Philippine Presidential Elections: Yet Another Popularity Contest?

After defending his welterweight title last night, Manny Pacquiao is rushing to go home to the Philippines in order to resume his campaign for a congressional seat in the Philippine Congress. He is also expected to help boost the campaign of a presidential candidate, Manny Villar, who is hoping to ride to victory on the strength of Pacquiao’s popularity. Not to be outdone is Noynoy Aquino, the son of the late former president Corazon Aquino, who chose the great grandson of another former president, Manuel Roxas, to be his running mate, both of whom are banking on the fame that their last names evoke. The other “presidentiables” have also solicited the help of celebrities, usually movie actors or basketball players.

Winning elections in the Philippines is like running a popularity contest. Forget about partisan fights for principled agenda. Political parties field in candidates who have a charismatic appeal, social standing, and ability to buy votes. Politics is driven by personality wherein Filipinos make political choices based on personal considerations.

This is frustrating. One would think that the young, highly educated set of presidential candidates would make things different this time, and that political parties would craft a philosophical vision and party platforms based on good ideas. At least that’s what Gibo Teodoro, another presidential candidate closely associated with the unpopular President Arroyo, is trying to do. But it seems he’s not making a dent because he is being judged by the company he keeps and not by his ideas.

This fledgling republic, poised to become a major player in Southeast Asia during the pre-Marcos era, has yet to achieve a stable constitutional democracy. After three centuries of despotic Spanish rule and an American democratic experiment that was heavily influenced by Wilsonian self-determination policy, the Philippines has yet to learn the ways of genuine republicanism by statesmen who rule in the interest of the people they are supposed to serve.

This campaign season offers an opportune moment for the candidates to reverse the ugly habits of the past, to elevate the meaning of citizenship and political obligation. This they can achieve by giving the citizenry what they deserve: intelligent discussions about the nation’s problems and the directions to which it should be heading. They should start running their campaigns based on the burning issues of the day: how to turn the country into an Asian tiger and become competitive in the world market; how to quell the communist and Islamist insurgencies that have dragged on for decades; what foreign policy directions the country should pursue vis-avis the emerging power of China in Asia; how to develop and harness the human and natural resources of each of the regions in the country so that opportunities can start flourishing in these places, away from Manila; how to eliminate corruption and improve public services, etc.

Filipino politicians owe the Filipino people nothing less than principled statesmanship and effective leadership. Personality-driven politicking must stop. So does undermining the ability of the Filipinos for intelligent discourse.