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Saturday, March 27, 2004
Editorial: On with the show
So candidates for local posts, after they were reined in by election rules, are up and running? All the pretenses about not campaigning are off; they’re now removing all the stops.
As expected, the start of the local campaign period was more fiesta-like than that at the national level. This is because local elections are always heavily contested.
While voters have actually been wooed months before (when radio block timers invaded the air lanes)—or years before if you consider officials that started their politicking on Day One of their incumbency—this time the ballgame is different.
The noise is being raised several decibels higher, and the volume of the muck raked have increased several fold. From now on, every effort by candidates to win has to be amplified.
Through all these, the ideal thing for voters to do is to separate the grain from the chaff, the substance from the form, the truth from the lie and half-truths. Which is a very tall order, really.
Then there is the matter of looking into the quality of a candidate. It would be good if a candidate possesses all the qualities we want and is required. But nobody is perfect.
Thus, the dilemma: Should the stress be on the candidate’s administrative skills or should it be on his/her relationship with people? Would you choose a candidate with good qualification but is abusive or would you prefer the less qualified but has the heart for the masa?
Would you rather give primacy to personal relation by voting for a neighbor or friend even if he/she lacks qualification or is corrupt, or give more stress to qualification and thus junk less qualified candidates even if they are your friends or neighbors?
Indeed, making the correct choice is difficult and voters needs all the inputs—the grain, not the chaff; the substance, not the form; and the truth, not the half lies and half-truths--to help them arrive at the right decision.
It is in this context that voters should utilize the campaign period.
Ecleo case
Lost in the din of the campaign is the inhibition of Regional Trial Court Judge Generosa Labra from the parricide case against Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association divine master Ruben Ecleo Jr.
This is an important development given the flak Labra got after she allowed Ecleo to post bail and the criticisms she received from Ecleo’s lawyers after she delayed the implementation of her decision.
This should prod those concerned not to let go of their vigilance.
(March 27, 2004 issue)
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