Honesty not the best policy

The proposal to postpone the scheduled barangay election on October 29 has brought to the fore a major ill in the country’s systemof governance – patronage politics.

We’ve all known about this for a long time now, this “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” routine. But for the first time, no less than the president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), Binalonan Mayor, Ramon Guico, Jr., publicly acknowledged that the old hand members of their group, the re-elected town mayors, are supporting the postponement because they are financially drained from the May election and could ill-afford to dish out monetary contribution to the campaign fund of barangay chairmen and councilors.

It must be that this system is so deeply-rooted and accepted by our society that Guico had no qualms admitting the very obvious. We admire him for his honesty. But honesty is not necessarily the best policy.

What the influential LMP must do now is question and put a stop, once and for all, to that corrupted system that has been preventing barangays, municipalities, provinces and the entire country from achieving real development.

This patron-patron scheme obliges politicians to back those who supported them during election, even if these supposed public servants have proven to be unworthy of the people’s trust and vote.

We, therefore, cannot and will not support the postponement even for the reasons cited by some congressmen – to save the country from much-needed public funds, allow the embattled Comelec some time to get its act together before hosting another round of polls, and most importantly, to give our politicians some time to reflect on the kind of politics that they have been harboring for too long a time now.

The barangay, the baseline political unit, is the government’s frontline office to the people. They are at the center of the community and as such, barangay officials are actually in the best position to address the most basic needs of the people. And we are not talking here of dole-outs for the sick, the dead, and calamity victims or donations for fiestas, weddings and baptisms.

Barangay officials, being at the grassroots level, have the power to come up with ordinances that will institutionalize and more importantly, implement social welfare activities, health programs, education improvements, and economic development through alternative livelihood projects.

Another postponement, if it pushes through, will not only further delay the envisioned development of the barangays but will serve to further selfish agenda of corrupt politicians in all levels, from the barangay to the national level. 

Our foremost objection lies in the need for our government to begin enforcing laws consistently, not whimsically anchored on politicians’ discretion.

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