Fraudulent Filipino Election is a Farcical Circus
The Universe
(May 09, 2004)
IN Olongapo, there is free tooth extraction offered in a square, courtesy of the mayor, and in cities all over the Philippines there is an outpouring of free gifts for the poor. A sure sign that Filipinos vote this week.
Many wonder of it will make any difference to the culture of corruption that leaves 80 million Filipinos trapped in a cycle of poverty.
The US is sending one hundred observers and the EU many more, to see to what extent the election is free, fair and democratic. If they drive past the cemeteries they will notice the tombs plastered with election posters - necessary because even the dead rise and vote here.
They will observe that some candidates join them as they are shot dead when set to win. They will be amazed that an incumbent official wins by 2,000 or more votes than are on the electoral register thanks to his or her overzealous ballot box stuffers. The winner shrugs and is rapturously proclaimed. A sham in a system of cheat or be beat.
All this is the likely scenario since the multimillion dollar tamper-proof electronic vote counting machines were consigned to the warehouse as ‘inappropriate’. Politicians saw their chances of stealing the election diminished by technology.
Western Nations tout the benefits of democracy - one person, one vote, government by the people, for the people, and the majority decision wins the day. It has failed here where the minority elite decides everything. The Philippines has a scarred history dominated by the golden rule – those with the most gold rule.
The election is a struggle between the elite dynastic families, each is led by a powerful patriarch and supported rich cronies. These 200 families control 72 per cent of the wealth of the Philippines.
The campaign is about personalities rather than politics. It is not the most articulate political rhetoric that wins the votes but the most entertaining show. Movie stars and comedians urge the hapless candidates to sway and sing to the crowd desperate for bread and circus.
When an inarticulate, uneducated movie actor is the front runner and the puppet masters backstage are the entrenched elite, then disaster looms.
They concentrate wealth in even fewer hands, with the support of their multinational partners get permits to exploit the natural resources and flood the country with subsided products duty-free. The poor become destitute the rich fabulously richer.
Fr. Shay Cullen is a Columban missionary: PREDA Centre, Kalaklan, Olongapo City. www.preda.org
