ON THE CONDUCT OF A SOCIO-POLITICAL MOVEMENT.

The Peoples Primaries is a socio-political movement that has arisen to counter the prevailing traditional politics in the Philippines. It is led by middle and upper class people whose knowledge and experience of politics in the country can be said to be full of idealistic frustrations. Nonetheless, their experiences are a good basis for the creation of this idea. It was Andy Rosales, a former candidate for mayor of Quezon City who broached the idea during a discussion of righteous governance at Forbes Park where Among Ed Panlilio was a speaker.

Since then, PP has evolved as a concept and now is undergoing thorough discussions on how to implement it with Ricky Xavier, Philip Camara, and Andy Rosales at the helm. Their meetings with the Movement for Good Governance of which some of them are also members have been fruitful in terms of logistical support.

The main reason for the the birth of PP is mainly to gather the Filipino people around the idea of being the central role players in the 2010 elections. Hence, groups are now coalescing in order to strengthen the movement and bring it to its proper conclusion, that of electing people-nominated candidates into positions of political power.

What could insure the success of the movement is the firm commitment of organizers and the people to this idea. It should be a living, breathing idea till the end and not just any kind of fashionable term to be bandied about, for PP is a process that would revolutionize the whole political structure in the country. Instead of party officials dictating who should and should not run, the people will be engaged already in the process of nominating the candidates, campaigning for them and getting the total if not the majority of the population to supporting and voting for them.

Failure of this movement will only arise if certain rigid rules are set up that could alienate many organizations, individuals, and those candidates themselves who could always flee to the arms of traditional parties. Some real barriers exist like the co-optation of leaders, repression by the government to disrupt the process from being implemented such as the bombing incidents that could scare away the members and potential members from meeting together. On the whole however, the people like the idea of being part of the process.

It is already half of July, and we have only ten months to go till election day in May 2010. How far has PP gone? With 52 provinces, and 7,100 islands, how many of the people have heard of the PP at all?

Perhaps the PP will be able to launch several candidates from the national to the local positions; hopefully, the organizers could reach as many people as possible in the quickest time possible. The people could only do nothing but support the whole exercise as it is putting justice in their hands.