A proposal for change

Batas Mauricio

GUILLERMO Cunanan, former general manager of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1966, and an active leader of the Association of Generals and Flag Officers (Agfo), asked me some time ago to comment on a document he entitled “A Proposal for Change in Governance.”

I am unaware why Cunanan would want a comment from a lawyer-columnist-broadcaster like me, but I considered it an honor to be even asked my opinion on a matter that the Philippines and the Filipinos clearly needed to ponder on, especially because it affects their lives and the lives of their families as well, here and in the near future.

Or, perhaps, Cunanan and whoever may have been with him in coming out with that proposal had somehow read, or have become aware of, my advocacy of constantly reminding our people of some biblical and spiritual guidelines on electing our political leaders, right here in this column, that he considered me worthy to say something about what they have in mind.

Well, whatever the reasons may have been, I wish to share the first part of the proposal with our readers today, particularly because it explains why Cunanan and those working with him believe that there must be a radical change in our country’s political system.  “It is treason not to do anything about our country’s continuing journey to destruction,” Cunanan intoned.

Read on: “The Philippine election system, as has been widely acknowledged, is a flawed system that produces mostly dishonest and selfish government leaders. It is flawed not only in the sense that the counting of votes is conducive to rampant manipulation.

“Our present system also essentially requires every candidate to spend an unreasonably huge amount of money for his campaign. A presidential candidate, for example, necessarily has to set up a huge campaign network that requires enormous amount of money to run effectively. So does every senator, congressman and governor.

“First in the mind of every newly elected politician is how he shall recover his election expenses. After he has recovered his investments through illicit and immoral use of his newly acquired power, he then works to similarly generate funds for the next elections. By this time, he would have lost all his scruples.

“Once he has saved enough to ensure his re-election, stealing would have become a habit. He then goes on to endlessly acquire more and more, in order to continuously satisfy a luxurious lifestyle he has, by then, made a part of his social and political status.

“Since almost all of our political leaders go through this route of political spending, cheating and stealing, we continuously suffer from corrupt leadership. After all, what can we expect of a nation led mostly by thieves and cheats?”

• •

Why are there so many Filipinos wanting to run for political office? It is because of the opportunity to get rich, for the upstarts, and to get richer for those who are already financially well-off.

There is simply too much money in government, so that  even those who ran wanting to serve  initially inevitably find themselves unable to resist the temptation and allure of bribes offered by unscrupulous businessmen for big government projects once they get elected.

And many Filipinos being fake and spurious Christians–or Christians only in words and not in deeds and in motivations–it is easy for anyone wanting politicians to do something for them to prod those politicians to act one way or the other. Unless Filipinos become true and sincere Christian believers, therefore, our country will remain led by the corrupt, by the plunderers, and by the abusive.

• •

Will someone please tell me why no one seems able to compel the Commission on Elections to return the safety features of the computer machines our country is going to use for the 2016 presidential elections? More importantly, can anyone tell me why the Comelec can afford to brazen it out in its refusal to return those safety features?

Undeniably, with the computer system now in place for the 2016 elections—which was the very system that was used in installing President Aquino in 2010 and in proclaiming his senatorial candidates as 60% victors in the 2013 mid-term elections–there is absolutely  no way for voters to know whether their votes were counted or not.

Surely, this system is a fool-proof recipe for poll fraud and cheating, because no one–not even the candidates themselves–can have proof of who the people voted for. Everyone will have to simply accept what the Comelec will say. This makes me wonder why no candidate–especially those running for the presidency–is doing something about this.

• •

The case of former congressman Lito Sarmiento who died just recently while testifying in court against the computer cheating which he said deprived him even of his own vote in his own polling precinct in 2013, is a case in point.

Since Sarmiento did not receive a confirmation from the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine where he inserted his ballot as to who he voted for, the official tally from that machine and from his own precinct showed he did not receive even his own vote!

This is the fraudulent system this present Comelec is going to use again in 2016. This is the kind of cheating which all Filipino voters should expect from this Comelec all over again. I wonder why Comelec is so thick-faced in insisting on this fraudulent scheme of computerized voting? Who is behind this, really?

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com