Time to change the system, not the officials

Today is Labor Day, which is why we have no work today. But in case you forgot, today is of great historic significance to our nation because early dawn 114 years ago, on May 1, 1898 the Asiatic Fleet of Admiral George Dewey sailed unnoticed past the island of Corregidor to battle the Spanish Armada led by Admiral Patricio Montojo, thus began the first major battle of the Spanish American War and it happened right on our doorstep.

This was an epic battle for the Americans as there were only nine men injured in the whole battle and one casualty, a sailor died of heat stroke. No American ships were sunk while Spain had 9 Cruisers and one supply ship sunk with a total of 77 casualties. While this was an American victory, it released the Philippines from 4 centuries of Spanish bondage, but of course, we ended up being under the 50-year reign of “Hollywood.” But the Americans taught and gave us their democratic form of government. Hence we are proud to say that the Philippines is Asia’s first democratic nation.

But wait! Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves, are we truly a democratic government? Does the will of the Filipino voter really get counted? Or is it thwarted through vote buying, manipulation or political patronage or worse, like in the 2010 elections… electronically stolen right before our eyes? I say this without fear because of what happened in the town of Compostela 30 kilometers north of Cebu City where the Comelec could not ascertain who really won the elections for 22 months.

Yet the voters in Compostela only wanted to have their ballot boxes opened right before their eyes and before the media so they could be counted physically and double checked with the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) whether it tallies or not. Yet the Comelec, this constitutionally mandated agency, tasked to give our people fair and honest elections did not allow the ballot boxes (ma buking ang PCOS) to be opened and instead had the ballot boxes shipped to Comelec HQ in Manila. This only proves what we’ve been harping on in the last few columns that the Comelec is out to cheat our voters instead of giving our people fair and honest elections.

The reason for that is simple. We have changed our Constitution three times since the 1935 Constitution, but we never changed the corrupt system inside the Comelec. We only changed the top officials who are more often than not, beholden to the appointing powers if not corrupt! I have said it once and I dare say it again… it is time to change the system, not the officials.

These days, the mainstream media is giving the usual headline coverage to the United Nationalists Alliance (UNA) of Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay… and as a result of their getting the crème dela crème of people with the best name recall, the Liberal Party (LP) announced that talks are on that they might coalesce with the Nacionalista Party (NP) and other parties as well.

Before Martial Law was declared on Sept. 21, 1971, there were only two political parties to reckon with, the LP and the NP. But since those times, the Philippines slid down vis-à-vis our ASEAN neighbors and things only got worse when Pres. Cory Aquino created a multi-party system in her 1987 Constitution, which is still under presidential form. Hence our politics has literally gone crazy and what troubles me so, is that the ordinary Filipino has become so used to this corrupt system… they have totally forgotten that while they have lived in poverty for many generations now while the politicians have held on to their power making politics like a family business.

Look at the Senatorial line up from the UNA and the LP. I don’t see anyone whom I can trust that could trigger or usher a real change for this sick country. What I see are the same old style of politics that enriches the politician at the expense of the poor Filipino, whom all of these politicians vowed to uplift, mostly through their lip service.

As I have said before, the Philippines was a brand new bus in July 4,1946 with a few people on board… but sixty-six (66) years later, our Philippine bus is old and decrepit and the bus is so full of passengers some are already seated on the roof. Yet the main question of its passengers is, “Who’s going to be our next driver?” If things go well for him, our next driver should be Vice-Pres. Jejomar Binay. But as I’ve said, it is high time that we changed the bus… not the driver. 

While the politicians are busy preparing for the next political battle for the control of political power… I gathered that there is a group of people (they are sick and tired of this old same as usual politics) that has been meeting and has come up with a signed manifesto for a genuine change in our system of governance. I got this text from friends who told me that this manifesto would soon be out in the social networking sites. As soon as I get hold of a copy… I will write it in this column for the appreciation of our readers.

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.