Bad quality

Over the past 60 years, the quality of Philippine governance has declined, considerably.

I am not sure if this deterioration is related to or the consequence of the increasing stupidity of the Filipino.

Today, 75 of every 100 Filipino teeners (those 15 and below) cannot read, cannot write, cannot count beyond 20. They cannot even read or write their own names. Even if they can read they cannot understand what they read. They don’t know simple science – or to explain the how and why of simple day-to-day experiences. In the 2022 tests given by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 75 percent of the 7,200 Filipino students who took basic tests in reading, math and science failed. A massive failure.

I am not sure if the depreciation in the quality of our elected leaders is the result of the horrible income inequality among Filipinos. Or the fact that malnutrition is worsening, with 93 kids dying from malnutrition daily or 34,000 deaths yearly.

Just 20 families own most of the 286 companies listed in the stock exchange. Only ten families produce half of the Philippine GDP.

Only 100 families have ruled this country in the last 100 years. In the past 65 years, Philippine presidents came from just five families – in a nation of 116 million and 25 million families. Three presidential families have ruled for a total of 55 years.

Along with the drop in quality of our elected leaders has been a horrendous bloat in the sense of entitlement and impunity of our elected officials.

They treat the government treasury as their private piggy bank. They simply steal and steal big. Up to 40 percent of the budget is stolen, equivalent to P2.5 trillion a year, enough money to make the so-called 15 million poor Filipinos cross the poverty line for good.

Our politicians spend taxpayers’ money like there was no tomorrow. But there is a tomorrow, usually, for them. That tomorrow is often forever. How else can you explain the inexorable and overwhelming dominance of political dynasties in every election? More than 70 percent of our Congress are political dynasts.

During my high school years, usually on a Friday, I would spend considerable time and my hard-earned money as a part-time komiks illustrator to go to the Senate in the old Congress. As a kid, after class in late afternoons, I watched Senate sessions. It was sheer delight.

The senators of the 1950s to early 1970s did not shout at each other. They dressed well, and elegantly. The men strode into the hallowed session hall in bespoke suits. A number wore white, from top to bottom, a visible manifestation of their character and conscience. Debates were polite and substantial. Oratory was brilliant and sonorous. Sarcasm and repartee were subtle but delivered with such devastating impact the beleaguered senator felt he was given a mighty uppercut, intellectually. Many times, those without intellectual fortitude or passion for drama simply kept quiet. Those included a brother of a famous president. Or a popular actor.

The 1959-1962 Philippine Senate with 24 members was the epitome of the unmatched quality of our senators of the old days.

More than half of the 24 senators were lawyers. Six were Bar topnotchers. Three went to Harvard Law. Another three had law doctorates.

The senators of those years: Domocao Alonto (PhD Law), Edmundo Cea (Bar topnotcher), Mariano Jesus Cuenco, Estanislao Fernandez, Oscar Ledesma, Roseller Lim, Fernando Lopez, Alejo Mabanag (Bar topnotcher), Genaro Magsaysay (actor and lawyer), Quintin Paredes, Emmanuel Pelaez (Bar topnotcher), Cipriano Primicias Sr. (Bar topnotcher), Claro M. Recto (Master of Laws, UST), Francisco Soc Rodrigo (UST BA valedictorian and magna cum laude; UP Law), Eulogio Rodriguez, Decoroso Rosales, Lorenzo Sumulong (Bar topnotcher and master of laws, Harvard), Lorenzo Tañada (Harvard) and Arturo Tolentino (UP Law valedictorian, Master and Doctor of Civil Laws, UST, Bar topnotcher).

Bringing up the rear, as a newcomer to the 1959 Senate, was the No. 1 elected senator that year – Ferdinand Marcos Sr., three-term congressman, Bar topnotcher with a grade of 92.35 (he reviewed for the Bar while in jail).

Marcos did something unusual in the 1959 senatorial elections. He topped the eight-man senatorial slate despite being a candidate of the minority or opposition party, the Liberal Party. Of the eight Senate seats at stake, the opposition LP bagged two – Marcos as No. 1, and Estanislao Fernandez, No. 4. No. 2 was Genaro Magsaysay of the ruling Nacionalista Party. Gene was an actor, lawyer and a brother of the late president. During Senate sessions, he was quiet most of the time.

Marcos Sr. would lead the LP, then leave it, join the once dominant NP to become its standard bearer in the 1965 presidential election and win the presidency by a wide margin.

The old Senate was also referred to as the Upper Chamber, literally and figuratively.

In today’s Senate, there are two brothers, one brother and a sister, and a mother and a son. Seven senators have acting or broadcast background. There is only one Bar topnotcher. And the other lawyer-senators? Well, you have to hear from them.

For the incoming Senate of July 2025, among the leading possible winners for the 12 vacancies, there is not a single new or fresh face or a previously unknown entity but one with sterling achievements in terms of solid education and/or record as a professional, business or public service personality.

Topping the September 2024 (Stratbase) survey: 1. Erwin Tulfo, 2). Tito Sotto, 3. Pia Cayetano, 4. Digong Duterte, 5. Imee Marcos, 6. Ping Lacson, 7. Bong Revilla, 8. Camille Villar, 9. Abigail Binay, 10. Lito Lapid, 11. Manny Pacquiao and 12. Bato dela Rosa.

Top quality? Well.

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