For Those Preparing For The 2028 Elections

The events unfolding all over our institutions are all prepping for the 2028 elections.

TO say that our voters are bobo or bulok (literacy challenged) & blindly loyal to their politician - patron is a matapobre (classist) remark.
We cannot blame the poor & ignorant as this is a derivative of a social system that created poverty and ignorance by those in the center of power & wealth.
But, yes, the ordinary person does not have civil and political consciousness; and because 
there is widespread poverty, the ordinary person will welcome a regime of political patronage and never mind that such governance has an authoritarian tendency. 
In turn, such authoritarian leadership will weaponize the law as a justification of its existence. 

All things equal, people would prefer someone familiar.
People will vote for someone they have access to when they are sick or when they cannot pay school fees or when they cannot pay water and electric bills. Aside from governing through policies & programs for all, politicians must maintain a personal relationship with each voter in the village.

Of course, in this digital age, one can learn the algorithm for connection with most everyone in a way that voters will have online access to the candidate.
Likewise, a candidate may have wider reach & clout by understanding what topics are close to the hearts of the target mass of audience, what formats will catch their attention (i.e., reels, Tiktok, stories, etc.) and connecting content with active & popular like minded links or groups.

Elected officials are deemed source of largesse and no politician has a right to enter politics without the funding wherewithal of one’s own or from some rich patron who may demand behest favors during the politician’s term of office.

Still, election is a methodology of democracy and politics is the institution for crystallizing the people’s will.
Anytime is a good time to imagine how to address both the poverty of democracy & the literal poverty of our people.

The poverty in the rural areas is unspeakable.
It is easy to understand that poor people need the instant calories now to survive and cannot wait for poverty reduction programs that will take time to come their way.
The logic is that governance is the business of government, anyway, and promises of good governance are not edible.

A lot of people believe that whoever is in the reins of government will abuse power.
That we have all the laws and institutions to combat corruption cannot transcend this belief.

Still, oftentimes, justice wins & we in civil society continue with our work so that our communities will have access to social justice towards empowerment.
Always, I tell myself that “hope is the triumph over experience.”

                           A visit at the Day Care Center of Barangay Bandera
                                              at the Island Garden City of Samal 

Electoral Politics: the issue has a name

The stories of the local elections have been the same since time immemorial & election reform programs have not produced desired changes.
It is so deceptively simple and defies many a formula for change.

But, the issue has a name: it is patronage politics.

All things equal, people would prefer something familiar.
People will vote for someone they have access to when they are sick or when they cannot pay school fees or when they cannot pay water and electric bills.
Aside from governing through policies & programs for all, politicians must maintain a personal relationship with each voter in the village.
Elected officials are deemed source of largesse and no politician has a right to enter politics without the funding wherewithal of one’s own or from some rich patron/s who may demand behest favors during the politician’s term of office.
Still, election is a methodology of democracy and politics is the institution for crystalizing the people’s will.

Anytime is a good time to imagine how to address both the poverty of democracy & the literal poverty of our people.

Each morning during the campaign period, I always wake up with people already lining up to see me to solicit funds to defray prescriptions for medicines, or because it is fiesta time in their village or someone wants to ask money for transport or even to pay for water bills.
Most often, I tell them that under election laws, I am allowed to spend only a few pesos per voter.
Later, I delegated this explaining portion to a campaign aide.
Mostly, as we have to be in the campaign track at the crack of dawn, I was simply not available to many voters visiting me because I was going to their homes.

The poverty in the rural areas is unspeakable and during the campaign I was filled with hopes that good governance will make a difference in peoples’ lives.
It is easy to understand that poor people need the instant calories now to survive- even for just a day or two during this election fiesta - and cannot wait for poverty reduction programs that will take time to come their way.
The logic is that governance is the business of government, anyway, and promises of good governance are not edible now.
A lot of people believe that whoever is in the reins of government will abuse power.
That we have all the laws and institutions to combat corruption cannot transcend this belief.
And so, I tell myself that “hope is the triumph over experience.”

Political dynasties are still here with us because scions of politicians born and bred in a political clan are socialized into the ways of both good and bad politics and have more chances of survival.
Not many an ordinary mortal can survive the ways of politics.
Perfect examples of these mortals who cannot survive politics are those who cannot give up their intellectual freedom from the center of wealth and power.

It is a small price to pay that candidates’ privacy are always invaded to the hilt.
For the sanity of the candidate, it will be healthy to have an inviolate sacred space (whether virtual space or real space) where one can retreat and replenish vital energy which is crucial for one to be able to survive the pit of politics.

The solidarity with communities is its own reward.
I felt liking myself more that my work in the development industry has honed my skills to translate the hopes and dreams of simple people towards sustainable solutions to address their condition.
Never mind that the way to them is not a walk in the park and so far removed from one's comfort zone. After all is said & done, I remember feeling inspired when I was with these women & men whose rural homes were far from paved roads.
    ~ Isabelita Solamo