At the height of the chaos in Lebanon years ago, Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran lamented in his poem: “Pity a country torn into fragments, each fragment wanting to annihilate each other…”
In the Philippines, with the present tendency of many congressmen to follow the Speaker without thinking we are in a much more pathetic if not dangerous situation.
How 149 congressmen voted against only 50 for the postponement of the barangay elections long set by law for October 29, 2007 glaringly shows how low some congressmen may stoop for their own expedience and how easily they may abandon reason for their own comfort.
No credible argument whatsoever was presented to justify the postponement. The ruse advanced by Speaker Jose de Venecia’s allies that postponement would save the government money and that whatever sum that has been allocated for the barangay elections may be used to computerize the next elections does not at all hold a drop of water.
In the first place, whether the elections are held on October 29, 2007 or on May 11, 2009 as Speaker de Venecia wanted the government will spend more or less the same amount; it is an inescapable fiscal responsibility of the government. Even local governments, the barangay governments including, are bound by law to share in the expenses and all are ready as a matter of duty and in obedience to the mandate of the law. On the part of the national government, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Jr. has categorically confirmed that sufficient funds, P2.13 billion to be precise, have been set aside for the barangay elections. More importantly, part of the money had been released and spent.
Why must congressmen pretend to know better than the legitimate economic managers of the government by saying that postponement of the elections would lessen the budgetary deficit? If that is the logic of our confused congressmen, then cut all other programmed expenditures of the government of lesser value and importance but not an election which is an imperative exercise at the core of our democratic system of government. But blinded by self-interest many congressmen cannot distinguish which government activity may be put on hold or even totally scrapped and which very important ones like an election must necessarily be pursued.
Computerization may be important but not indispensable. We have been holding elections without the benefit of the technology and results always came in even if by modern standards delayed. If we have to automate election there must be specifi c allocation for that, not suppress the electoral process itself by reallocating the money. Besides, congressmen know that even if Comelec is given all the money needed to computerize elections it cannot still totally implement the automation plan by 2010 as admitted by Comelec itself.
Following that lousy alibi, it would then be a vicious cycle of postponements of future elections for every flimsy reason.
Congressmen who want to computerize the election rather than hold it are like the idiotic farmer who wanted to fatten his hog but decided to butcher it just to be able to buy feeds.
It was in reality a drama in hypocrisy and deception.
Most congressmen were simply apprehensive that they could not cope with barangay candidates asking for financial support after having just been drained by the last elections. The other unspoken, hidden agendum is that Speaker de Venecia wanted the barangay elections postponed (it actually means cancellation) because if reset for May 11, 2009 he could have time to resuscitate his charter change scheme and submit the issue to the people in a referendum simultaneous with the planned May 11, 2009 polls.
So if Kahlil Gibran were a Filipino he would be more depressed and shocked by shrewd leaders like Speaker de Venecia boldly trying to hoodwink the people as if 80 million Filipinos were all nincompoops. Such leaders are worse than calamities that routinely batter the Bicol Region, worse than the disaster that the rebels bring to this country. We are ashamed of this opportunistic mentality.
Is this what will happen if the plan to shift to a unicameral parliamentary system materializes?
But of course, as Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all the time and all of the people some time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
email: peninsula_monitor@yahoo.com
