Positive Space
HERE IN the Philippines, it is not unusual to blatantly see our beloved public servants’ names and faces on the streets. Be it promotional materials for their latest gimmick or a humble “Merry Christmas!” greeting, politicians know how to make sure we won’t forget their names and faces.
However seemingly innocent these gestures may be, I believe there is an underlying motive as to why these politicians can’t stop plastering their names everywhere. People don’t spend that much money telling people what they’ve done to serve the people.
For example, it is commonplace in Quezon City to see a particular emblem (the previous city mayor’s, in fact) on the walls of public schools. The same emblem can also be spotted on barangay markers (with the district councilor’s name in huge steel letters alongside it), basketball courts, and just about everywhere involving the mayor’s services in one way or another. This is also true in Makati, where there seems to be an omnipresent “B” logo wherever you go. This, of course, is indicative of the previous Makati mayor’s last name.
There are two questions that I would like to point out here.
First, why did the previous government feel the need to brand everything they do? These public schools, basketball courts, sidewalk sheds and the like are property of the people of the Philippines, not of them. They have no right to seemingly label them as their own, seeing that it is the Filipino people who paid for the construction of these things.
Second, as public servants, they should put everyone else’s sake before their own. However, as I see it, this culture of political branding is nothing but a display of selfishness. This is our dear public servants’ way to call for our attention.
Also, the fact that these public officials are willing to spend so much on promoting themselves puts into question the credibility of our governing body. Where did the money come from? Do they have a separate budget for that? Did they use their own money? All those street markers and painted emblems don’t come cheap.
I’m also irked by the fact that these big-time politicians put up tarpaulins of their ongoing projects with them on it, wearing a constructor’s hat to make them look like they do actual work. What about the hundreds who actually did the manual labor? The people who handled the paperwork for the project to push through? Where’s the credit that they deserve? Personally, I’d much rather have a list of all those who helped realize the project than have photos of the people who just gave the orders.
In this culture of shameless self-presentation, we see the deterioration of pure, unadulterated service. These politicians need not tell us that they made their plans happen—they’re supposed to execute those plans. That’s why they were elected as public servants in the first place. They’re supposed to provide people with their basic rights: free education, protection, shelter, and the like. I hope our government officials don’t lose sight of what they’re supposed to do. They were elected for the people, by the people. They should be servants of the public first and foremost, and put their own intentions last.
