How do we explain the phenomenon that
130 filed their certificates of candidacy for president in the 2016 elections?
There are two schools of thought on
this.
The Commission on Elections as well as
Malacañang see this as a sign of a vibrant democracy, where anyone who meets
the requirements of the position as laid down in the Constitution can present
themselves before the poll body and fill out
a form. This is democracy in action, they say.
On the other hand, there are those who
insist that the 130 who showed up at the Comelec is a sure indication that we have
a damaged democracy where ordinary people are so thoroughly fed up with elite
politics and seem to be making a mockery of what should be a sacrosanct
electoral process.
The Pop Art icon Andy Warhol once said
that everyone is entitled to 15 minutes of fame. After they shall have left the
Comelec premises and been photographed or videotaped by TV networks for their
less than 15 minutes—5 minutes, perhaps, of fame—would we even remember the
names of the 127 or so filers? We doubt if they would even merit footnotes in
our contemporary political history.
By December 10, the Comelec would
announce who among the 130 filers would be accepted as official candidates.
That's when the real campaign begins, with the candidates explaining their
stand on issues affecting the nation.
We think the spectacle of 130
candidates aspiring for the highest elective position is both positive and at
the same time negative. Positive because the electoral system is open to even
the lowliest citizen. But negative because after the process of sifting the
chaff from the grain or weeding out the nuisance candidates, only the moneyed
and the influential will get elected to national public office, thus
perpetuating elite democracy and traditional politics in this country.
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