Thursday, January 25, 2007 Escudero: Maturity or stupidity? By Edcer Escudero Wit or without
IT'S election time. On May 14, 2007, we will elect national and local officials - senators, governors, mayors, vice-governors, vice mayors, councilors, congressmen.
Elections mean "happy days are here again," for voters who make it their "business" selling their votes to the highest bidder. You see, in this country, vote buying is a nationwide cottage industry operated seasonally.
In the 2004 senatorial election, the late senator Raul Roco's political party fielded a six-man senatorial ticket - a smorgasbord of media, sports and legal personalities.
Politically inexperienced and with no visible political bases they went about parading themselves with an air of collective braggadocio proclaiming they are the new breed of politicians, some kind of political messiahs out to save a dying democracy. They pinned their chances of winning on their self-hypnotic belief in the political maturity of the Filipino voters. They stressed that the Filipino voter is mature, intelligent and wiser after all these years.
They claimed they are not "trapos"; that they are independent-minded (meaning they are not puppets); that they are servants, not masters of the people (beautiful rhetoric).
However, the results of the election proved that they were dead wrong. They all lost miserably. Their debacle showed that the Filipino voter has not matured and is still a sucker for political gimmickry and come-ons.
As was the case in past senatorial races, voters voted for popular figures, sports and entertainment, sons and spouses of former senators and presidents. The personal qualifications and competences were largely ignored. Strong name recall was the name of the game. Is that political maturity, or stupidity?
Ralph Recto married a movie queen, Vilma Santos, and "rode on her back" on his way to the Senate. His illustrious surname was also partly responsible for his victory. His uncle Claro Recto was a brilliant member of the Senate.
Francis Pangilinan is a political twin of Ralph. He also got married to a movie and television celebrity, Sharon Cuneta, whose tremendous popularity carried him all the way to the Senate Hall. Francis was a complete unknown entity when he ran.
Pia Cayetano ran on a platform of continuity. She pledged to continue the good works of her father, senator Rene Cayetano, a legal luminary. She ran under the administration ticket of President Arroyo. After winning, she ran away from President Arroyo and joined the opposition.
Louise Ejercito, Joseph Estrada's legal spouse, got the sympathy votes of Erap's bailiwick - the masa. Louise's credentials are so inconsequential that it is a crime to address her as senator.
Jinggoy Estrada who, like his father, is charged with plunder, comfortably won a Senate seat in 2004 along with fellow actor Ramon "Bong" Revilla. Their fathers are former tenants of the Senate.
We may not be fully aware of it, but somehow, thru the years, we have developed and perfected a political culture, which we may term as "culture of inheritance". Politicians and their families have institutionalized the belief that an elective political office is a family heirloom that must be passed on to the members of the family. Is this a blessing, or a curse? Either way, democracy is the loser.
This culture of inheritance will again be manifested in the coming 2007 polls. The senatorial line-ups or probable party bets of both the opposition and administration have very familiar names - Benigno Aquino III, Aquilino Pimentel III, Alan Peter Cayetano, brother of Pia, Robert Ace Barbers, Juan Miguel Zubiri, JV Ejercito, bastard son of Joseph, Tessie Aquino-Oreta, sister of Ninoy, Sonia Roco, widow of Raul Roco, Vicente Tito Sotto who, like Tessie, is balik-senado and is again salivating for the P200-million annual pork barrel.
If these people get elected on May 14, we may call the upper chamber of Congress as The Family Chamber. Then later we may convert it into a gas chamber to save this country from political and economic ruin.
