Too many political parties today

The world is complicated enough as it is without the overabundance of choices that people have when it comes to politics in the Philippines. We are a democracy that more often than not squanders the freedom that democracy offers us and takes for granted the many rights of this type of government. I have questioned in the past whether or not this type of government may actually be the best kind for a country like ours or if we were given too much freedom too soon that we weren’t quite sure what to do with it.

In either case – we are a democracy and that gives us the freedom of choice. And I think that when it comes to politics we just have too many choices. I think we should revert back to the official two party system we had before, namely the Liberal Party and the Nacionalista Party. In this aspect at least the choices for the wider population are more streamlined and not confusing.

While the Liberal Party is still very active (and drawing a lot of flak as of late), the Nacionalista Party is more dormant. They did not field a presidential candidate in the last election and chose instead to support other candidates in the race. In fact, this is something they have been doing quite regularly only fielding Manny Villar in 2010 and having no candidate in 2004 and the 1998.

Personally I think there is something to be gained from having fewer choices when it comes to political candidates in the country. Like in the United States where it is just mainly between the Republicans and the Democrats – a two party system makes things much clearer when it comes to choices, platforms, and promises. Instead of people having to go through several candidates and learn about several parties and overlapping platforms and ideologies they only have to learn about two to find out which they support.

In the Philippines politics has become a free for all. This was seen in the last presidential election when we had over 100 candidates file to run for president. I honestly believe that the less political smoke and mirrors, the easier it would be for the masses to understand and to make better and more informed choices. That might not have changed anything in the last election but it certainly would have streamlined the votes.

And again, perhaps the entire system needs a revamp and the oldest political parties may no longer be the best choices for a two party system, but that doesn’t mean the system wouldn’t work. It’s just a matter of filtering out the noise and cutting down. And that goes for politicians too. I would assume the reason that the number of parties continued (or continues) to grow is that politicians can’t get the endorsement of their party so they go look for it elsewhere. It’s a very narrow minded point of view and in the end all it does is split the vote watering down any type of full support.

In the end, it’s about not confusing people anymore for me. It may be a pipe dream – because let’s be honest asking politicians not to be selfish is like asking the sun not to rise in the morning, but here’s hoping that we can streamline our political system in the future and work out how to make it run optimally and efficiently for the country.

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As of this writing, ASEAN Summit 2017 is officially over. Above all else, I am grateful that nothing bad or dangerous happened to the world’s leaders who came to the country from April 27-29. Safety was always of the utmost importance and the Philippines was in the glaring spotlight as VIPs arrived on our shores to attend the summit. At the very least, we made it through successfully and didn’t make headlines for all the wrong reasons.

And traffic woes aside (I heard EDSA was pretty much a parking lot for the larger part of Friday and Saturday), I think that the summit went off without a hitch. Partnerships and discussions happened peacefully and leaders of the ASEAN countries were given a venue at which to voice their opinions over the issues that are affecting us all today such as North Korea and the South China Sea.

However, it was disappointing that President Duterte chose to remain very neutral and quite tame when it came to discussions about South China Sea issues. Many ASEAN leaders expressed their disappointment that our president refused to include Chinese militarization and the tribunal ruling in his ASEAN chairman statement saying that this might be construed as him deferring to China instead of taking a stand – a fear that many Filipinos share.

After all, it wasn’t so long ago that he promised the country that he would be firm and strong in his stance against China who has been routinely seen as “bullying” our country when it comes to the Scarborough Shoal. Even with the support of the international tribunal on our side, we still can’t seem to get a foothold in the discussions. While I do support the president’s decision to approach China in peaceful discussions, I also hope he continues to do so with the country’s best interests at heart.

A good piece of news that came from the summit though is the Philippines and the U.S. reiterating their commitment to working together peacefully for the benefit of our two countries. The president met with President Trump over the weekend via phone call and reports say that the U.S. leader shared that he was supportive of Duterte’s administration and that the U.S. would continue to peacefully work with the Philippines. For his part, Duterte says he hoped to remind Trump to exercise prudence on the North Korea issue.