Elections: a functional literacy test

It will be election day by the time this column sees print, and the election results will be out in a day or two for the local results, and in a week for the senatorial winners. The way Philippine politics has been going and conducted, the actions of politicians, the social media activities, and the behavior of some Filipino voters, I am not very hopeful of election results that will be good for the people and the country. Still, we have a democratic government that we are trying to improve and build upon for the orderly progress of our country, and regular elections are part of the system and process.

A major weakness of Philippine elections is the legislations/rules on the eligibility of candidates. The minimum requirement to be a candidate is to be able to read and write, not even to understand what you read. So, we probably have a lot of functional illiterates who are candidates, or already in elected positions. There are no educational or experience qualifications needed, when even the lowest clerical position in government and private institutions requires an educational attainment.

Another major weakness in Philippine elections is the lack of prohibition of monopolies in elective positions. There is a law that prohibits monopolies in businesses, that is why there is anti-monopoly agency that reviews mergers and acquisitions that result in monopolistic practices and dominant market power. Yet, there is none for elected political positions, even if it is provided in the Philippine Constitution, because the Senate and Congress never passed a law to implement the prohibition, as many political family dynasties are senators and congressmen. These and other faulty election laws have to be corrected/amended to improve our electoral/political system and processes.

Another major weakness of our political exercises and realities are in the quality of our voters/electors. The economic distribution is skewed which makes 30% to 40% of voters, vulnerable to financial considerations. Another 30% to 40% are susceptible to social media/propaganda manipulations. These two categories overlap each other, and includes the 20% that are officially functionally illiterate (high school graduates who cannot understand what they read). These groups are easily swayed/convinced by disinformation and fake news that feed on their biases and false convictions. The advances in information technologies enhance the perceptions of these groups egos and self-importance, since they are selective of social media information. They applaud and laugh at coarse, sexist, and bad jokes and speeches of politicians/candidates even if it conflicts or goes against their principles and religions.

The rise of religious sects is a symptom of non-functional literacy. These sects that meddle/engaged on political exercises and elections, with mandatory block voting for their endorsed candidates are making their followers functional illiterates, by depriving them of analytical capacity to choose whom to vote, and critic news and information to make their own decisions. These sects do this in exchange for political favors, and their followers are functionally-deprived literate, loyal, blind voters.

The remaining 35% to 40% of voters who are critical thinkers and are from all economic classes, may be considered as the only functionally-literate voters, who can objectively decide and select the candidates that will be good for the people and the country. But, they are not majority or large enough to make their selected candidates win. They have to campaign and join up with the unthinking, biased, and bought electorates in any Philippine elections. We have to correct and improve these weaknesses of our electoral systems and processes in the coming years, to elect public officials who can improve governance and government. Then, we have a real majority of functionally literate people and electorates.