The circus

The Commission on Elections has found it necessary to urge politicians not to turn the filing of certificates of candidacy or COCs, which starts today, into a circus.

But of course Philippine politics is a circus. And elections often simply validate structural dysfuntion and the rot in politics. We like to think that the high turnout (an average of about 80 percent) in all Philippine elections reflects the Pinoy desire for change through a free vote. But it can also be a vote for the status quo, encouraged by politicians who want to hold power forever.

The tuwid na daan or straight path could have made clean elections a legacy, starting with legislation to regulate campaign finance – the root of all corrupt deals in this country. But even daang matuwid needs to raise funds for the Liberal Party, whether through willing donors, or by awarding multimillion-dollar sweetheart deals in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) to LP fund raisers.

The 2016 presidential race is shaping up to be one of the most toxic since the 1986 snap elections. There’s always hell to pay when so much bad blood is generated in a campaign, and the nation almost always suffers from the poisonous divisiveness.

Nations prosper when there is a strong sense of identity, of belonging to a single team that’s competing with the world. In such countries, personal interests end where national interest begins. The prevailing attitude is that what’s good for the nation is good for the individual. We have seen this in Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, and we’re seeing its strong manifestation in China. Thailand has it, but in recent years the nation has become politically polarized, and we’re seeing the consequences.

In our country, only Fidel Ramos espoused a “Team Philippines” attitude. Team building is impossible with the ongoing take-no-prisoners fight for the presidency. After this bitter battle, I’m afraid we’re in for a period of political instability.

*      *      *

Limited to a single six-year term, the president is supposed to be a leader of all Filipinos, able to rise above partisan considerations and unconcerned about popularity when the nation needs to swallow bitter pills.

Instead the final months of President Aquino will be focused on getting his anointed successor elected. P-Noy will have to work harder than he did campaigning for himself in 2010, and it is sure to have an impact on governance. The anointed is depending heavily on others rather than his own merits to win in 2016. 

P-Noy’s endorsement gave the LP’s Mar Roxas a dramatic boost in the surveys, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome Sen. Grace Poe’s lead, and Roxas is still in a statistical tie with Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Roxas could win by default, becoming the last candidate standing if Poe is disqualified and the VP is also dismissed and permanently barred from holding public office for corruption.

The Binay scenario is not farfetched. Perhaps it’s just coincidence, but the Office of the Ombudsman seems to work with impressive speed when opposition members or enemies of Roxas (such as disgraced Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima) are the respondents.

Corrupt officials do deserve to be dismissed from their posts, imprisoned and permanently barred from government service. Of course if this were applied equally, without partisan considerations, it could decimate the ranks of Congress and local government units, cripple the Cabinet, and shut down the Bureau of Customs where personnel laugh at daang matuwid.

It could correct impressions of selective justice if the ombudsman would also speedily dismiss and bar from public office administration officials in connection with the Disbursement Acceleration Program, which the Supreme Court has ruled to be unconstitutional.

The ombudsman also excluded LP president and Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya from charges related to the award of a $150-million MRT maintenance deal to a firm whose officials include the uncle of the MRT general manager at the time, Roxas’ aide Al Vitangcol. Abaya had signed the deal, which is surely linked to the current woes of MRT commuters. If Abaya was too new in the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to know better, his predecessor Roxas should get the blame.

The same group was accused of trying to extort $30 million from a Czech train supplier. That three-year-old case has been archived by daang matuwid. While Vitangcol has been forced to leave the MRT, there is no order permanently barring him from holding public office.  He could return to the MRT in the next administration. If our columnist Jarius Bondoc is getting accurate data, the same group represented by an LP fund raiser continues to win lucrative contracts in the DOTC.

*      *      *

If Binay is eliminated, the LP must still contend with Sen. Grace Poe, who has openly expressed her belief that Roxas’ camp is behind the detailed documentation on the questions regarding her citizenship.

Like the corruption issue raised against Binay, the citizenship question is a legitimate one that any person aspiring for the presidency must answer.

Even if Poe resolves her own citizenship issue, she must also come clean on the loyalties of her husband and children. There can’t be any iota of doubt on the national allegiance of a Philippine president. How can a person whose spouse and children are US citizens, for example, deal objectively with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with Uncle Sam?

The woes of Binay and Poe are reportedly making Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada seriously consider seeking the presidency. And he could win, together with Sen. Bongbong Marcos, who is counting on a solid Ilocano vote plus the Visayan supporters of his mother.

Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte could still be persuaded to run, partly to hit back at Roxas, whose camp the mayor has openly accused of engaging in a demolition campaign against him. Duterte echoed a sentiment of Poe when he told Roxas to stop trying to look white by painting others black.

A leading candidate in the 2010 race for vice president says Binay won that derby because the Roxas camp had focused on demolishing the leading bet, which allowed Binay to surge from behind.

The Roxas camp has denied engaging in demolition campaigns. But negative campaigning is dominating the election season. The nation is bound to reap the consequences long after the elections are over.