What can the US learn from Pinoy elections?

"Vote for the man who promises least. He’ll be the least disappointing." – Bernard Baruch (1870-1965)

"Dear Jack: Don’t buy a single vote more than necessary.

I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide." – Tycoon Joseph Kennedy, father of President John F. Kennedy

Why is it that we Asians fawn over Westerners and think they have so much to teach us when in fact Asia already had thousands of years of high culture and poetry before they did?

During the November 3 US election watch party hosted by the American Embassy for the Philippine political and business elite, this writer asked US Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone: "What can the United States learn from Philippine elections?"

On the same day, we had half-jokingly warned American diplomats that their envoy might have said ominously prophetic words in his speech earlier that day, citing our recent presidential polls and saying: "Thanks for showing the way. We’re now following in your footsteps."

Luckily for the US, Senator John Kerry did not follow our Philippine politicians’ penchant for contesting elections and he graciously conceded. In our case, it is sad that cheating and fraud have so often been employed in our elections that losers never concede defeat but complain that they had been cheated.

Coincidentally, the following day after a courtesy call by Ricciardone and the Mandarin-speaking political adviser of the US Embassy Scott Bellard on President Gloria M. Arroyo, the US envoy used our question as his reply at the Malacañang news briefing. When newsmen asked him what lessons Filipinos could learn from the US elections, Ricciardone replied: "All democracies learn from each other, on processes, we want to develop our technology of elections. So we learn from you, you learn from us."

When his response provoked laughter from the media and Malacañang officials, Ricciardone explained further what he meant: "Like you, we’re passionate about these things."

In our conversation with the US envoy, Ambassador Ricciardone’s reply to our question on what the US can learn from Philippine elections was, "We Americans can learn the passion, the energy and excitement of Philippine elections."

With candor, he continued, "We can learn from your politicians the creativity, the great flashy style, the eye-catching shows and the slogans. We should probably import Filipino campaign managers to add more spark and sizzle to our US elections. It is hard to find a country with a more passionate or vibrant democracy as yours. I’m impressed with your strong commitment to independence and liberty. I cannot imagine your society allowing a dictatorship to take hold here. Freedom in any country, whether here in the Philippines or in the US, needs responsibility and hard work. I hope you will not abuse your freedom – this is true in my country, this is true for the Philippines. I hope you will not allow crooks and criminals to exploit your freedom."

Manila Congressman Miles Roces, a strong Bush admirer, told Philippine STAR: "Our former colonizer has started to learn from Philippine-style elections. I saw on CNN news of flying voters, the use of many showbiz celebrities like Bruce Springsteen campaigning for Kerry, the controversial recount in Florida in 2000, and even presidential bet Bill Clinton playing the saxophone on MTV! I even saw politicians announcing on TV that in case of bad weather, they will provide transportation and food to their supporters if needed. Who knows, next time, the free sandwiches for voters may come with dollars! Here in the Philippines, we’re debating on how to have high-level elections, but look at the Americans, it seems that with their campaigning and election strategies, they’re trying to go down our level (laughs). You know, if only the Philippines were a US state, we’d have a Filipino win the US presidency. Did you see the TV news about how Kerry supporters (the Democrats) registering one million new voters in Florida? It’s amazing how they’re learning from us!"

Quezon province Congressman Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III, a strong Kerry admirer and whose grandfather, the late Senator Lorenzo Tañada, helped boot out the US military bases in the Philippines, told us: "I was surprised to see reports of vote-padding and complaints of double registration. If you look at all this and the controversial 2000 election, you’d wonder how many Filipinos are volunteering to help both the Kerry and Bush camps."

Despite the past scandals and inefficiencies of our riotous elections, Commission on Elections (COMELEC) chief Ben Abalos replied to our query on what the US can learn from our Philippine polls. He said, "Though underdeveloped countries like the Philippines cannot afford the high technology of America, Americans can learn from our vigilance. The vigilance of Filipino voters is amazing in preventing cheating here in Metro Manila. Any election should not only be clean, but should also be perceived as clean. How can you have truly credible elections? Have a vigilant electorate like we have here in the Philippines!"

When one American diplomat secretly revealed to us his preference for Bush, we told him the US is lucky to have better, more honest and less corrupt politicians than the Philippines. The diplomat quickly disagreed, saying, "That’s not entirely accurate because you just don’t know how bad and dishonest many of our own American politicians can be!"

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