Philippine politics in its infancy

WHILE democracy is very much alive in our country, indicators point that Philippine politics is very much still in its infancy. Our government may have been more than a century old from President Emilio Aguinaldo to now, but there is just very little advancement as with our political maturity. We are still babies in politics. Let me qualify this contention.

First, our political system is very much driven by personality rather than platform. Unlike in the United States and other advanced countries where their politics are divided by conservatives and liberals with very distinct advocacies, political parties in our country do not have defining identities. It is very common for politicians to jump from political parties in a click if it advances their career. This just goes to show that we do not give much value to platforms, instead our choice of leadership are greatly influenced by who is running and how we personally perceive him or her. This also explains why a lot of actors, athletes, and other celebrities win elections even if they know nothing about the duties of the positions they are trying to win.

Even in our choice of president, the ones we have elected for the last three decades were not really the most qualified among those who ran, and most of us were even unfamiliar with their platforms if they ever had, but they won because of the “trust” factor of the masses. People are also more concerned about who to elect instead of what laws to make and then just put the pressure to their representatives to craft them.

Second, elections in local government units are mostly won through vote buying. In fact, vote buying has become the rule instead of the exception. This is also perpetuated by the patronage system when a politician is already in office.

It is a common practice that those who supported a politician during the election are given the priority for job orders in the local government units. If you vote for me, you are assured of a job regardless of whether you have skills or not. And even if you have the best skills in your field, if you supported my opponent during the last election then you will have no place in my administration. This explains why local governments develop very slowly because elected officials are somehow tied to the indebtedness they have to their supporters. If they won’t give in to such, they will surely lose the next election.

Third, the last “Sona” of PNoy showed that his administration focused on “Daang Matuwid” with the belief that “kung walang kurap, walang mahirap.” This says a lot about how we define political success and the level of our struggles in the world of politics. It clearly sets that honesty in serving the public is the key to success. While that may be true to a small extent, it is quite inferior to the paradigm that great development is achieved more through strategic planning and investments of government resources rather than much focus on the work ethics of government officials. Corruption is not the main cause of poverty in our country, although it worsens it. Solving the problem of corruption will not solve poverty -strategic programs would.

It is up to us if we remain politically immature for another century, but with the advancement of telecommunications and mass media, I think people are slowly getting aware of it. And awareness is always the first step.