Elevate candidates’ qualifications

VERY soon the country will hold another local elections to elect the provincial governor of a province, the board members thereof, the city or municipal mayors and the corresponding sets of councilors.

The local elections are viewed by experts as more importantly filled with suspense and actions. The reason is that such election is local where candidates and the general electorates nearly know each other. In some cases, there will be battles between and among relatives, friends, neighbors, etc.

It will truly be full of actions and drama. Here we see real actions during the campaign period that normally turn tense and hot. Some political followers engage in fighting, bickering, personal attacks over the media and everything there is to fight over.

Even young boys and girls are dragged to campaign contests and many end up getting cash for sort of compensation. Money flows like rivers and fly like birds. Millions of cash are dispensed during the height of the campaign and everybody is indeed happy.

I have attended many Philippine elections and comparing the national and local, the latter has more actions and suspense than the former. It appears the electorates are more involved in the local affair and because they nearly know each other, there is more thrill and heat among them.

Local people are very much concerned of the activities and some of them even engage in physical combat and ambush of political foes.

My suggestion for any election is to elevate the qualifications of the candidates. Not any man in the street can run for public office unless he is certified and qualified. What I mean is for candidates running for provincial governor, one must be a college graduate. The board members must also be college degree holders. Those candidates who do not have such resume under their names should not be allowed to run. Maybe they can do so in the barangay elections.

People who intend to run for city mayor must also hold a college degree. Any four year college course will do. And the city councilors who have to run in the same elections should have at least two years in college education. Educational qualifications below this must be disallowed or they can run in the barangay elections level. This is the behavior of many governments worldwide to make sure only the educated candidates will be available for elections.

With this set up, we shall have leaders who have something in their heads. We have qualified people who can truly represent our government.

We have leaders we can be proud of. For one thing, there will be developments in our governments and society because we are led by people who know how to handle leadership. The time is now to change our attitude. Let us set aside unqualified candidates because they only become nuisance and unreliable any moment of day. Here we shall witness the growth of our country, something we can be proud of forever.