WHAT is more dangerous than a politician? A politician who is a businessman. These are lines from a classic movie I watched many years back. And they have been etched in my head. I think I owe this column to myself this week. Something I have always shared with many but never actually wrote about.
Anyone who wants to apply for a job will always shell out a few hundreds to get it. Even when you apply as clerk, you need to buy a set of new clothes (or even from the ukay-ukay) to use for the interview, and then you pay for printing your biodata and jeepney fare going to the interview site.
For a managerial position, you may have to spend more for a black suit. Probably, spend more for a smart virtual portfolio to show your target company. In the minds of both the clerk and the manager, either in the public or private sector, whatever amount they will cough out will surely be worth it once they get their first paycheck. That is the logical flow. But has anyone really tried to understand how it is to apply for the position of councilor, vice mayor, mayor or governor or even higher positions? I asked that because I see these positions as work, as a job - an opportunity to serve others, and to use your knowledge and skills.
In major cities, candidates spend from 1 million to 500 million pesos or even higher. Even in small towns, candidates spend millions. There is no logic to that - spending a hundred times more than what one will earn from a monthly salary that is basically less. Unless the one running is a billionaire or millionaire philanthropist with a strong sense of service that he or she is willing to give up all his or her personal money. So we ask the next question, why spend millions to earn a political seat? There are many logical answers that we continuously refuse to accept because it is more convenient to accept motherhood statements like “para sa bayan”.
In the Philippines, a political position gives one almost unbridled power - power to control and regulate businesses and competition, grant incentives, cash assistance, financial and material resources that do not belong to you, collect taxes and fees from citizens, enjoy travels and benefits that no clerk or even manager can enjoy. This power begets more power and influence. A hundred million investment during the elections for a salary of about a million per year for 3 years just doesn’t make sense.
Sadly, part of the system are the voters. On election day, the roads are filled with them walking around looking for buyers of their votes. Yes. Unashamedly. My supporters tell me how they would reach out for my sample ballot and look at it from all sides – waiting for something to drop from it or expecting something else stapled to it. They even return these sample ballots back in disgust – saying there is no money attach to it. Twistedly, many people even want me to feel guilty about the fact that there is no money attached to all my sample ballots since 2004.
Who can put the entire blame on politicians when this kind of voters exist? There is no turning point for our country and our city unless we all do some serious introspection.
A city councilor in Bacolod earns more than 100,000 pesos in salary, something not even many managers can earn. For 3 years, that is about 3.6 million. There are around 250,000 voters in Bacolod and by law a councilor can only spend 3 pesos per voter during election time or a total of 750,000 pesos. That is a decent cap. Without vote-buying and exorbitant political advertisement rates, that amount can buy decent campaign materials and feed a few campaign supporters who are even mostly volunteers. But this is not always the reality.
Despite many voters in many cities claiming having received thousands of pesos and many citizens reporting the presence of suspicious queues of people lining up during election day, authorities, when interviewed by media, claim there is not any vote-buying. They know they are lying. People know they are lying. Yet a lie becomes a standard, and acceptable. From the very day we elect our leaders – lying becomes a standard. How then can we expect not to be governed with lies?
There can be no change. Regardless of who is elected – if this is how they are elected – the same lack of accountability will persist. To land a job as a public servant is too costly. Unless one has a personal wish to live as a pauper all his or her life, this is not a job for any self-respecting individual. The only way out is to choose leaders who are willing to destroy that system and all systems that perpetuate patronage politics and create key performance indicators (KPIs) for public service. My dream is to see the new generation getting their bearings and stepping up now. It is now their time to choose – to perpetuate the same system of choosing leaders or to deviate from it.