Next year’s elections

To the general public, elections are still eight months away. But for the candidates of that election, it is only eight months away from now. President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo, for instance, had to announce that she was running for re-election. The reason she had to do this was to correct the misimpression that she was no longer interested in continuing in office made when months ago, she declared that she would not run for re-election.

That statement made the effect of making her a lame-duck president. Lame duck is an American expression that originally meant an official still serving in office after his successor has already been elected. In the Philippines, it generally refers to elected officials whose terms are expiring and can no longer run for re-election. Their followers generally shift their loyalties to the candidates that they believe will be their successors.

Just days before the presidential announcement that she was running for re-election, the two officials of the LAKAS-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats) resigned for the ruling party. It was President Macapagal-Arroyo who nominated then Senator Guingona to replace her as Vice President after she replaced Joseph Estrada who was ousted by the 2001 People’s Power Uprising. All these simply indicate that political parties today have no definitive platforms. One can break away or shift to another party without betraying one’s political stand. As a general rule in fact, it is to assert their political stand that politicians shift parties. The only problem is that in the cases of Vice President Guingona and Sen. Loren Legarda, their decisions to bolt seemed to have been directly motivated by President Arroyo’s decision to seek re-election. Both Guingona and Legarda have good records as elected officials. One thing we can be sure of, their bolting the ruling party has some connection with their political plans for next year’s elections.

Our only hope is that the 2004 elections will proceed as scheduled. If this is to happen, we need peace and order. We can have our political differences, but they must be settled and resolved in a democratic manner. We don’t object to demonstrations, but they must be peaceful. We disapprove of any coup attempts that will only serve to do away with the 2004 elections.

What we want to see now are the platforms of all contending political parties. They must not only present the vision of the future that they aspire for the Filipino people, but the program of how they will turn their vision into a mission.

The best way to judge any political party is to examine the list of the candidates that it will present. Are they meaningful; achievers or just popular figures, who achieved their popularity mainly through media? We need statesmen, not just popular figures in government service. Popularity and capability are two different things. Politicians have to be popular figures. But their popularity should not be based on their ability to entertain. It should be based on their ability to perform their respective tasks in government service.