Of course, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will adopt a neutral posture on the question of whether the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections should be postponed. Its duty is to conduct such elections as are provided for in the laws, and it is merely appropriate for it to leave the question of the wisdom of those laws to Congress.
Having said that, I have to add that I listened to the arguments for the postponement of the elections and—as a citizen, a voter and a taxpayer—I wasn’t convinced.
Two arguments essentially led the charge: first, the need to extend the term of barangay officials to five years; and, second, the desire for the war on drugs and criminality not to lose momentum. In my opinion, neither cuts the cheese.
I recall no statistical or empirical evidence being presented to prove that a five-year term would be better than a three-year term, other than the vague generalization that a longer term would give officials more time to get their acts together. But if that were the main argument, then why wouldn’t a six-year term be even better than a five-year term? Or, indeed, why wouldn’t a four-year term suffice? In the end, it would seem that five years is nothing more than the sweet spot right in the middle of a second three-year term. A goldilocks compromise, if you will, to satisfy the hankering for more power without prickling the sensitivities of the electorate.
The argument about diverting police attention from the vastly more important business of
pursuing the war on criminality and drugs doesn’t appear to fare much better. It might sound commonsensical to say that the cops have better things to do than secure the elections, until you realize that the elections take all of one day—counting perhaps another—and that cops are, by and large, really asked only to provide police presence to keep the peace. I don’t believe that the Philippine National Police is such a one-trick pony that it cannot pursue its war and maintain order in some schools on election day. After all, both activities are ultimately in the service of the Filipino people.
And then there were the other arguments.
The ban on public works, they say, lasts too long and will be detrimental to public service. This
argument conveniently forgets that, apart from the gun ban, most of the bans in effect for the barangay elections won’t last much longer than about two weeks. I’ve seen public works languish for three times that long even without the benefit of a ban, so what are they talking about? And besides, all bans are subject to exemptions that can—and are often—granted by the Comelec upon proper application.
We could go on in this vein, but sadly, it seems like the question is moot. It looks like the barangay elections—and the SK elections with it—is destined to be shelved.
Too bad.
After the sea change wrought by the national and local elections in May, it would have been nice to see if our electorate could sustain its zeal for change at the level of their communities where, if we’re being
honest, such changes would have been felt most acutely. Instead, our barangays will be left largely untouched, and citizens wanting change out corrupt and inefficient barangay officials will simply be cavalierly told “eh, di kasuhan nyo.”
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James Arthur B. Jimenez is director of the Commission on Elections’s Education and Information Department.