Failure of registration

The long lines and short tempers captured on television and newspaper photographs last week looked familiar. They made you wonder whether another typhoon had struck again. But the people were not queuing for relief goods. Rather they were suffering the sun and the rain to be able to exercise their Constitutional right to vote in the 2010 elections.

Protecting (and ensuring) a Filipino’s right to vote cannot be overemphasized. This forms the bedrock of any democratic system where leadership is not bestowed by divine mandate but by the vox populi. Our laws, particularly the Omnibus Election Code, provide for a failure of election which occurs when “If, on account of force majeure, violence, terrorism, fraud, or other analogous causes the election in any polling place has not been held on the date fixed… and such election results in a failure to elect, and in any of such cases the failure or suspension of election would affect the result of the election….” However, our laws do not contemplate a failure of registration that results in the disenfranchisement of multitudes of voters which, when one thinks about it, leads to the same outcome in a failure of election scenario. Common sense dictates that this development may impact the outcome of the 2010 elections.

For sure, the Comelec is underpersoned and resource challenged. And yes, the people were given ample time to register yet true to form, waited until the last minute to do so. But that is water under the bridge. Comelec should bend over backward to accommodate the sovereign people since there is still time to remedy the situation. Instead of finger pointing, we should all focus on enfranchising as many voters as possible.

My four centavos is for Comelec to initiate a special three day voter registration from November 28 to 30, 2009. In this regard, Comelec should not only seek the assistance of media to publicize the special registration event but invite well meaning organizations such as the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the Philippine Association of Law Schools and the Philippine Computer Society to provide technical support and the person power needed to enhance and facilitate the registration process. Just like the relief efforts for the typhoon victims, I am certain that many organizations in the private sector would be more than willing to assist in this noble undertaking. All Comelec has to do is to ask for help.

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Anti-Kamag-anak Inc: One centavo each goes to Sen. Panfilo Lacson for sponsoring the Anti Political Dynasty Act and to Sen. Francis Escudero, chairman of the Committee on the Revision of Codes and Laws, for recommending the approval of the bill without amendment to the Senate plenary. The bill would ban any spouse or relative of an incumbent elective official to run for any elected office. While they signed the committee report, Senators Lapid, Estrada and Zubiri noted that they “may have to inhibit due to possible conflict of interest” while Senator Arroyo signed with “serious reservation.” Senator Pia Cayetano did not sign the report.

The bill seeks to actualize the 1987 Constitutional imperative for the State to “guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.” To be fair, the wisdom of such a policy is debatable. No such prohibition exists in mature democracies as the United States and Japan where the vox populi is truly supreme. The question is whether the Filipino electorate is already up to the task of electing the right leaders or whether we still suffer from the biblical “Barabbas syndrome” which is the propensity to choose a thief over a good person.

In any event, this debate will continue to be academic as the bill will certainly languish in the archives of the kamag-anak-infested House of Representatives.

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Prohibited Appointments: One centavo goes to Albay Representative Edcel Lagman for authoring a bill that would prohibit local government officials from making appointments immediately before an election.

Recall that a prohibition regarding “midnight appointments” exists in the national level. Under Article VII, Section 15 of the Constitution, the President shall not make any appointments “two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public service.” This practice is frowned upon because it is a tool that can be used (or better yet, misused) for partisan purposes either to reward past favors, engineer election shenanigans or to curry future protection. The Supreme Court noted this difference in the case of De la Rama v. Court of Appeals when it ruled that in the absence of a statutory prohibition, governors and mayors can make such midnight appointments. Recognizing that the problem exists in the national and local levels, the Lagman bill seeks to plug this obvious loophole.

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LIFESTYLE of Purpose: One centavo goes to LIFESTYLEASIA led by editor-in-Chief Anna Sobrepeña for receiving several awards from the International Association of Business Communicators Philippine Quill, which I understand to be the equivalent of the Oscars for lifestyle magazines. Aside from recognizing the magazine’s excellence in writing skills and photography, the awards seem to validate LIFESTYLEASIA’s shift from merely showcasing the trappings of wealth to focus more on how such wealth is being used for the betterment of society. I understand that in subsequent issues, the magazine will be initiating a campaign to generate continued support for those affected by the recent natural calamities.

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“I need to put up with two or three caterpillars

if I want to get to know the butterflies.”   — The Little Prince

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