by Harvey S. Keh
Contributor

JUST a few weeks ago, I listened to a National Situationer report given by the Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB), the socio-political arm of the Jesuits here in the Philippines.

SLB is known to be one of the most credible institutions who can give an honest to goodness analysis of what is the real state of our country and in their report they emphasized the following:

a.) Yes, the country’s economy continues to grow and, in fact, we have one of the highest growth rates in Asia. However, despite the economic growth, more than 25 million Filipinos continue to languish in poverty.

b.) 62 percent of Filipinos actually die without even having the chance to be seen by a healthcare professional. To make things worse, medicine prices are 5 to 45 times higher here in our country compared to other countries in Asia like Thailand, Pakistan and India.

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Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front has joined President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s call for the postponement of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which is also going to be the election that would test the automated election system mandated by law.

Lira Dalangin-Fernandez also reported on MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu’s disclosure about his meeting with the President in Shariff Kabunsuan not to discuss the pending peace agreement but to oversee the implementation of a government project involving the clearing and dredging of the heavily silted Rio Grande de Mindanao in the province.

Arroyo’s recommendation came after lawmakers have indicated plans to file separate bills to push for the postponement of the ARMM polls.

Commission on Elections chairman Jose Melo, however, wanted the ARMM polls to push through, but also noted that “it’s up to Congress.”

By Joy Aceron

The Political Science Department POS 100 Plenaries 2008-2009

ELECTIONS may be insufficient, but they are a necessary and essential element of democracy. By allowing certain government posts to be filled through the choices made by the electorate, elections function as a mechanism for determining the legitimacy of the political leadership, while at the same time guaranteeing the representational requirements of a modern democratic state. It is because of these characteristics that elections create opportunities, as minimum as they maybe, for altering the status quo and serve as a vehicle for political change.

Philippine elections, however, are largely a disappointment.

The electoral process is often described as a space for ordinary citizens to select their leaders. Yet, Filipino voters always end up choosing those whom they perceive as the “least evil,” or worse, those who are simply “winnable.”

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by Karla Angelica Pastores
Contributor

We live in a world of options. From the absurd to the monumental, we are constantly faced with a medley of choices. The truth is, we chose this world that we live in ourselves. As individuals, our choices influence and at the same time affect our collective decisions, which in turn build our society. Consumer choices affect what goes on sale. What goes on sale influences what we decide to put in our cart.

For many of us, this buffet of choices is something to rejoice about. We are not limited to only one option; rather, we are free to express our interests and desires through the choices we make. Whether as consumers or voters, we love to have alternatives that would make our lives just a little bit different, and just a little bit better.

Unfortunately, though, alternatives seem to be a missing ingredient in our role as voters. Democracy has given us the power—nay, the responsibility—to choose the one who will serve the Philippines as its leaders. Yet it appears as if this particular role has given us few, if not nothing, options as to who is truly capable of running the country.

One does not need to look far to realize that in this country, we tend to put the blame on every person but ourselves. The economy is in shambles; it’s the government’s fault. The government is ineffective; blame it on the people seated there. The authorities are incapable of performing well, because millions of people did not vote wisely or did not vote at all.

Not surprisingly, many Filipinos, especially the youth, become disenfranchised. If all we have to choose from are the same so-called “leaders” over and over again, the people get discouraged from voting. No one wants to be part of the problem of electing poor-performing officials, but no one also contributes to finding the solution.

The duty of every Filipino citizen to elect a leader does not come only after every three years, just as the duty of every elected public official to serve the people does not come only every election season. There’s a reason why we call those people “public servants.” They’re not at the top of the food chain. The people elected them to that position, the people’s taxes pay for their salaries, and they work for the people, to meet the people’s needs. Now tell me who the boss is here.

The people, as the public servants’ “boss,” have the task of ensuring that the candidates for the next elections are fit and capable of tackling this immense job of holding public office. He will, after all, have at least thousands of bosses. Why then should we leave the decision of whom to place into the political arena solely in the hands of those we chose to serve us? Filipinos should make it their duty to encourage good people to try their hand at servant leadership. Who knows, maybe your neighbor has the makings of being the next President of the Philippines; only no one has told him what a good leader he is.

Encouraging potential government officials does not have to be the gargantuan task of an all-out campaign or a huge rally. A simple “You’re doing a good job!” to a student, a little praise for the team leader in front of colleagues, an extra assignment the team captain can successfully undertake. Good people are not rare. It is precisely because they are good that they don’t flaunt their many achievements and talents for the public to admire them. They do their job well not to gain other people’s approval, but because it is what is right. These are the people who should lead us, the people we should look out for, the people who can. These are the ones whom we should be reading about and getting to know.

Just as we go out of our way to get the best bargain, we should also take that extra step to look for the best servant leaders. Our chances of having good people in public office go up when there are good people in the ballots. When it comes to politics, being choosy is not a bad thing at all.

Kai Pastores, 21, is the program officer for IamChange2010, a joint project of the Ateneo de Manila School of Government and Team RP. It aims to get the young Filipinos to register and vote in the coming 2010 Presidential elections and educate them on various political issues. For inquiries, you may contact Kai at +63 2 4265657.

By Niña Terol
Team RP

Author’s note: This is an abridged version of a blog post originally written for the Young Public Servants website. To view the full article, click on http://www.yps.org.ph/blogs/guest/?p=4

I RECENTLY posed this challenge to some like-minded colleagues: draft a want ad for this country’s next president, then let’s see how we are able to articulate the skills, qualifications, and necessary track record of the Philippines’s Chief Executive. After all, we cannot even begin to seriously assess our current crop of presidential hopefuls if we don’t know what we are looking for in the first place. I honestly thought that it would be quite easy because the exercise had to be somewhat similar to writing an ad for a CEO of a large corporation. How hard could that be, right? (The power of Google, and cut and paste…)

Well, I apparently underestimated the task. While doing some online research on the subject it occurred to me that maybe my entire premise was wrong in the first place. The Philippines is not a large corporation. It is not large geographically, politically, economically, or even diplomatically the way the First World countries, or even China or India, are. It is not even a dark horse the way Russia is often viewed. In the local setting, the Philippines is not like one of those multinationals that are housed in one of the ritzier office spaces along Ayala Avenue. It might not even be located in any of the central business districts. If the Philippines were an enterprise, it could probably be considered a startup, or a relatively young SME at the most.

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