PHILIPPINE POLITICS -- BLURRED AND CLEAR

Now we can see the color of the political landscape of our country. The ones who hog the limelight are people coming from the elite, the moneyed class, those who have strong connections with people who hold the purse of the country. Who can afford to move around, to campaign complete with a long entourage, with banners and streamers, with matching colored uniforms whether tee shirts or blazers, and whose jingle can be heard every ten minutes on the radio?

********************* Folks, if anyone of you has no money, but wants to run, does it mean you should give up your dream of running for a position so you can help our compatriots? Of course not. Now is the time for us to pressure the Comelec to abide by the law that tells it to inform the people about all the candidates running for both local and national elections, to tell them the backgrounds of these people, to hold meetings and show the people the faces of these candidates, whether in person, or through VCDs and any audio-visual material. The Comelec owes the people an explanation why they have chosen them for them to select the leaders that they want.

********************* What is frustrating about the Comelec is that it purports to be the messiah of Philippine politics, but later on we know that it s merely a conduit for both good and rotten candidates to get to sit in the bureaucracy. For good or ill, it has become a periodic agent, not of real change -- change of faces, but not the chains that bind us.

******************** The Comelec is the culprit in the blurred lines dividing gangsters and officials in our country. They try to appear blameless, mouthing the laws that everybody should abide by on radio and tv but in reality they are not being obeyed, not even by a single candidate. Everybody is presenting his and her faces and names in public to make it recall during voting time.


******************** How should we act now? My friends in the Democratic Party of the Philippines, Bal Falcone tells me to file cases at the Ombudsman against these people. But we know Mercedita Gutierrez, don't we? She does not and has not lift a finger to deal with any case that concerns a celebrity, much more so the Comelec who could hold her hostage should she or her relatives run for a position in the future.

******************* This is how topsy-turvy our politics is -- from the time people present themselves as candidates to the time they get elected, and handle their posts.

******************* I would like to think that ethics should be taught to children as early as 4 or 5 years old, most especially in high school, when the teenagers are already one or two steps to adulthood as they seek role models for themselves. Ethics should cover relationships within the family, the community and the larger society. The lessons should focus on sticky situations where the students will be analyzing what particular actions they should do or say should they find themselves in them. For example I left my bag at a tricycle one evening. Hurriedly, I went to the gas station where I took it. Upon arrival, the people there told me not to worry because the bag had been found.

********************* Then the young boy of about 14, came out of a barung-barong and gave me my bag. As I could not find my wallet which contained my paper bills, I gave him coins worth about 50 pesos. The teenagers around him said, "Barya lang?" Then the young boy approached me and said the same thing. I told him, "Mabuti nga, binigyan pa kita. Nagmagandang loob ka sa akin, kaya binigyan kita ng pangmeryenda mo. At saka, bakit hindi mo binalik sa bahay ko e alam mo naman kung saan ako nakatira?" Then I added a 20 peso bill to the coins.

********************* That was the 2nd time a tricycle driver from the same station returned to me my bag. I am now thinking of getting the barangay to give them an honorable citation together with the public to emphasize the value of being honest and truthful, of returning what is not their property. I shall do this within the next few weeks.

******************* Yes, ethics can be taught even in small situations like that, making those who had little education understand that moral values are worthwhile possessing. Hopefully, they would understand that voting also should be wrapped up in values -- to make us feel safe, comfortable and protected, that the next leaders shall take care of us well through the period of their terms.

********************* For after all, what is being human but knowing that we live among people and that there are still humane values that we must abide by. It is not always a competition to win, but a way of relating with people with hearts, minds and bodies. May the most ethical candidates win.

By Wilhelmina S. Orozco