Filipino Elections are All Showbiz and No Sense
The Universe
(January 18, 2004)
Election fever is
gripping the Philippines and this year it is of particular interest to
overseas Filipinos. They have voting rights for the first time.
How many will vote is anybody's guess. The most competent candidate, Raul Roco is a voice for genuine change but his voice is drowned by the showbiz personalities running for the presidency this May.
There will be plenty of entertainment provided. Candidates have to dance and sing to win the popular vote. Corruption will be the most important issues during the election. Not because the candidates are promising to eliminate it, but because many of them will be practising it to fund their election campaigns.
The entertainment is also provided by a popular movie star Fernando Poe Junior, whose real name is Ronald Allan Poe. He is running for the presidency and wisely dropped Ronald from his name many years ago, it being associated with that plastic clown sitting outside every McDonald’s.
The last elected president, matinee idol Joseph Estrada, nurtured a screen image of the lone hero battling the corrupt oppressors of the poor - until he was overthrown in a church supported, non-violent rally and Mrs. Macapagal installed. He is being charged with plunder.
His friend Poe Junior has a similar heroic image. His millions of adoring fans believe him to be the man who can save them. He is expected to win and Fernando Poe Junior will surely pardon Estrada.
In the Philippines, political parties have no fixed platforms. They prefer to promote personalities that have winnable status and who will feather their collective nests.
Political dynasties dominate Philippine politics. Despite a constitutional ban on them, they remain in power to perpetuate the system that benefits them most. It is this circus that brings a social commentator like Leandro Coronel, a former spokesperson of the World Bank to write: “It’s the corruption, petty and massive that’s the main cause of this country’s ruin”.
Of the politicians he says: “Many of them are greedy for material riches. Many others are greedy for power. All of them are simply greedy.
“The oligarchies, the bankers, the industrialists, the media moguls, the oil cartels, the big investors, the giant retailing chains the gambling lords and even the Church leaders – they are our feudalistic masters. They dictate our lives, our destinies”.
There is always hope that a new sense of national dignity, and the dream of a just and prosperous Philippines will emerge with leaders of integrity to make it happen. However, there are always empty stomachs as well.
