Viewpoints
ARMM Elections
By +Oscar V. Cruz JCD
IS the Philippines ruled by a duly framed and approved Constitution? Does this country have a republican democracy? Are the Filipinos free as citizens and sovereign as a people? The elementary and immediate answers to all such three simple questions are in the positive. Yes! Yes! Yes! Honest, it is not only inspiring but also endearing to know and to live the truths advanced by such answers in the affirmative. Moreover, it is not simply proper but likewise just for the Filipino citizens to be told that such sound socio-political realities are existent and alive in their basically docile society.
But then comes the pressing disturbing question: How does one explain with rhyme and reason the following devious design being seriously entertained by the present administration: One, the postponement of the duly legislated and scheduled ARMM elections. Two, the disregard for the political will and societal expectation of the people in the Region. Three, the subsequent appointment of the public officials therein at the preferential option of Malacañang. Where is the Constitution? Where is democracy? Where is sovereignty?
The truth of the matter is that the above issue is neither merely social in nature nor purely political in significance. At the core of such deviate plan runs the counter-ethical principle—not to mention immoral elements—that undermine human dignity and trample upon human rights. And this is no little matter whereas it is the manifestation of a thwarted conscience, not to mention the revelation of the well-covered dictatorial tendency—all of which run counter to the inherent aspiration and consequent expectation of the people in general.
Time and again, there is not only the disturbing but also disgusting phenomenon that Filipinos are the first-hand witnesses of—in the course of their history as a people. This: When the political candidates present themselves for election, they loudly and repeatedly claim their pro-people stance, not to mention their unconditional dedication to public service. But when already elected as public officials, majority of them feel like demigods adorned with some kind of omnipotence to do what they like, how they like it done—and when.
After so many decades of Philippine history, it is worth asking: When will the Filipinos ever have political leaders who would really bring them to the knowledge of objective truth, the experience of social justice, the joy of genuine peace? To this date when they have a supposedly populist national leadership, it is instead its self-adoring and pro-self governance that Filipinos experience, witness and suffer from.
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