The danger of postponing elections

The plan of President Rodrigo Duterte to again postpone the barangay elections scheduled in October and just appoint interim officials for the estimated 42,000 seats for barangay captain should be opposed.

It can be recalled that Congress passed a law last year postponing for a year the October 2016 barangay elections. That law, RA 10923, also allowed incumbent barangay officials to hold on to their position until the elections.

Postponing once again the barangay elections because of pervasive narco-politics down to the barangay level is not enough to justify setting aside the people's right to vote for their village leaders every three years. That right is sacred, especially because it involves the election of leaders for the most basic political unit of the country.

We must remember that before the birth of our nation, our archipelago was governed by a village chief or Datu in each autonomous settlement scattered all over the islands. While there are fundamental differences between the pre-colonial barangay and the current barangay, their common denominator is loyalty and reverence to a chief. Today, we more or less show that reverence by electing our leader of choice.

But in the pre-colonial past, while there were indeed no elections, it cannot be said that a leader simply emerged because of his own wishes. Respect and loyalty toward the chieftain were somehow earned from the people through the chieftain's perceived prowess or mystical powers, acts or legends of courage and bravery, leadership abilities, and to a certain extent, good genes.

Duterte's plan to just appoint barangay officials, therefore, goes against every grain of the historical significance of the barangay as a political unit in our islands.

Aside from that, another reason why the Duterte administration should tread carefully in tinkering with the barangay elections is that doing so will have belated implications on the administration's own mandate. I say belated because the implications will not be immediately felt. Sooner or later these implications will disguise their way into every aspect of the administration's governance, slowly eroding its legitimacy in the still many years left of Duterte's presidency.

No crisis short of a war or invasion can ever justify setting aside, even temporarily, a democratic exercise, especially an election. Duterte should not forget that he earned his seat of power because of elections. Even now at the height of his popularity, the president should continue to respect the right of the people to elect their leaders from the lowest to the highest echelons of power.

Otherwise, the administration will eventually lose its moral and principled standing which is the worst that could happen to any administration.

If indeed the problem of narco-politics is so pervasive, I'd prefer that the president use his influence and power to call on the people to reject narcopoliticians rather than move for the postponement of the polls.

In his haste to solve the problem on illegal drugs, Duterte should be careful in pushing for policies that might corrode the legitimacy of his power. I'm sure that is what his detractors want him to do: undermine the democratic process in the name of his war against drugs.

The people have placed their trust on President Duterte to do his job. He should show his trust to the people too, for one, by letting them choose their village officials come October.