Posted by Lani Estepa on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 12:34 pm

    Politics is dirty, especially our kind that features muckraking government officials throwing dirt at each other instead of making laws to ensure an economy conducive for business and economic development. Politics is dirty because it is run by money, dirty money that changes hands illegally. Already, there are reports of fake bills proliferating in the Ilocos region, which, authorities suspect, will be used to buy votes for the forthcoming elections. Our very own governor, who is running for the senate and whose political ad capitalizes on a prizefighter’s popularity instead of informing people about his legislative agenda, is currently in the news for raffling off money to people in Misamis during a campaign. This is against election laws, particularly Section 104 of the Omnibus Election Code, and the guilty could be disqualified from running for office. The governor has been given the due process that he may explain himself. We await the verdict, but will it come out at all?

    Just recently, a group of Lapoguenios approached another Lapoguenio (though I won’t be naming names here, this actually happened), to convince him/her to run for the top post in the LGU (versus the incumbent mayor). He/She said if he/she runs, he/she doesn’t want to be buying votes; that he/she wants to do it the right way. Not that he/she doesn’t have the financial resources, just wants to do things right. Naturally the group was disheartened because this meant he/she doesn’t stand a chance for the only way to win a seat in local government these days is to give away money. Although money is given in a stealthy manner, this is common knowledge and I don’t know why it goes unpunished. And it still eludes me why, from one election to the next, people here keep on taking the money that is good only for a few days’ meals, selling out their future in the process. And they wonder why we, as a people, can’t seem to make a step forward. Don’t they know we get the government that we deserve? However, not everyone deserves the kind of government that we have.

    Meanwhile, in the second district of the province, 17 incumbent mayors are considered unopposed (Source: Timek ti Amianan, March 4, 2007). Could be because no one is rich enough to be pitted against them. Or simply people are now tired of our kind of politics. God forbid the day will come when principled people will have become completely cynical and turn their back on public service. We can’t really blame them. Politics is dirty and who wants to be dirtied? But when that day comes, all we will have for leaders are power-hungry individuals and families who run their constituency like a fiefdom, handing over reins of power to their heir-in-waiting when the time comes.

    Although there are still many principled voters in the country who vote conscientiously, they are becoming the minority. They may be a critical mass that could make a difference, but they just can’t because they are overwhelmed by the majority of voters who are easily swayed and bought by corrupt politicians. At the rate political morality is degenerating, this minority will become cynical, too, for it will be a waste of time to give a damn at all, simply because our politics is dirty. And no one can convince me otherwise.

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    Filed under: Just crossed my mind, Local Politics, March 2007 | You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.