Manny Valdehuesa PONDERING the kind of politics at play today—trapos grandstanding to their hearts’ content, non-performing political parties, shameless candidates, greedy political dynasties—more and more people worry whether the forthcoming elections will do any good. Let’s face it: there is cause for worry. Without reforms, with no one taking the Rule of Law seriously, elections will only yield more of the same. It does seem that the scale of corruption in our politics is already beyond repair. But we can’t just give up. We can’t afford to admit defeat. Too much is at stake. We owe it to our future, to our children, and their generation to try and salvage the situation. Surrender to the corruptors is not an option. And there’s need to stand up for others too weak, too bewildered, or too clueless to put up a fight. How to do so is the challenge to the righteous. First is how to rouse one’s self and team up with the like-minded: resolving to affirm citizen responsibility, appealing to idealism, awakening individual and collective sovereignty. Only if citizens, individually and collectively, leave the system the way it is will it remain corrupt. After all, there is no lack for reform-minded civil society groups. What’s lacking is a coherent vision backed by committed leadership. The advocacy groups have but to go beyond their parochial boundaries and pull together in order to make a difference. A focus on Rule of Law, honesty, people empowerment, and accountability will do wonders for reforms. They can sharpen their target by dwelling on 1) the conduct of elections, 2) the essentiality of honoring election laws rigorously, and 3) make it clear that malefactors will be held mercilessly accountable. The irreducible minimum on such a values-oriented campaign would be to hammer into the minds of candidates their obligation to be honest, fair, and honorable. If they persist in doing wrong, civil society must not hesitate to show indignation, banishing them from the electoral arena if necessary. People must be insistent and ruthless and righteously indignant! Clear messages and affirmative acts affect behavior and conscienticize people. People need constant reminding that a vote is sacred and shouldn’t be taken lightly. The sanctity of a vote needs to be emphasized in many ways and repeatedly drummed into people, groups, and the community until the ethos permeates everyone’s inner consciousness. There must be particular attention to the educationally challenged or undereducated sectors: the most vulnerable to corrupt campaigners, most susceptible to temptation. It’s a job for the role models in the community: reaching out to them, making them understand what their vote means, what it represents, how it expresses their values or their wishes for community and country. They must understand that voting for someone confers power and privilege to a person just like themselves, that this includes access to the people’s treasury, which is easily abused—and why a candidate’s character, honesty, and reliability are essential considerations. Unless they do, what hope is there for our society? (Manny Valdehuesa is PPI-Unicef outstanding columnist awardee, author of books on governance, and national chairman/convenor of the Gising Barangay Movement Inc. valdehuesa@gmail.com)