Elections Reimagined

When we conduct electoral campaign and voters' education, we usually start with a discussion of the national and local situation. Then, it is followed by a discussion of our vision of our ideal society, concepts of good governance and democratic politics and then finally by a discussion or a commitment to lead or contribute to the attainment of short and long term strategies to reach the vision. At some point, voters also need to be introduced to the new automated election computerized technology. As the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has warned, the poll automation would not totally prevent cheating and therefore we have to organize ourselves around creative ways of safeguarding our votes.

The change politics movement is feeling confident about its ability to promote clean and free elections towards good governance and genuine development. The current hurdles or barriers to achieving these are not really that insurmountable. For it is not difficult to outbid a corrupt way of governance. We used to think that to be able to join the elected bureaucracy, one has no choice but to dip in bad politics first because this is the only way of winning. This kind of thinking undermines the voter or takes advantage of the hungry voter. How is the hungry voter taken advantaged of? The many ways are not unknown : the politician takes advantage of existing local government structures like the barangay leaders as the purveyor of patronage and largesse. The roads, the water system, and other programs like health, housing, education or Philhealth insurance which are actually part of governmental function are communicated and marketed as part of patronage. This is the theme of the current television infomercial of government officials. A variation of the theme is how the person (who is planning to run for a government position) is best able to have feelings of empathy with the poor and thus will work for the poor because one came from the ranks of the poor. We need to ask ourselves whether we are contented with our current condition of poverty with such government officials for decades now. Urgent cash donations just before the elections have been a practice for the longest time now and that is why they say candidates need so much funds to win. What is pathetic is for everyone to say that this is a reality that is difficult to change. The voters are rounded up to a place after the voting for confirmation or extraction of proof that the voting was indeed according to the terms of the vote buying transaction. As the “dagdag bawas” victims have sworn, the cheating is also found in the canvassing of ballots at different levels. With automation, the mechanism of cheating will take on a different form as the computerized counting is cumulatively straightforward and at once.

Half of the entire Filipino population are poor due to failed policies and corrupt governance. As citizens, we have been so used to traditional feudal patronage politics and this has hampered development and good governance. To re-imagine development is to change corrupt patronage politics towards a more democratic and participative politics involving communities. One important strategy is peoples’ policy agenda building : drafting of a peoples’ policy & legislative agenda towards meaningful poverty reduction programs such as asset reform and food security. This agenda can be presented to candidates and citizens can be organized around monitoring government compliance of these election promises.