EDITORIAL – Waiting for transformation

A lot of hard work surely went into drawing up those recommendations for electoral reforms that were recently completed by retired chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. Now comes the hard part: implementing the reforms.

Those responsible for carrying out the proposals may have a hard time just going over them. Davide, a former chairman of the Commission on Elections, drew up detailed recommendations covering a wide range of poll-related matters including campaign financing, stiffer penalties for poll violations and reforms in the Comelec.

Some of the recommendations are sure to encounter stiff resistance in Congress. Among them: defining political dynasties, as stipulated in the Constitution, and penalizing violators. Other recommendations have been pending for some time in Congress, including the adoption of a two-party system and the provision of financial assistance to political parties depending on their share of votes cast.

Each recommendation needs careful consideration. If the administration is serious about carrying out electoral reforms, it should create a body that will oversee the implementation of the proposals. This was done in the case of the Philippine Defense Program, which was started in 2001 and gathered steam shortly after the Oakwood mutiny in 2003. The program later incorporated many of the recommendations drawn up by a special commission headed by retired Supreme Court justice Florentino Feliciano, which was created shortly after the mutiny. A number of the recommended reforms are now being implemented in the military. The pace has been slow due to resource constraints and also because old habits die hard, but transformation is taking place in the defense and military establishment.

The country’s electoral system is in dire need of a similar transformation. There is urgency in implementing electoral reforms, especially with the approach of mid-term elections next year. The continuing political crisis stemmed from the country’s corrupted electoral system. This should provide enough impetus for both Malacañang and Congress to put in place the necessary reforms before the next major electoral exercise. Davide’s recommendations must not be allowed to gather dust.