Conclusion
WHEN Clarence Darrow was a boy, he was told that anybody could become President of the United States.
“I’m beginning to believe it,” Darrow said in a biography of him by American writer Irving Stone.
Darrow may have taken a snipe at William Bryant, a three-time presidential aspirant who defended a law against teaching human evolution in state-funded schools.
Darrow’s words ring true today and in the Philippines, as candidates seeking elected posts in the national government have increased.
For the 2010 elections, some 277 filed their respective certificate of candidacy (COC) for presidential, vice-presidential and senatorial positions. For this year’s voting exercise, that number rose to 321. Of that, 203 were declared as “nuisance” by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“Ordinary folks [believe] they can make a difference, too, in Philippine politics,” political analyst Dennis C. Coronacion said. “That is the nature of our political system.”
The Philippines’s multiparty political system was born after dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos was deposed three decades ago.
After Marcos’s military rule, people had an insight that even inexperienced individuals can lead the country, according to political analyst Prospero de Vera.
Originally, Filipinos tended to elect statesmen, especially during the post-American War era, he explained. After martial law, housewife Corazon C. Aquino was swept into office as the first female president of the Republic.
Our government has a pendulum shift that was impossible to bring back into swing, said de Vera, who is also vice president for public affairs of the University of the Philippines.
Seasoned
FILING a COC is a matter of right. Every Filipino who is eligible for a position in the government has a right to file, as long as he or she meets the requirements. Even the habitual “nuisance candidate” deserves due process, no matter
how many elections they have attempted to be a part of, according to de Vera.
“They logically understand the problems of the country.”
Coronacion believes these candidates, whether tagged as nuisance, but who has not tasted electoral victory, should be given a chance to be voted into office.
It may be a strategic move if we decide to give other kinds of candidates a try, he told the BusinessMirror.
“They are unlike seasoned politicians. This is especially true because if you’re coming from outside Congress, you have not been elected and I think you have a different perspective, a different approach in solving problems.”
Coronacion said he sees unseasoned politicians as “sources of a fresh perspective.”
Likewise, electing these candidates infuses democracy.
“The essence of democracy is that they [politicians] take turns in ruling.” For de Vera, having ordinary people engaging in electoral exercise reflects the deep-seated frustrations over traditional politicians.
“It was recognition that, despite all these brilliant people, life has not dramatically improved,” de Vera said.
“We need an antidynasty law,” to curb the power given to the president of the Philippines, he added.
De Vera said such power is too much.
Systemic
THE Philippines has a presidential system that heightens conflict, according to de Vera.
In the US the only person who can say he was voted upon or that he is the choice of the American people is the president, he explained. The US vice president (VP) is not elected nationwide, and senators and representatives are elected by district.
According to de Vera, even the speaker of the House cannot claim he has a national constituency. There is no Senate president in the US; the VP sits as presiding officer. In the US the president has no equal. The next equal of the president is the speaker, but he is not elected, de Vera explained. In the Philippines, we elect a VP nationwide, as well as vote for senators.
“So you have 24 senators plus one vice president; you have 25 individuals who wake up every day telling themselves, ‘I could do a better job than the president’ because they can also claim a national constituency. Some of them might even get more votes [compared to] the president.”
However, conflict is a characteristic of democracy, de Vera explained. “A characteristic of our democracy that we should accept is that there will always be those who challenge the system.”
The general principle here is that we fought very hard to make sure suffrage universal, he added. “Everyone can vote and has no restrictions based on sex, gender or property. We fought very hard to accomplish that.”
Of course, he explained, nuisance candidates are called such because they present platforms that “put the election process in mockery,” with uncanny political statements that allow them their 15 seconds of fame.
“However, not all those declared as nuisance ridicule the system. Some are declared as so because they lack resources and support to campaign around the country.”
Maturity
WHILE welcome, the conflict embedded in the Philippine political system also reflects its failure to promote social maturity and further develop institutions, according to de Vera.
“The country’s political institutions do not work together to hasten democratic improvement. Some characteristics of our democratic system do not promote societal maturity. Instead, it invites conflict.”
Theoretically, even if the three branches of the government—executive, legislative and judiciary— are seen as equals, when push comes to shove, the executive branch can exert more power than the other two, de Vera explained. One of the problems of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines include embedding too much power in the president, he added.
“The Philippine president is more powerful than the US president because we embedded in the Constitution the powers that centralize authority.”
However, this does not mean if we cannot change our Constitution, we cannot practice our democracy better, de Vera said. There are some things that can be done as we await the Constitution to be amended, including legislating political party reform. “You can incrementally improve our democracy by implementing existing laws and enacting important legislation that will aid our electoral system.”
According to de Vera, the Philippines version of democracy is still far from being mature.
“What we have is a procedural democracy meaning we have the processes in place: universal voting and the percentage of registered voters and people who actually vote are high,”
However, de Vera said the procedures “don’t produce the best choices.”
Likewise, de Vera added that, while procedural democracies have produced political parties, the ones in the Philippines “do not seem to mature over time.”
Likewise, “the institutions and political processes are not as high [in terms of maturity] and respected as those in countries with mature democracies.”
Democracy
MALAYSIA is younger than the Philippines in terms of having been endowed with democracy.
However, this country’s Southeast Asian neighbor has a democratic process considered by de Vera more mature than the Philippines.
That is why Malaysia is considered more prosperous compared to us, he said.
To note, Malaysia’s GDP growth rate in 2014 was at 6 percent, compared to the Philippines’s 6.1 percent, according to World Bank data.
Malaysians do not separate the person from the position, especially in times of addressing national issues, according to de Vera.
“So when the person is attacked, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are plotting to bring him down, because the position is a national priority. The only way to depose a politician is for due process to move.”
Hence, comparing the Philippines, de Vera said, “some of our democratic processes do not hasten a mature democracy.”
For example, we elect our president and our VP separately, according to de Vera. “That does not foster cooperation and platform of the government; it fosters competition. Kasi ang tendency ng Pilipino is they elect the opposites.
Coronacion argues the lack of maturity in the Philippines version of democracy is not because of a failure of democracy itself.
What the country has is a “weak state,” wherein our government institutions and structures have failed to develop, he said. “Political parties do not have a strong stance and the measure of its strength is based on an individual, not as a collective group of people.”
Long way
BOTH de Vera and Coronacion acknowledge there is a flaw in the country’s political system.
“This means we have a long way, a long long way to go before we develop a mature democracy,” de
Vera said.
“Our dreams of becoming a great, rich nation, democracy has failed to deliver that,” Coronacion said. “But I am still optimistic. All we need to do is institute reform [in the political system].”
For Coronacion, that means enacting a law deterring dynasties from coming into power and further promoting engagement of ordinary Filipinos in the electoral exercise.
Take vendor Jae Legaspi for one. When asked by the BusinessMirror whether he would run for president, he didn’t flinch a pause while drying a pile of plates. “Kung may mababago ako, bakit hindi? [If I can institute change, why not?]”
(With Dennis D. Estopace)
Image credits: Alysa Salen