In our previous columns, we quoted extensively on the article of Tony Lopez entitled “Bad Quality” which appeared in the October 3, 2024 issue of PhilStar Virtual Reality and discussed the considerable decline of the quality of Philippine governance over the past 60 years. He is not sure if this deterioration is related to or the consequence of the increasing stupidity of the Filipino. He is not also sure if the depreciation in the quality of our elected leaders is the result of the horrible income inequality among Filipinos. Or the fact that malnutrition is worsening, with 93 kids dying of malnutrition daily (or 34,000 child deaths per day from malnutrition alone).
I also came across an article in The Freeman dated October 22, 2024, written by Atty. Josephus Jimenez entitled “What Matters Most.” In his article, Atty. Jimenez theorized that “our political system’s desperate bankruptcy is the proliferation of actors, actresses, and comedians dominating our legislative and executive branches, including the local government units. The enactment of laws and their implementations are now being entrusted to some people who never studied law or public administration….”
There are more articles and commentaries about the worsening quality of governance in our country and social media is replete with them since the start of the campaign period for the midterm elections.
I am then reminded by the famous quote of Manuel L. Quezon, the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth established under the U.S. tutelage in 1935, who said:
“I would rather have a country run like hell by Filipinos than a country run like heaven by the Americans, because however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.”
President Quezon made that statement when the Philippines was seeking its “independence” from the United States of America which was not yet ready to turn over the helm of government to us because “we were not yet ready for self-governance.”
But through the persistence of our Filipino patriots, with Manuel L. Quezon leading the negotiations with the American government for our independence, their efforts led to the enactment of the Tydings-McDuffie Act (officially the Philippine Independence Act) of the U.S. Congress that established the process for the Philippines to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period.
When the U.S. government finally turned over the government to the Filipinos, on July 4, 1946, our country adopted the democratic system of government laid down to us by the Americans and elected our leaders through periodic elections.
Since the grant of our independence by America, one wonders if our country is now being “run like hell” by our duly elected government officials or are they now leading us on the road to hell.
If at all, as President Quezon went on to state, “…however bad aFilipino government might be, we can always change it.” If indeed, our leaders are leading us on the road to hell, have we ever exerted efforts, through our own individual initiative, to divert our road to perdition by electing leaders who have the qualifications for the office they are seeking, leadership qualities and experience that they would bring to the office, as well as the positions they take on issues?
There have been many projects of well-meaning civic organizations, seminars to educate the masses on the proper selection of candidates for office, candidates’ forums so people could get to know and understand the candidates or the parties’ platform of government, if ever they have any, their opinions on issues affecting the community and the nation. Some NGOs even assisted the Comelec in their task of making elections clean and honest.
But the diversion road towards good governance has a ton of obstacles to overcome, starting with the kind of people who seek office in a democracy, where almost any Tom, Dick and Harry, is allowed to run and gets elected because they have the guns, goons, and gold, or the popularity with the “madlang pipol,” or their family members have no compunction or “delicadeza” in making politics their family business.
Then there are voters who, likewise, think that politics is their chance to partake in the proceeds of graft and corruption of their “ma-abilidad na candidato,” or to return the favor or “utang na loob” to their “patron,” or who just find the election period as entertainment for the year to deflect their attention from the problems and cares of living.
As one exasperated voter who decided no longer to exercise his sacred right to vote in spite of his decades of voting wisely said, “haaay, isumet laeng nga isu iti gobierno uray nu agsukat-sukat iti ibotos mo!”
May we not one day find ourselves burning in hell.
