Think presidential tandem voting

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

BLOCK voting is desirable for our country principally because it places accountability on political parties or groups. While block voting was never adopted in our election laws, the practice served us well in the past, particularly when we still had the two-party system. People generally voted for the candidates for the presidency and vice presidency of a political party.

The practice yielded positive results in governance. Specifically, the accountability for the performance of government was placed squarely on the political party. But the multi-party system in our country changed all that. Our voting became personality-centered, and no one was held accountable but the voters who elected non-performing idiots. (The only practice that comes close to the purpose of block voting is the ‘bloc voting’ as practiced by the Iglesia ni Cristo – members vote according to the dictates of its leaders).

In the absence of clear delineation of organizations of political parties in fielding of candidates, we can only think of espousing and promoting the election of “presidential tandems.”

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TANDEMS’ MESSAGES. The call for electing tandem candidates was actually already started by the Aquino administration. It identified the tandem of Mar Roxas-Leni Robredo as ‘Daang Matuwid’.

Then there is the call of presidential wannabe Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for his tandem Sen. Alan Peter Caytano. He tells his supporters: “Kung boboto kayo sa akin dapat botohan ninyo si Alan. Dapat andun talaga s’ya para makapagsabi naman s’ya sa akin, Mayor, mali ‘yan. Mayor, ito ang gawin natin. Kung hindi kayo mag-boto kay Alan, ‘wag na ninyo akong botohan.”

The tandem of Senators Grace Poe and Chiz Escudero as independent candidates, came forward that promises a government “Na may Puso!”

Vice President Jojo Binay and Sen. Gringo Honasan are rallying United Nationalist Alliance’s ‘Bin-Go’ tandem.

Senators Miriam Santiago and Bongbong Marcos peg their candidacies on a call for Unity to denote their partnership, as in “Together kami.”

What these tandems’ messages tell voters is there will be smooth governance between them since they share a common platform and agenda.

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PROBLEMATIC GOVERNANCE. So what happens if the candidate for president of one tandem is elected with the candidate for vice president of another tandem?

Recall the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos and VP Erap Estrada, the presidency of Erap and VP Gloria Arroyo, and the presidency of PNoy and VP Binay. What did they have in common? They were not elected with their original tandem partners. They were forced to work with each other only to end in bitter political bickering.

Compare them to the administrations of Presidents Cory Aquino, Ferdinand Marcos, Diosdado Macapagal, and Ramon Magsaysay who won with their tandems. They enjoyed massive political support during their respective administrations.

Consider the following scenarios after May 9 when results are mixed.

A President Duterte will not be able to get support of Vice President (VP) Bongbong, Leni, Chiz, Gringo or Sonny (Trillanes). They all heavily criticized Duterte’s promise to stop drug lords and hardcore criminals in 3-6 months. Worse, not one of them supports Duterte’s call for federalism. Only VP Cayetano, his tandem, supports him fully.

Ditto for President Roxas, President Binay, President Grace and President Miriam. They will all have problems getting unqualified support from the vice president who belonged to another tandem. Why? All the vice president candidates took damaging potshots at all the opposing presidential candidates of other tandems.

For sure Vice President Leni will not see eye to eye with President Grace because she was vocal about the latter being unfit to run for the presidency. President Roxas will shun VP Bongbong whom he openly accused of keeping billions that his father stole during the martial law era. President Binay will not be kind to VP Alan, Leni and Sonny but perhaps open to VP Bongbong and VP Chiz because others believe they having ‘common interests’. (President Miriam? At this stage, she can take anyone, assuming she can last her term because of her poor health).

If the election results are mixed, at the end of the day, we will have to put up with an administration of ‘Sisihan’ or ‘Finger-pointing’ for six years, accomplishing little and a lot of grandstanding and politicking. That’s what happened with the PNoy administration, all the way down to the Ramos administration. (President Arroyo was more fortunate when she had VP Noli de Castro (as independent) who was a submissive, reluctant newbee politico).

So, for effective governance and for our country’s sake, vote for the presidential tandem of your choice!

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PANGASINAN EXPERIENCE. The situation in Pangasinan calls for the same – think tandem voting.

The province’s experience with the Espino-Calimlim tandem in the Capitol has borne fruits to the benefit of the populace. The legislative was always quick to support the agenda of the executive. So for the province’s benefit, voters should either go Espino-Calimlim or Cojuangco-Macanlalay at the polls.

In contrast, the experience of Dagupeños with CSI’s Belen Fernandez as mayor and Magic’s Brian Lim as vice mayor did not always go smoothly during their first term. VM Brian maintained an opposition profile and that posed a problem in governance. Politics always found a way to rear its ugly head. With the political compromise reached earlier (the withdrawal of Brian’s mom Celia for mayor and Kapitan Brian Kua as Mayor Belen’s VM), the agenda of the Fernandez city hall may still be torpedoed by VM Brian depending on the latter’s 2019 agenda. Tsk-tsk.

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NOT A WORTHY SON? Those who watched the vice presidential debate two weeks ago were all in agreement that Sen. Bongbong Marcos got boxed in with the Marcos’ hidden wealth and human rights issues.

He tried to wiggle out of the situation only to sound like VP Binay who insists that the issues raised are “politically motivated.” Duh!

But one astute political analyst I met pointed one observation that was lost to many. He said Mr. BBM could have taken the opportunity to extol the accomplishments of his father to parry off the issues ranged against him and his dad, but he didn’t. Instead, Mr. BBM merely chose to acquit himself by claiming to being only the son and, therefore, not guilty of political sins committed by his father. That showed a blot and a flaw in Mr. BBM’s character.

This, the political analyst said, explains why Mr. BBM found it easy to turn to Sen. Miriam Santiago as his presidential candidate only to push his supporters to promote a Duterte-Marcos tandem. Indeed, no one has heard him say “My president is Sen. Santiago, not Mayor Duterte.” In local parlance, he said it’s Namamangka sa dalawang ilog na walang delicadeza.” (In sharp contrast, Mr. Duterte consistently and categorically reminds his supporters, “My vice president is Sen. Cayetano!” while Mr. Cayetano publicly professes that the election of Mr. Duterte is paramount to him).

When Mr. BBM decided to run for VP, he gave the impression that he would continue the unfinished business of his dad. But why did he junk his dad’s record (the bad with the good) just to keep his nose clean?

The debate was a lost opportunity for Mr. BBM to prove himself as the worthy son of President Marcos! Tsk-tsk!

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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