Tamayo, Mhitz T.

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Politics and Governance with Philippine Constitution

Reaction Paper in Lente’s #SATINangEleksyon Podcast: Philippine

Election Myths, Busted!
Philippine Election is one of the most anticipated happening in the country for the
politicians and the public as well. It’s the time for the politicians to see if they did well in
marketing themselves and their platforms, and for the citizens to exercise their rights to
suffrage. Over the years, we witness how dramatic, entertaining, chaotic, and violent the
politics is, especially during the election period. There are incidents of vote buying,
malfunctions, protests, and even killings.

Prior to the podcast, there was a short video which shows the problems encountered by
the indigenous people during the electoral day and how the Commission on Election
came up with a solution. The documentary states that the indigenous people main
problem during the electoral day is having accessible voting centers. They are walking
in rocky mountains and crossing rivers for days just to go to schools to cast their votes.
They also experienced discrimination and because some of them didn’t attain an
education, they are an easy target for opportunists. According to one of them in an
interview, there are people harassing them and dictates who they will vote. Despite of
the difficulties that they encounter, they choose to shrug it off because they want to
exercise their right to vote. The Commission on Election saw these problems and they
had a talk with the indigenous people and started to construct accessible voting centers.

In a podcast spearheaded by Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), they

enumerate several election myths that are busted. LENTE is a network of volunteer
lawyers, law students and paralegals that monitors electoral processes throughout the
electoral cycle and raise public awareness on election laws and voter rights. The first
election myth tackled was “Philippine Election is Election Day”. This is not true because
we need to consider the electoral cycle or the pre-election period, election proper, and
post election. Another myth is “Maging bobotante, ‘wag bobotante”. We can’t say that
the voters are stupid if they don’t have a choice on who they will vote. It is true that we
need to educate our voters but we also need to give them choices, a set of good
politicians. The third election myth says “Section bloc voting is real”. Based on statistics,
this is not true because there is no solid bloc voting in the Philippines aside from the
Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) religion. The votes of the women’s, youth, professionals, and
other sectors vary from one another. The fourth one states that “No limit on contribution
= No limit on campaign expenditures”. There’s no limit on contributions but there’s a
limit on campaign expenditures according to the law. That’s why we need to be
observant on how these politicians spend money during their campaign. Their
expenditures must be aligned with their SALN. The qualities of a good public servant
include honesty and integrity which pertains to telling the truth, being obedient to laws,
and hiding nothing. He must also be transparent with the public and disclose all
transactions involving public interest. Election myth number 5 states “Walang eleksyon,
may pandemic!” We can still hold an election despite of the pandemic because there
are other countries that conducted election in the midst of pandemic, even Sri Lnka
which is a third world country. We can also do the same with proper guidelines and
following minimum health protocols. Next election myth says “Hindi pwede bumoto ang
BARMM voters sa national elections”. Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao was formed with ratification of its basic law or Bangsamoro Organic law
signed by President Duterte. Residents of BARMM will still vote for the national
president and their parliamentary government as well.

Lastly, “Voting will change the world (the Philippines)”. This is true because as a
democratic country, we have the power to elect leaders who will change our country for
its betterment. Voting is essential and everyone must exercise their right to suffrage. We
need to have proactive citizen participation trough voting, mobilizing, forming alliances,
and running to government positions. We need to choose a public servant who is
selfless, one who is aware on the needs of the people and reacts immediately. A good
public servant must be honest, has integrity, and transparent. He must be liable and
responsible with his constituents. And most importantly, we need a public servant who
has effective leadership skills, someone who knows how to manage and run the
government despite of its limited resources.

Despite of the bad image we have when it comes to our government, we need to vote.
We need an election to change our country, to reduce poverty, unemployment,
criminality, pollution, illiteracy, and other economic problems. But to do this, we need
authentic, effective, and efficient leaders. We suffer enough because of our wrong
decisions, we had experience bad governance. Corrupt and ineffective politicians must
take account. In the incoming 2022 national elections, we need to be critical in choosing
our leaders because our future is at stake. Do not let them fool us nor take advantage
especially with the vulnerable. We have the right to demand good governance, so let
our voice be heard. If we will all be smart voters, there’s still hope for the Philippines.