We were supposed to comment on the local candidates who filed their certificates for the mid-term elections for the coming month of May. There are seven candidates for Congressman, five for Mayor, two for Vice-Mayor and forty-three for Councilors. However, I came across a very interesting article by TONY LOPEZ, a very respected journalist, news commentator and political analyst in the Philippines, which I am sharing with you about the considerable decline in the quality of Philippine governance over the past six decades. The article comments on the national elections over the past sixty years to which we fully agree, having lived and experienced the glory days of Philippine politics, especially the debates on the hallowed halls of Congress by distinguished gentlemen of the august body, and presently witnessing its deterioration. Hopefully, after reading the article, it shall whet our appetite for the many “parties” of sorts that the candidates will conjure in order to escape prosecution or avoid possible disqualification for campaigning long before the campaign period starts.
With your forbearance, here is the article of TONY LOPEZ entitled “BAD QUALITY” which was published on October 3, 2024 in PhilStar Virtual Reality:
“Over the past sixty years, the quality of Philippine governance has considerably declined.
I am not sure if this deterioration is related to or the consequence of the increasing stupidity of the Filipino.
Today, 75 of every 100 Filipino teeners (those 15 and below) cannot read, cannot write, cannot count beyond 20. They cannot even read nor write their own names. Even if they can read, they cannot understand what they read. They don’t know simple science – or to explain the how and why of simple day to day experiences. In the 2022 tests given by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 75% of the 7,200 Filipino students who took basic tests in reading, math, and science failed. A massive failure.
I am not 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 deaths.
Just 20 families own most of the 286 companies listed in the stock exchange. Only ten families produce half of the Philippine GDP.
Only 100 families have ruled this country in the last 100 years. In the past 65 years, Philippine presidents came from just five families – in a nation of 116 million and 25 million families. Three presidential families have ruled for a total of 55 years.
Along with the drop in the quality of our elected leaders has been a horrendous bloat in the sense of entitlement and impunity of our elected officials.
They treat the government treasury as their private piggy bank. They simply steal and steal big. Up to 40 percent of the budget is stolen, equivalent to P2.5 trillion a year, enough to make the so-called 15 million poor Filipinos cross the poverty line for good.
Our politicians spend taxpayers’ money like there was no tomorrow. But there is a tomorrow usually, for them. That tomorrow is often forever. How else can you explain the inexorable and overwhelming dominance of political dynasties in every election? More than 70 the
During my high school years, usually on a Friday, I would spend considerable time and hard-earned money as a part-time komiks illustrator to go to the Senate in the old Congress. As a kid, after class in the late afternoons, I watched Senate sessions. It was sheer delight.
The senators of the early 1950s to early 1970s did not shout at each other. They dressed well and elegantly. The men strode in the hallowed session hall in bespoke suits. A number wore white, from top to bottom, a visible manifestation of their character and conscience. Debates were polite and substantial. Oratory was brilliant and sonorous. Sarcasm and repartee were subtle but were delivered with such devastating impact the beleaguered felt he was given a mighty uppercut, intellectually. Many times, those with intellectual fortitude or passion for drama simply kept quiet. Those included a brother of a famous president. Or a popular actor.
The 1959-1962 Philippine Senate with 24 members was the epitome of the unmatched quality of our senators of the old days.
More than half of the 24 senators were lawyers. Six were bar topnotchers. Three went to Harvard Law. Another three had law doctorates.”
( TO BE CONTINUED)