The final stretch

‘Sovereignty resides in the people, and all government authority emanates from them.” in a democratic and republican state like the Philippines, the people are supreme. this is best exemplified when the Filipino people elect their president, the highest and most powerful official in government.

A single vote can decide who will reside in Malacañang for the next six years. Justice Jose P. Laurel declared that “an enfranchised citizen is a particle of popular sovereignty and is the source of established authority.” (Moya v. Del Fierro, 69 Phil. 199). As a member of a body politic, an individual fulfills the most critical function of his life when he or she casts his or her vote in a presidential election. No duty is more important and no role is more crucial than electing the next president of our country. The destiny of our nation and the future of our people depend on it. President Manuel L. Quezon gave us independence, President Ramon F. Magsaysay promoted social justice, and President Cory Aquino restored our democracy. Others have brought the Philippines to perdition. We had elected good and bad presidents who brought us fame or shame and hope or despair. The people chose them and so they have no one else to blame. In other words, we deserve the president that we get. Thus, it behooves us to be wise in selecting our president.

In six days, the Filipinos will troop to their polling places to decide on who will be succeeding President Rodrigo R. Duterte. After a turbulent regime, we are praying that the next Chief Executive will be able to unify our people, improve our economy, contain the spread of the pandemic, resolve the West Philippine Sea conflict, control inf lation and the proliferation of illicit drugs, provide jobs to our people, and address the other major problems that confront us. Majority, if not most, of the enfranchised Filipinos share this prayer and ask for guidance and discernment to select the most deserving presidential candidate. However, this is easier said than done. With lies, deception and false news polluting our political atmosphere, it will be a big wonder how the voters can divine the truth and elect into office the rightful candidate who deserves the people’s trust. Misinformation and corruption fill the air and threaten our bedrock values and our sacred institutions upon which our integrity as a people and our moral moorings as a nation depend. Depraved office seekers employ dishonest practices to pervert facts and destroy their opponents to gain political mileage. Many candidates have no moral scruples and resort to every trick of the game to win an elective public position at all costs. They deploy paid hacks and trolls to spread massive disinformation to deceive the general public. They spin false narratives favorable to their sponsor but destructive to their enemies. Some even revise history to cast better lights on their benefactors. But as the former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan had said: “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” Other unscrupulous politicians adopt the old ways of coercing voters to elect them. They enforce their will on the subdued people through “guns, goons, and gold” and, to add, gilded tales. More often, their nefarious ways succeed and demagoguery prevails. This corrodes our national ideals and sets back our political maturity. And elections, instead of promoting national unity and stability, endanger our democratic system of government. The constitutional provision that we, the people, are sovereign becomes a sham. We are mere puppets of rogue politicians whose priority is to serve their own interest. The people become unwitting tools of the devious schemes of political charlatans. This coming presidential election, let’s assert and reclaim our sovereign power.

Voters should be discerning enough to separate true public servants from the demagogues. The bogus ones make empty promises and have no track records of genuine public service to speak of. Now that they need our support, they come to us and offer every solution to our myriad problems. But where were they when destructive typhoons leveled our homes? Did they visit us when raging floods destroyed our crops? Did they come to our succor when we lost our jobs during the pandemic? Do they offer practical and concrete proposals to address the worsening drug problem? Do they have a program to open up and improve our economy? How will they deal with China to resolve the West Philippine Sea dispute? Can they get tough with China and enforce the arbitral decision awarded in our favor? What about their personal qualifications, competence, honesty, and integrity? All the five serious presidential contenders—vp Leni Robredo, former Senator Bongbong Marcos, Mayor Isko Moreno, Senator Manny Pacquiao, and Senator Ping Lacson—are known political entities. They all have occupied elective public positions and their qualifications and records of public service are known, if not available for scrutiny. We can do our own research from unbiased sources instead of relying on partisan social media. Polluted sources are revisionists and will attempt to alter the dark past of their bets. This is material because the past records may provide us a gauge of a candidate’s future performance. Does he or she have a skeleton in his closet? Has he or she committed a monumental blunder in his or her career? Has the candidate betrayed the people’s trust? Can we entrust him or her with the presidency of our country? We need a skilled captain to navigate our ship of state in a perilous sea. An absentee captain with questionable training and who refuses to answer questions about his competence will not do the job. Any apprentice for a work, particularly when it is the position of presidency, should be ready and willing to prove his or her worth. We cannot just send anyone to Malacañang and mess up the Office of the President. One of my favorite idioms when electing a public official is: “It takes a jackass to kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.” Let’s remember that when we elect our next president on May 9.