One slogan that cropped up during the election season was something along the lines of “Better Filipinos for a Better Philippines”. This started as a call for better education for the youth, so that they will be better prepared to face the future challenges and solve the nation’s problems.
But then that phrase showed up on social media, and was passed back and forth as a reason to vote for one presidential candidate or another. And every time I heard that used in a political sense, I became angry.
The reason for my anger is that the implication was that the problems that the Philippines confronts every day are somehow the fault of Filipinos. Filipinos are not yet “better” enough, and that is why congested airports cause three-hour flight delays. It is the Filipino commuters’ fault that the light-rail trains can barely stay on the track when they run at all. I guess, it is your fault that the electricity supply is unreliable and expensive.
The oath of office for the President of the Philippines reads in part… “preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the nation.” The
Administrative Code of 1987 says all public officials and employees must take an oath stating that they “will well and faithfully discharge to the best of his ability the duties of the office or position upon which he is about to enter.”
Filipinos are told that they are making the wrong choices when they cast their ballots. If only they had voted for this person, instead of that one. That is like getting food poisoning from eating the fast-food spaghetti and being told by the manager, “Well, you should have ordered the hamburger.”
Every man and woman of intelligence and experience to qualify for and is elected to office who then adheres to his or her oath of office should be able to make for a better Philippines. But that is not the case. The problems of the nation are always the same—inadequate public services, corruption in government and a struggle for economic opportunities for all.
The people are beginning to wake up to the fact that it is not whether they order the “spaghetti” or the “hamburger” that matters. Maybe it is that “fast food kills”. The past election, I believe, was an attempt to make changes to the political elite and political establishment. Yet, as the new session of the House of Representatives begins, immediately there is a fight on the apparently well-established rules of how a representative is chosen as Minority Leader.
The situation shows members of the political elite fighting for power, not doing their sworn duty to make for a better Philippines. The longer the people are made fools of by this sort of traditional politics, the more their anger will grow and the more likelihood for genuine “People Power” that the political class will not be able to control.
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