To vote or not to vote

PINOY KASI

To vote or not to vote
By Michael Tan

Inquirer
Last updated 01:24am (Mla time) 05/11/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- I have friends who are seriously thinking about not voting, because they are so overwhelmed by the feeling that the administration will cheat massively, so why bother.

A sizeable proportion of the population -- the youth -- have already disengaged themselves by not even bothering to register. Yes, government was so anemic with voter registration, but I suspect that even if Commission on Elections had been more aggressive, many young people would still have kept away. Young people, even at the University of the Philippines with its militant reputation, have become so disillusioned with politics. Their concern now is to get a diploma so they can leave to work overseas.

I share a lot of the pessimism, and seriously considered not voting. At one point, I even accepted an invitation to deliver a keynote address at an overseas conference right on Election Day but eventually begged off because I thought, now more than ever, voting does matter.

Local battles

Our pessimism comes about mainly with our focus on national politics. For this election, the public opinion polls clearly show the opposition will retain its hold on the Senate, so there are fears that the administration will cheat to alter the results there, and that after the elections, all would be lost.

It’s time we shifted attention and looked instead at the arenas where the more important battles have to be fought. I’m referring to local governments, the races on the provincial and municipal or city levels. Local governments have tremendous powers because of decentralization and can make a huge difference.

The now-defunct Newsbreak magazine had a special issue last year highlighting best practices of local governments, showing how we were moving forward, albeit slowly. I was impressed, for example, with an article about Quezon City’s management of its finances, a gargantuan task considering its income has reached the billion-peso mark.

Family planning is another example. The national government does not want to touch this, fearing the ire of the President and conservative Catholic bishops, but many local governments are quietly implementing their programs, purchasing the needed contraceptives and intensifying family planning education. In Iloilo province, several mayors banded together to implement programs that go a step further, integrating environmental conservation with family planning.

Much can be done at the local government level and successful initiatives can create a bandwagon effect, with officials imitating and eventually trying to outdo each other with good governance. I’ve been part of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Leaders for Health Program, which started out with a few municipal health officers, all physicians, being trained to form teams with local government officials to bring health reforms. After the first batch, some mayors and governors and provincial health officers were asking if they could join in.

I am sure there are many other local leaders out there, working their own miracles in the field of education, agricultural production, microfinance, even heritage conservation.

Mavericks

Do competent leaders stand a chance in our elections? I’m cautious here. I get depressed hearing from friends outside of Manila, telling me of administration-backed mayors, even governors, running unopposed. There are also depressing stories about the congressional races, a crucial area where national and local politics interface. The administration knows it is crucial they get the numbers here, to stop any new impeachment procedures.

Yes, the machinery of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration is awesome, but I can’t help but sense desperation in the way it has been throwing out money. I hear of so many provinces and towns where all the candidates get “donations” from the administration, a way of betting on all the horses.

Grim as the battles are, I also hear of a new generation of politicians somehow making progress even with minimal resources. The best example is the maverick Danton Remoto, who is running for the House in the third district of Quezon City. After he was rebuffed trying to get Ang Ladlad groyp registered as a gay and lesbian party-list organization, he tried to run for the Senate, and was again spurned by the Commission on Elections. Now running for the House, he actually stands a good chance of becoming the first openly gay member of Congress.

Maybe it was just as well that Ang Ladlad wasn’t accredited because Remoto has expanded his platform to include many other political issues, from impeaching Arroyo to environmental conservation. And he seems to be making headway because the third district has a good mix of constituents, from the chattering classes who live around Loyola Heights and Katipunan Road to the hard-nosed blue- and white-collar workers of Project 4. Remoto defies political stereotypes, being a writer and a poet, and a professor at the Ateneo. He says he has the support of Catholic groups, emphasizing this includes both “the single and the coupled.”

The ultimate stake

Get real, my friends tell me, a few local governments can’t make a difference. I’d argue they can, not just for the local community but for the country. It’s not just a matter of creating a bandwagon effect but also of countering the epidemic of pessimism and cynicism that has engulfed us. After I read the Newsbreak issue last year, I sent it to an American foundation that I work with. They were impressed, and have committed funds to two of our universities to propagate some of the examples of good governance in the area of health care.

Many Filipinos are unaware of another unseen crisis that has accompanied our political crisis: International donor agencies have been pulling out or reducing their funds in the country. This parallels the weak inflow of money from international investors.

The government likes to boast of international money coming in, but these are mostly portfolio investments, foreigners playing with our stock market and bonds, rather than investments in job-creating businesses. The reason for the donors’ and the business investors’ caution is simple: They do not see democratic processes evolving. There’s too much uncertainty, too much arbitrariness in the national government. But wiser donors and business people see a way out, identifying local governments with competent leaders, and putting their money in these towns and provinces.

The nation is in crisis, but it’s not the usual acute kind, with massive street rallies and protest actions. It’s more of a continuation of a chronic crisis that’s simmered through the years, often going into a boil as more people become disenchanted with our Enchanted Kingdom. The danger is that instead of boiling over, our democratic system might just dry up, like a water kettle that’s been kept on low boil and forgotten.

Our votes are our investments, our way of showing that despite the national government, despite the President, we still have enough faith in the system to vote for leaders who can hold the fort, keep democracy going until 2010, and beyond.