Just joining the herd

The analogy between the agitated queue of mostly small and medium bank depositors during a bank run and the current slew of barangay elections aspirants, may sound far-fetched as there is no commonality of panic in the latter. But still, there's the element of "joining the herd" parallelism, like, a parade of ants as picnic pests and those of punters or stakeholders being spooked over gambling or games of chance, or in politics.

Time was when almost none cared to run as "teniente del barrio" of old, but with the advent of the "promotion " of the designation to "Punong Barangay" as in Barangay Captain, the procession of hopefuls is getting longer. As in the more, the merrier. And to complete the rural choir of political satraps for the honorific "honorable", barrio "konsehales" are joining the spree, like ants drawn to sweets. Even barangay lupon members affix "Hon." to their names.

Service or civic-mindedness, or altruism, is far from the mind. Qualifications in education, training, or relevant experience, are of no moment. The concept of duty and responsibility is neither a driving motivation nor a considered obligation.

In fact, it's common to hear aspirants saying, thus: "Pamasin o suwayan lang", "Retire na man ko… lingaw, lingaw lang", "Nidagan gani si pulano nga way grado, nganong di man ako", "Gipugos man ko sa mayor", o "sa katawhan", and such other half-truths.

Of course, there are those who are educationally qualified and, are using the barangay positions as stepping stones for higher political opportunities for which they qualify. Admittedly, a smattering few are perhaps fired up by altruism of service to his fellowmen. Very rare though.

This is not to demean or denigrate the dignity and importance of the barangay as the basic unit of government as envisioned by the law. In fact, owing to such factor to widen and strengthen the basic framework of the government at the grassroots, the more is the necessity for the barangays to be manned by really qualified and dedicated people.

It's not just any Juan dela Cruz who can effectively and knowledgeably run the barangay governance. Under the law, the functions and duties, and public obligations, are now so varied and intricate that aspirants for the barrio positions must have enough or ample education and training, and the potential or capability to learn intelligently while on-the-job-training (OJT) when elected.

For instance, the barangay captain and the barangay councilmen have to know even a modicum of budgeting, basic accounting, the principles of public administration, enough law commensurate to their duties under the barangay justice and basic parliamentary procedure, ordinance and resolution-making, developmental planning, English communication, etc.

If only all aspirants for barangay elective positions are well aware of the multifarious official functions and duties, vis-à-vis their actual limitations, or dearth of honest-to-goodness know-how and capabilities, one doubts if most of them should have dared run at all.

Indeed, many are titillated by the monetary returns in the forms of honorarium and allowances and, the expected regular compensations now being envisioned for national legislation. And, of course, the thought that if somebody they knew had somehow gone through the same experience in running their barrio government, why can't they?

Human nature being so, there's that yearning to somehow exercise power. It's this itch for power, however minuscule, over their prospective barangay constituents that motivates them to try their hand at governance. After all, the once-in-a-lifetime ring of the honorific "honorable" even to a lowly government position is something one can't buy in a neighborhood sari-sari store.

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