Democracy is really dead in the Philippines

You may be wondering why people like me are always seeking for political reforms for our country. Just turn on your TV sets to CNN and you will see how a real democracy works. The Republican Party these days are going into a debate, which was temporarily shelved because of the historic visit of Pope Francis to the United States. But it already had two heated debates amongst the Republican Party leaders. The candidates are governors, congressmen, and senators vying for the great opportunity to lead the GOP (dubbed the Grand Old Party) to fight the Democratic presidential candidate.

Today, the Republican front-runner, the feisty Donald Trump, is already tied with Dr. Ben Carson in the surveys, both of whom are non-politicians and there's Senator Carly Fiorina, who was once the chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard and is staunchly pro-life.

In my book, all of them can run the United States of America, but my favorite is Sen. Fiorina because if she was CEO of HP, she can run the most powerful nation on earth. Above all, she is a woman and therefore she can neutralize the advantage that the Democratic Party has with former First Lady Hillary Clinton whose ratings in the surveys are dropping fast. Of course, there is Vice President Joe Biden who is hot on the heels of Mrs. Clinton. This is what we call democracy in action, which we Filipinos supposedly copied from the United States of America.

But just take a good look at what is happening to our political parties. They have become a big joke, but the joke is upon us Filipinos! Even the nomination process has become so faulty we no longer see any democratic process at all. Just look at the headlines of the Philippine Daily Inquirer last Wednesday, which screamed, "Cayetano courts Duterte." While he was in Davao City, this fellow announced that he was running for vice president and was hoping that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte would take him in. Clearly, the Liberal Party wasn't going to get him as the vice presidential candidate for Mar Roxas. How pathetic! I say that democracy is truly dead in this country!

If anyone tells me that this is democracy in action, I will tell him that it is not. What we have is a Demo-crazy! In short, the Filipino voter is getting a bum deal with the kind of presidentiables that we are getting. Just take a good look at the front-runners. We have Sen. Grace Poe, but she is being hounded for citizenship and residency issues and that her popularity is high because she is the daughter of Fernando Poe, Jr.

Then there's Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is hounded by corruption problems. Then there is former DILG Sec. Manuel "Mar" Roxas whose popularity nose-dived when he went to Tacloban at the height of super typhoon "Yolanda" where he would not help the people of Tacloban unless Mayor Romualdez relinquished his power.

Finally, we have Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who is so wishy-washy like a woman, who cannot make up his mind. I know that he is scared of running against Mar Roxas because DoJ Sec. Leila de Lima has taken custody of two of his henchmen in the Witness Protection Program who could testify against him for human rights violations.

Poor Filipinos! Perhaps we should all sing that famous song written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, "Don't cry for me Argentina" and replace the title with "Don't cry for me Pilipinas" because our current political situation will only result in having a president who cannot make the grade. Surely a nation of 100 million Filipinos could find one suitable candidate to be our next president. But it is not happening soon, thanks to the decades of corrupt politicians that rely on personality politics rather than party politics, which have become extinct in the Philippines.

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Do we need more taxis on the road? I read in the Facebook account of ace Freeman reporter Mitchelle Palaubsanon who wrote, "LTFRB-7 legal officer Evelyn Carmelita Misal said she thinks Cebu does not need additional taxis especially that a bus company's (SM and Jam Transport) application to operate buses was already approved in principle. Misal said that the application to operate 70 buses will ply from Talisay proper to SM Seaside at SRP to SM City Cebu then to Mactan Cebu International Airport and vice versa. Earlier, mall and hotel operators in Cebu asked LTFRB for an additional 2,500 taxis here." I challenge anyone to climb up a tall building on a major street or avenue or go up on one of those useless skywalks and peek down the busy streets and you will see that every other car on the road is a white colored taxicab. At this point, I'd like to say that we've got more than enough taxicabs to last us for the next five years. But where are those buses?

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