senate are because, well, they’re ordinary people, and they can articulate the needs and demands of the masses. Nor can we dismiss outright the perennial losers in previous senatorial contests who seriously think that Lady Luck would smile on them this time around.
The Commission on Elections told us last October that it would winnow down the big number of senator-wannabes to a manageable one, discarding those who have no means to carry out a nationwide campaign. But as of today, the Comelec has not released a final list of senatorial bets, which should be between 30 to 40. The Comelec list is likely to include re-electionists, pro-administration bets and at least eight opposition candidates, not to forget three former senators charged with plunder in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel scam.
At the local level, those who filed COCs include well-known political families. In Taguig City, for instance, two Cayetanos are running for Congress and another as mayor, while another one wants to return to the Senate. In Makati, two Binay siblings are running for mayor, another sibling is up for reelection in the Senate, and the family patriarch is running for congressman. In Davao City, the presidential daughter wants to be reelected as mayor, while a brother is running for congressman so, he said recently, he could get back at Senator Antonio Trillanes who he claims subjected him to ridicule in a recent Senate hearing.
Political vendetta is also cited by former Senator Bong Revilla for wanting to return to the Senate. He wants to run after those who charged him with plunder, for which he spent a few years behind bars. Perhaps he should be reminded that the job of a senator is to craft laws and investigate anomalies and corruption in aid of legislation, not to exact revenge on those who he feels have wronged him.
Apart from this, we find it disturbing as well that this early, newspaper headlines increasingly report politically motivated violence in various parts of the country. The latest casualty, Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe, who was running for mayor of Daraga town in Albay, was murdered in broad daylight in December, with the bounty for the arrest of the mastermind and the killers now at P50 million. We can probably expect more of the same in the months ahead as political contests at the local level are often very heated and lead to violence.
Equally disturbing is out-and-out political campaigning as early as last year by some personalities who have risen to prominence not because of political statesmanship or distinct contributions to governance, but rather closeness to the powers-that-be and quite possibly easy access to public funds.
We’re simply appalled that we do not get the best and the brightest to run for leadership positions in the country, but the least qualified, the mediocre, and the hopelessly corrupt.
We’re therefore glad that a bill has been filed in Congress seeking to require candidates to join Comelec debates.
Siquijor Rep. Ramon Rocamora said his bill would require national and local election candidates to participate in debates organized by the poll body.
Rocamora said he filed House Bill No. 8549 “to ensure that voters are given sufficient information on the plans of the candidates and to assess the quality of leadership that these candidates wish to offer.”
“I believe the bill, if approved, will be a major piece of legislation, which will enhance our democratic election process,” he said. “By requiring election debates, we afford the voting public the chance to scrutinize the candidates. This is part of ushering in better quality of elections, from the campaigning down to the vote itself.”
The bill also seeks to make absence in a debate an election offense and ground for disqualification, except in cases of hospital confinement, temporary detention, or similar grounds that prevent their attendance.
FEATURED STORIESHB 8549 further mandates the Comelec to organize the debates together with at least three civic organizations or people’s organizations. The time, date, venue and the rules of the debates is to be agreed upon together with the candidates or their representatives.
The debates, it said, must also include a discussion of the priority projects and programs of the candidates and their stand on the most pressing local and national issues affecting their constituencies.
Are our legislators ready to approve such a bill? Or will they see this as a distinct threat to the pelf and privilege they now enjoy even if they know they’re totally unqualified, mediocre and brazenly corrupt?
ernhil@yahoo.com“‹