gut feel by: leny manalo nov 1, 2013 Barangays better just move on but with purpose Why do I have the gut feeling that many winning barangay captains spent more than what was allowed by law. Wait! I have the same gut feeling for many of those who lost. My barber was more insistent and said that everyone really overspent. A major newspaper even bannered the story on how votes were bought for one thousand pesos. Overspending and vote buying are both grounds for disqualification once proven, but the Comelec seldom initiates its own probe for possible violations and does it mostly for high profile cases and never for thousands of winning barangay candidates in the country. I really have doubts on whether the call of Comelec Chairman Sixto Brilliantes for people to file cases regarding election violations will result to something new. Surely some will do especially those who have winnable cases but the record of the courts and the Comelec in decisioning cases like these has not been encouraging at all. In many cases in the past there was a seesaw of court decisions and a long stretch of Comelec procrastination that lasted for almost the entire length of the term in question costing both contending parties so much money and valuable time. Though the rightful winners were eventually proclaimed the damage on public service was already big and the remaining days of the contested term were usually no longer enough to do repairs. It is really not my intention to condone all the overspending and the vote-buying in the last barangay elections. What I am trying to point out is that people should have protested right away and not waited first for the voting results before doing so. Vigilance is the price of democracy and it is best practiced at the grassroot level. As long as voters enjoy the free ride and free food offered by candidates overspending will happen. As long as voters accept money from them vote-buying will occur. These anomalies happened not only because there were cheating candidates but also there were voters who were involved willingly. Poverty may be a compelling cause but never a rightful motivation. If we ever run after candidates who violated the law we should also go after erring voters. At the barangay level that would be messy and disruptive to community relationships although faithful to the law. Except for the oversized barangays that have become little towns themselves, most barangays in the country still possess distinctive closeness or familiarity among its residents. Although like in any family feud the barangay election can still be deadly if taken selfishly and fanatically personal like what happened in some cases. At present, the country’s justice system that hears the cases after the election is already saddled with mounting backlogs and would not be able to squeeze enough time and resources into a workable timeframe that could meet the growing demand for handling election protests. The non-partisan barangay is already competing with the partisan politicians in flooding the courts with election protests. The baranganic democracy has been a risky experiment from the start. There was always that danger of corruption creeping down the grassroots through the barangays. Well, it already did. Patronage politics that has been largely paid for by money fleeced from the government already permeated communities and neighborhoods in many areas, if not all. Nevertheless I still refuse to surrender my belief in the wisdom of creating the barangay system. The democratic vehicle is still good for running but is being driven the wrong way. It has a mechanism that can provide even those feeling aggrieved in the last barangay elections another way of venting their indignation into something positive. There is still that corridor of opportunity to empower the communities in governance the right way. Losing in a barangay election does not prevent anyone from participating in barangay affairs. There is the barangay assembly that has to be conducted as stipulated by the Local Government Code as part of the duties and responsibilities of the punong barangay. It is here where the performance and the financial status of the barangay could be scrutinized. Not enough importance has been given to these assemblies. If held at all those who attended were mostly followers of the barangay captains who instinctively excluded the non-believers. That is why a certain degree of “constructive opposition” in the barangay that will always push for the convening of these assemblies may be good for promoting transparency in governance at this level. Voting members of the barangay can actually demand for these assemblies if they are not being held at all at the initiative of the barangay captain. As last resort there is always that provision in the law for local initiative and referendum that could supplement legislative functions or the provision for recalling elected barangay officials that voters can use. It only takes fifty determined registered voters to invoke local initiative in the barangay to directly propose, enact, or amend any ordinance and 25% of the registered voters to initiate recall. These extreme options are better than election protests because while division still occurs the learning process in democracy is more inclusive to the entire barangay. As long as they are done in the spirit of constructive criticism and as far as they follow basic parliamentary rules or even just courteous demeanor, the barangay assemblies would promote political maturity of the people where winners and losers in an election are necessary parts of the whole gamut of democratic life. For well intentioned barangay officials there is nothing to fear. The election is the easier part of growing up in a democracy. Living up to the ideals of democracy is the harder part. One comes out winner from an election but comes out a true leader from good governance. A loser could come out a real winner from effectively contributing to the strengthening of peoples participation in government. Barangays should just move on and move on with purpose.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 03:44:14 +0000
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