Ang Kapatiran: My only Reason to Vote

I was a bit leaning towards boycotting the coming elections. Yes, I voted in the past elections but never did my votes really mattered. There can only be two kinds of winners: Those in power who will cheat mainly in the counting and the opposition who will cheat mainly in the campaign. So where should my vote go when there is no one to choose from?

But I have to change my mind. I was following this political party, the "Ang Kapatiran" Party organized by Nandy Pacheco (Gunless Society). I first heard of them when they sued some elected public officials who continue to work as actors/actresses while holding public office (obvious conflict of interest). The "Ang Kapatiran" is the only party I know of that really requires its members to follow the party's platform. They also ask their members to sacrifice for the party and for the common good.

Now, the AngKap has fielded 3 candidates for senator: Martin Bautista (his blog), a doctor, and Adrian Sison (his blog) and Jess Paredes, who are lawyers.

Included in their poltical platform are the following very obvious items that should have been passed as laws long ago, only that there are no politicians with the will enough to propose or declare:

... Disallow elected and appointed public officials from writing regular columns, acting in movies and television shows, acting as commentators or anchorpersons on radio and television, and appearing on TV and radio commercials and print advertisements and billboards.

... End the unwholesome practice of setting up billboards or similar media in public places naming the public official responsible for the project.

... Apply to everyone the Constitutional ban against relatives of incumbent government officials up to the third degree from seeking public office simultaneously or succeeding the former, and to make it unlawful for any member of the Senate or the House of Representatives to run for another office without first resigning from his/her position six months before the elections.

Still, voting the "Ang Kapatiran" may not matter. They will most probably end up as losers. Also, their winning, however remote, may not even matter, too. I am sure that their platforms will be rejected outright although silently by their would be colleagues and by the mass media.

But for me, losing is better, losing the elctions while doing what one thought is right, than winning by cheating, in the counting or in the campaign.

Election Time Spin#2: The Poor are Stupid (and are to be blamed!)

I always hear well-meaning people blame the poor (masses) as to why celebrities and dirty politicians get elected. They say the poor are so stupid that they do not understand the difference between “reel” and real life. They say the poor vote the likes of Erap and FPJ and Lito Lapid and Bong Revilla without thinking that these guys are incompetent. They also say that the poor sell their votes and their future for a measly sum of P500 (the going rate, or even less). Many believe that it is the poor to blame as to why we are all in this mess called the Philippines!

But I say these all are spins. Here are some reasons why:

1. The poor did not un-educate themselves. Indeed, many of the poor are uneducated, but surely they did not un-educate themselves. The leaders of the country, mostly rich and highly educated, with their corruption and disregard for education for the poor are the ones to be blamed, for they led us where we are now. And bombarded by media who tells (mis-educates) everyone what they want everyone to believe to be true rather than what is really true, the poorly educated masses can only believe what they are being told. Isn’t it grossly unfair to blame the poor for being basically poor and uneducated?

2. Even if majority of the voters are poor, the majority do not vote for celebrities. Did it not occur to anyone that in the past elections, only about 40% of the votes went to Erap (1998) or FPJ (2004)? If we say that 90% of the voters are poor, then who did majority of the poor voted? If the majority of them voted for other “competent” candidates, why are the poor summarily blamed for voting incompetent people?

3. The electoral system is advantageous to the popular. Let us take the multi-party system for example, isn’t it obvious that this system turned the election into “the Administration” vs. “the Celebrity”? Also, look at the big number of senators we have to vote for (12)..., wouldn’t it be easier to vote 12 celebrities or well known personalities rather than 12 well-meaning and competent but less popular individuals? Some people may say that the poor is still to be blamed because there are so many of them poor (not necessarily majority) who voted incompetence into office. But, why not blame the politicians (mostly rich) who split the majority thinking vote between them? Why not blame the electoral process, instituted again by the rich and influential, that definitely needs revision, for it neither encourage nor strengthen political parties that would have solved this election by minority? Why not blame the same electoral process that was not revised by the rich and influential, that gives advantage to the popular?

4. The mass media reinforce the candidacy of well known but imcompetent candidates. Just look at what is covered by the mass media. Isn’t it that TV and radio, the only source of information for many of the poor, cover celebrities and the popular as if they already won the elections, rather than the unknown yet platformed candidates? Why blame the poor and not blame the media, owned by the rich, who in effect validates the candidacy of incompetent celebrities?

It is really very easy to blame the poor for the usual defective results of the defective elections we have in the country. The poor cannot talk back. They are nothing. But truth is, the corrupt leaders, the corrupt politicians, and the corrupt media are the ones that should all be blamed. Yes, them, along even with the well-meaning rich and educated that did not do anything about all these.

The PCIJ on Media Election Coverage

The PCIJ blog has entries on what our mass media is doing or not doing, especially regarding the campaigns for the May 2007 elections. PCIJ's Lala Ordenes-Cascolan reported that mass media does not help a bit in providing voters with the information to make the right choices. Meanwhile, Alecks Pabico described the PCIJ published report with the title: "Why elections are covered as sports". Both posts show insights as to what really is happening with our mass media.

As I commented on their entries, indeed it is nice that they have made with others good analysis and suggestions as to how everything ought to be, but all these good analysis and suggestions will surely fall on deaf ears. Media is so corrupt and no amount of words will change their ways.

But I think our situation is not hopeless. As mentioned in my earlier entry/ies, we can still manage to change the situation. We can force Mainstream Media to clean up their act. Mainstream Media depends on Advertisers, who are businesses that depend on their consumers.

Therefore, there are two facts going for us:
1. We as consumers have the power over businesses - advertisers, and hence over media ultimately.
2. As advertisers, businesses are very sensitive to negative publicity.

What we have to do is to use these facts to force mainstream media to do our biding. The question now is how we can do this most effectively.

Election Time Spin#1: OFW's are heroes

Everyone from people in government and media says that OFWs are heroes. Indeed there could be silent heroes among them but the same is true just as anywhere else. I am not sure who started branding OFWs as heroes. Perhaps, those aspiring to get into elective positions must have called OFWs such to lure the “heroes” and their families voting in their favor come elections. With millions of OFWs everywhere, surely they are worth wooing.

I feel uncomfortable of this "hero" line. There are some reasons OFWs are branded as heroes but all these reasons can be easily rebuffed. For example, it was said that OFWs are sacrificing themselves working away from their families, just to be able to provide for their needs. Is this heroism? Well indeed it could be..., but isn’t it nobler to stay in the country, work doubly hard here, even with far less compensation, just so to have the family stay intact? We can even argue that the nation is in grave danger when our mothers and/or fathers are encouraged to be away from the family in exchange for the mighty green buck! What broken family do we have now and what broken families would we have in the future? Doesn’t it make those who encourage OFWs heartless?

It was also said that money remitted by Pinoy’s working abroad, which counts into the billions, keeps our economy going. Again, at what price? And if they are heroes because of these dollars, aren’t local exporters who give local people work here and earn dollars for the economy the better hero? Shouldn’t these exporters be encouraged more than the OFWs? And if exporters are hero, isn’t it that every businessman who employ local workers are heroes too? We can go on and on and we can end up all calling ourselves heroes, then.

So why are other groups and the many other “heroes” not branded as such like OFWs? The reasoning is simple: there are just few real heroes and they are less gullible to such “hero” spins while there are millions of OFWs. Indeed, no amount of "hero" line could convince real heroes to vote for some politician sucking up come election time.

True, it takes great sacrifice to work away from the family, but it is great sacrifice too to work here and keep one’s family together. There could be heroes working abroad as there are heroes here. That being said, I still feel very sad for those who cannot find jobs here and have no recourse but work in alien land. For me, they are the hapless victims of government corruption rather than heroes. They are down yet stepped on some more by those people who encourages them to go away, work and leave their families whatever the consequences. While the OFWs are victims, those who use and encourage them for political or financial benefit are heartless sycophants who have nothing good to do but destroy the moral future of this country.