Saturday, May 05, 2007 Roperos: Democracy at its best By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
YESTERDAY, a friend and compadre from Manila came down to Cebu City in the company of the three senatorial candidates of the Kapatiran Party. My compadre, I think, is the Kapatiran secretary general. He is the same man who was behind the gun ban movement before, Nandy Pacheco. He was aide of then Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez. A deeply religious man, he thinks our country really needs a reform movement that seeks changes not only in our political outlook, but also in our moral values.
In fact, during lunch, the talk was about bringing our politics back to God. Truth to tell, I do think so, too. After what we have gone through since democracy was said to have been restored to our country with the First Edsa, we do need some kind of a God-centered politics. There is really no doubting the fact that this republic’s political tradition needs some retouching, some reformation in order for us to be able to move in one direction, one that solves our national problems, especially the nagging poverty of our people.
It is not enough, really that our candidates, the leader volunteers who want to get our people’s support to vow to uplift our masses if elected. This is an oft repeated “song of promise” by our candidates that is only good during the campaign but forgotten afterwards, especially if the campaign was successful.
Then the promised projects can be shelved, and the supporters could go and be damned. This is what the Kapatiran, my compadre made me understand, is not. It is a party of reform and of God-centered people.
As for our democracy, the underlying ideological structure of our politics, I think at no other time in our history, is it sturdier.
Since it has reportedly been “recovered” after Edsa One, it seems to be in the best of health, in spite of the explosion of political violence now and then, such as the Ilustrisimo slaying last Wednesday right at the provincial capitol grounds. But whatever else others may say about its dynamics, the notion that our democracy is unhealthy or anemic should not be one of them.
The way things are in our republic, the sort of rambunctious mid-term election campaign that is going on speaks so much about the way our democracy is surviving here. What may be needed right now is a collective determination of our electorate to push for a really and truly reformed attitude towards our choice of candidates, and the manner in which we choose them. A positive rejection of dishonesty, vote-buying and cheating during the elections, could well go a long way towards improving the health of our democracy.
We do really need to change our political outlook, if we are to change our national leadership for a stronger, more robust democracy in the country.
The Kapatiran, cannot do it alone. The task should be a collective responsibility for all of us.
