BASED on the calendar of activities, the official campaign period for the candidates of the Sangguniang Kabataan and barangay elections officially kicks off today. The nine-day campaign allows candidates seeking various positions to hold rallies or assemblies and do house-to-house visitations to introduce themselves to the voters. This is what the law says, hypocritically.
Everybody knows that long before the campaign has started, candidates were already roaming around the barangay and busied themselves through holding of dialogs and consultations with the resident-voters. Are they guilty of violating the election law? Yes, they are. But who cares anyway. Everybody's doing the same thing and if the law is strictly applied to them, only a few will qualify for the election.
What's supposed to be the vanguard of honest and fair elections, ironically, has become the tool of wise and clever candidates to circumvent the law. And despite the blatant disregard of the rules, the Comelec seems to be deaf and blind to what is happening on the ground. Or maybe, the agency was rendered inutile by existing laws that vaguely address the problem on "electioneering."
The responsibility to elect qualified and law-abiding officials now lie on the voters. However, the results of elections in the Philippines are often times, if not most of the time, determined by money. Those with resources get elected while defeat is for those who observe and follow the law. It's really unfortunate but that's what elections are in this country. This situation calls on Congress to act swiftly by revisiting the law and make some necessary amendments.
That is, if our congressmen are also wanting fair elections and are willing to let go of their privileges as incumbents which allow them to utilize government resources when they will seek re-election. Can they afford to lose this "built-in advantage" over their rivals? Certainly, most of them cannot.
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Only two barangay councilmen? This was the question raised by some observers upon hearing that the "narco-list" of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency only included two barangay officials as drug protectors in Bacolod City. How about the barangay captains?
Not long ago, four village chiefs in the city were reported to be involved in illegal drug trade. What happened to their cases? Were they already cleared by the authorities?
The release of the so-called narco-list was for the purpose of warning the public against candidates who have been identified as either drug protectors, pushers or users. However, to some people, the number is so conservative. They can hardly believe that only two of 427 barangay officials have participation, directly or indirectly, in the illegal drug activities. Will there be more names or lists coming out in the coming days? Sadly, there is no enough time.