As the world kept watch the stunning election of Sen. Barack Obama as the 44th US President, Filipinos were struck with awe and disbelief with the political maturity of the American electoral process and the speed of the counting of elections returns.
In a traditional concession speech; after his defeat, Sen. McCain graciously said in part “I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.”
For his part, the youthful Chicago senator in savoring his victory said in part, “The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you: We as a people will get there.”
In contrast, the dire reality in the Philippines is not even close to what the world has witnessed in the last US presidential polls as peaceful and well-organized process. Here, does anyone remember a time when there were no assassinations and violence during election campaigns? No intimidation and all tricks from Pandora’s Box?
Prevalent hearsays indicate that come 2010, voting machines will be in use in the country to facilitate an early and quick projection of winners. That is a good starting point to curtail if not to get rid of fraud assuming that everything is fair and square in using the machine. However, who can forget the one Filipino student who wrote a thesis on computer virus years ago? He was also the one who authored one of the most devastating computer viruses in history that paralyzed global computer traffic sending some US military establishments to their feet. Since most if not all of the candidates are millionaires if not billionaires, they can easily afford to hack voting machines and overturn elections results by hiring unscrupulous talents to do the job for their evil self-interest. It is an open secret that “everything is possible” in this country.
During the campaign, Americans were barraged with roadmaps and blueprints on what each presidential candidate intends to accomplish as President thereby giving the electorate a fair chance to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonists. Executive willingness and other fortuitous factors remain to be seen whether campaign promises are delivered or abnegated. In any political exercise, campaign promises are the hope of the governed long immersed in an unpopular administration unresponsive on the writings of the wall. The citizenry not only deserve a better government and leaders but are entitled to them in an ever-changing environment and world order.
While flat-forms are also heard when candidates do their political sorties here, ingredients of arrogance and mud-slinging are sine qua non. I am not saying that mud-slinging was totally absent in the last US polls. For wearing a $150,000 regalia, Mrs. Palin was scoffed only to say later that that was furnished by the Republican organization. Mr. Obama was also erroneously branded as cuddling with “terrorists” because of his past association with radicals in the 60s. His place of birth (citizenship?) was also in question although he was born in Hawaii. He was also said to belong to the Muslim faith, a faith sneered by many Americans since 9-11. How could a Senator in the US Senate be branded and ridiculed as such? Even if Mr. Obama, a Christian, for the sake of argument, is a Muslim; is the White House exclusively for Christians? The United States is a secular state and the freedom of worship is guaranteed by their Constitution.
Here, anyone can run for President. The most interesting personality last elections were Mr. Victor Wood without mentioning the good-looking movie idol, Fernando Poe, Jr.
In the Philippines, issues affecting the livelihood of the people and the country are only secondary if not tertiary. The best qualifications of a Philippine politician are not educational attainment, meritorious achievements, integrity and acumen but his/her looks and/or possession of “3Gs”. For this reason, we missed excellent Presidents that we never had in the persons of Sen. Raul Manglapus, Sen. Jovito Salonga and Sen. Raul Roco --- all intellectuals with tested political integrity. Instead of delving pressing issues confronting us we instead resort into mud if not dung slinging to the delight of others as they do in watching toilet films.. These are signs of immaturity. In the States, what is expected from elected officials is for them to make the system work for their country and people. Here, the system must work for the personal aggrandizement of officials.
Presidential elections is around two years away but this early, we hear “presidentiables” and probably soon, we hear the anointed one of Mrs. Arroyo as her successor. We see if we are dumb to accept Mrs. Arroyo’s “manok” or be intellectually rebellious by emulating the American pattern in choosing officials based from issues that make the country move forward and now backward.
“Change” has come to America although it is too soon to spell out what change could that be. In the Philippines, change came in 1986 right in EDSA and again in 2001 but we preferred to go to our old ways. Change can come again in 2010 and hopefully, like the Vietnamese who suffered the venomous fangs of war but now a country to watch for economic miracle, we learn lesson from them that we suffered a lot and enough from our idiocy and stubbornness and the only logical measure for us to rise from the dirt is to change.
When change knocks, are we ready to open the door or slam it?-30-
(Written days after the last US Presidential elections.)
No comments:
Post a Comment