Election in the Philippines get fiercer and possibly dirtier

Jose Ma. Montelibano, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila

It is that time of the season when the lust for power overrides all operating systems in the virtual oligarchy we know as Philippine democracy. Election Day is less than three weeks from now and there is no runaway winner. That means the contest gets dirtier, the infighting more intense, and more Judas Iscariots plying their cowardly trade.

The side issues are whether Raul Roco, Panfilo Lacson or Eddie Villanueva will abort their candidacies to give way to either Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo or Fernando Poe Jr. The main issue is who between the two will win. The romanticists can quote all the poetry on nobility or fidelity, but the game of politics is not sensitive to the higher aspirations of the spirit. That means pragmatism will once again prevail over integrity, smartness over honesty, and fear over vision.

When people vote from ignorance, or from a penchant for the lesser evil, then the political future of the country is assured of mediocrity at best, and corrupt and turbulent governance as the most probable scenario. When there is a dearth of candidates who are willing to bite the bullet and keep hammering at corruption as the only evil that all citizens must excise in their personal value system, then the standard prescriptions for better governance is headed for guaranteed failure.

One candidate, the preacher-turned-wannabe-president, is articulating the message of righteousness. He is absolutely correct in his message, as only a return to righteousness can reverse a pattern of corruption that has bred massive poverty and criminality. When our very sense of right and wrong become warped enough for a whole people to tolerate or participate in corruption, then chaos and conflict become the defining features of our society. Unfortunately, even Eddie Villanueva often gets sidelined by the temptation to address the less or non-essential and the message of righteousness fades to the sidelines.

Lacson would have us gravitate to his style of anti-corruption programs through his kamay na bakal (iron fist) brand of governance. He keeps referring, by force of circumstance, to the Kuratong Baleleng multiple-murder issue, in which he is not shy about claiming that he got rid of criminals who were hurting innocent society. The message is not lost to the observant, as Lacson is not a master at the subliminal. Kamay na bakal will not be shy about getting rid of criminals, period. And the principle of righteousness will die side by side with the criminals, like that holy man on the cross between two thieves.

Today, minor issues, like who will give way to whom, become the object of societal attention as though the answer to the nation's ills can be answered by them. No one confronts the root causes of our weaknesses, the divisiveness that festers in our society, and our utter dependency to mindless consumerism. Who is screaming for Filipinos to adopt austerity as a national mode of behavior? Who is creating the crusade for local production, its protection and mandated development by government and its patronage by all Filipinos?

And while we are at it, who will spearhead the necessary cultural revolution that will reconnect us to our erased past and the graphic events of global corruption which drove colonial powers to destroy not only the freedom of innocent peoples but manipulate their very mindsets as well? Without a nation being made aware of how its rich cultural heritage was mangled and buried, its people will keep carrying in them the very virus that infects their value system.

Filipinos have not only been blighted, as Jose Rizal wrote, but continue to be disconnected from their greatest source of power and creativity -- their natural character as a tropical people, their rich cultural heritage, and their destiny as one of the most creative people in the world. Without a journey towards remembering the historical truth, Filipinos cannot muster clear glimpses of an even more subtle truth -- the beauty and power of their Creator.

Thus, Filipinos do not behave as though they, too, are children of the same God as the elite who dominate them and their motherland's resources. A people with a disconnected memory cannot anchor on their strengths and instead will be driven by the dictates of those who are more sure, more focused, and more powerful. Colonialism to many is something that is buried with the past. In the Philippines, it thrives with the continuing attitude of a higher appreciation for what is foreign and a lower value for what is local.

Colonialism has morphed into consumerism, then globalization. It is getting deeper into the Filipino psyche, not less. The external trappings of a false democracy delude Filipinos to believe in their sovereignty, in their independence, even as their country kneels before the moguls of the multinationals and the executives of the world's financial institutions. And all these are happening even with George W. Bush as the fairy godfather of a member of the coalition of the willing.

To break the pattern of colonialism, Filipinos must transcend both ignorance and anger. The ignorance perpetuates the control of the master over a mindless puppet, while the anger prevents the slave from moving to more constructive evolution. The rich and the powerful in the Philippines who took the place of the colonial masters must reject the exercise of the same power as thought it were their birthright. And the poor must remember that they are slaves no longer and outgrow their conditioned subservience.

Tall order. It will not happen without the apple cart being upset. Well, the elections next month may just do that. The candidates, all of them, feel they are the answer to the nation's ills. Their assumption of a messiah's role will not make them accept defeat gracefully, more so those who are among the leaders of the surveys. Without a clear victory from any of them, the results will be contested every which way.

It is turbulence that precedes chaos, and chaos that precedes radical change. Perhaps, it is time to reach a closure and begin a new era in Philippine history. If not, then it will be the same story, as yesterday, so today.