by PAGBABAGO! People’s Movement for Change
Filipinos eagerly await the May 2010 elections. The latter, after all, mean the end of the Arroyo administration that has become notorious for, among others, extrajudicial killings, brazen electoral cheating, corruption, a sinking economy and the surrender of national sovereignty.
However, there are fears that the elections may not push through or fail by design. The latter can take place due to a breakdown in the first-ever automated electoral system (AES); heightened election violence and massive fraud; or both. Such scenarios could render the results of the elections questionable and invalid. They could also lead to serious disputes and protests and worse, the proclamation of undeserving, fraudulent winners.
This failure of elections could be used as an excuse to impose emergency rule or martial law and the consequent perpetuation of the Arroyo administration in a hold-over capacity or heading a “transition government” (as propounded by Defense Secretary Gonzalez). There could be renewed attempts to change to a parliamentary form of government wherein Mrs. Arroyo, banned under the 1987 Philippine Constitution to seek another term as President, will become Prime Minister.
And even if the elections push through without a hitch, the prospects for a significant change in government direction and actuations are dimmed by the fact that Mrs. Gloria Arroyo is running for Congress in her hometown district in Pampanga. The Arroyos and their political allies are trying their best to get a substantial number of seats to allow her to capture the Speakership of the House of Representatives (HOR). If and when this happens, we could expect the push for Charter change to shift to a parliamentary system of government. At the minimum, the Arroyo faction also aims to control a formidable bloc in the HOR after the elections to thwart all attempts to make Mrs. Arroyo and other high government officials and cohorts accountable for their crimes against the people.
Unfortunately, the numerous Opposition candidates are disappointingly far short of presenting themselves as truly different from the incumbent regime in terms of track record, platform, character traits and style of leadership.
More ominously, it is becoming clear that this coming elections carry with it not only all the hallmarks of previous undemocratic electoral exercises in this country but their further worsening. These include the following:
- Only candidates with huge financial resources are able to launch effective political campaigns. The role of big corporations, foreign and local, the landed elite and political dynasties in determining the outcome of elections is more entrenched than ever. Administration candidates using government resources and the war chest of the ruling party, Lakas-NUCD-Kammpi, have an unfair advantage. Candidates who are already in office, backed by major media outlets or endorsed by celebrities, also have a formidable edge over those with only modest means for launching their campaigns.
- The people are faced with limited choices as majority of the candidates either come from or are supported by the different sections of the ruling elite. Consequently, there are no major policy and program differences that can distinguish them from each other and the campaigns tend to revolve around their personalities, pedigrees, supposed credentials, claimed achievements and hollow promises. Pressing issues like land reform, national industrialization, an independent foreign policy and human rights are glossed over or reduced to lip service.
- Despite the government’s claim of going after the “private armies” in time for the May elections, the military, police and paramilitary forces, together with assorted goons of politicians, still have the means to violate the democratic rights of the people, including their right to elect their leaders freely and without duress. The military and police have been used to instigate terror in rural and urban poor communities and prevent voters from electing certain progressive candidates in the guise of counter-insurgency. On the other hand, the “Hello Garci” affair exposed Mrs. Arroyo’s use of Comelec and military/police officials to commit wholesale fraud in the 2004 presidential elections. None of those involved have ever been seriously investigated, much less prosecuted. In 2006, the original private armies of warlord clans all over the country were legitimized by the Arroyo regime as “civilian volunteer organizations” or CVOs through EO 546. They subsequently expanded and built up a huge arsenal of weapons. Not only were the CVOs harnessed for counter-insurgency, they acted as private armies of Mrs. Arroyo’s allies in imposing absolute control over their respective fiefdoms and delivering fraudulent election victories for Mrs. Arroyo and her candidates. The Ampatuans in Muslim Mindanao exemplified this abhorrent relationship.
It is important for our people to be equipped with the necessary information and tools to understand the general context and political environment in which they are being asked to choose their next leaders. They should understand the possibilities and limits of an election as a democratic exercise. Given this, a set of People’s Criteria in choosing candidates can act as an educational and liberating tool rather than a means for foisting illusions and generating frustration and cynism among the people.
The coming elections must be a means to finally get Mrs. Arroyo out of Malacañang, elect pro-people, patriotic and democratic candidates, raise the people’s awareness and heighten their capability to fight for democratic rights and for meaningful reforms beyond May 2010.