A new election season in the Philippines has begun. Less than a year before actual polls take place in May 2013, the public is already being bombarded with the first wave of thinly disguised political advertisements. Personalities from different political parties have started expressing their desire to run for office in ingenious ways, such as ambiguous political-advertisements-cum-product-endorsements shown on national television.
Last April, the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) made headlines when Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), led by Vice President Jejomar Binay, and Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), headed by former President Joseph Estrada, officially made a coalition for the 2013 senatorial elections. UNA, however, faced difficulties when it accepted former Senator Miguel Zubiri into its slate of senatorial candidates—this led to rival Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III’s decision to leave the coalition.
UNA is widely perceived as the opposition to the administration’s recently announced coalition of President Benigno Aquino III’s ruling Liberal Party (LP), Senator Manny Villar’s Nacionalista Party (NP) and business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr.’s Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). The latter coalition raised some eyebrows, given Aquino and Villar’s heated fight during the 2010 presidential election.
This brief overview of the current preparations for next year’s elections exposes major characteristics of Philippine politics. Political parties promote programs without real emphasis on clear ideological principles. There is no debate as to how certain politicians act in pursuit of self-interest in order to gain power, usually resorting to turncoatism when the odds demand it.
An accurate picture of the national political scene shows an electoral culture that is personality-based and largely determined by money and fame. This reality can be traced back to our colonial history; the weak party system is partly a result of American influence in the Philippines even after “independence” was granted in 1946. After all, it was during the American era that unabashed patronage politics took deep root in Philippine reality.
Those who are in positions of power have had an enduring disinterest in genuine structural reform. Thus, political parties in the country continue to serve only as avenues where politicians can simply play around, where they can neglect their duty to uphold the rights of and truly represent the Filipino people.
We are in a situation where the political parties serve as major impediments to progress in Philippine society, and there is therefore a call for an overhaul of the rotten party system. Indeed, positive transformation will remain elusive unless political parties start acting like real political parties that have real causes to fight for.
This election season, the ordinary Filipino is called to actively participate in politics. Responsibly exercising the right to vote, however, also entails saying no to crude propaganda, as engendered by the notoriously useless political parties.
After all, while one may think that a vote won’t make an impact on society, any effort made to amputate the tumorous mass of questionable motivations in Philippine politics is a positive step towards a just and free society.
