The Varsitarian

I honestly think that the Philipines as a nation is just NOT ready for democracy. I have said it before and I continue to say that. I applaud the comment left by RF_BSMath_89. He got it right on the head. This thing called Debt of gratitude is foolish. We are an abusive people. Period. You give them the hand, and they want the whole arm. Democracy has been raped dead in the Philippines. No. The Philippines does not deserve democracy. They don't know what to do with it. Our justice system and constitution is a big joke and a laugh. I mean come on, in what world can you have a prosecuted man run for government office????? If thats not abusing democracy, then I don't know what is.

Keep it men!!! Im one of your readers.

First of all, Emil, I admire your courage in writing this article. I would normally assume that with your insights above, you're already in trouble with so ruling Filipino families who took offense with what you wrote. Nowadays, the word Democracy always carry a disclaimer that says "It depends". The Philippine-style Democracy carries with it the old and proven virtue of "Utang na Loob" which eventually allows those who are in power to stay in there forever. This explains the existence of Oligarchy as well as Political Dynasties. To explain this, let's start with a freshman politician, who creating an excellent track record. Come election time, our kababayans will vote for anything related to this guy, be it his/her son, daughter, spouse, friend, etc. After several years/decades, a new political family is born. As it starts to take shape, corruption kicks in because, since the politician and/or his/her minions has helped many individuals, including those who own businesses, these businesses will return the favor by providing the politician incentives to keep the business running. I now live in the United States and and I can't help but compare the 2 different democracies. Unlike the Pinoy-style democracy, the US-style democracy is proves that "debt of gratitude" (remember it's now in English) is not a priority. If you commit a crime, you get punished, no matter who or which social status you belong to. Running for office really does require the mandate of the entire electorate, not just a few people. Also, candidates have sensitivity when running for office. The separation of Church and State is clearly written in the Constitution, making it extremely illegal to mix politics with religion, which further discourages voting for political candidates just because of their religious belief. Of course we still have the Conservatives (we generally call them Republicans) who have high moral values, but the constitution still prevails. After the Spaniards left, the Philippines started fresh under the auspices of American democracy. We had the opportunity to learn and implement American-style democracy. However, being under an oppressive Spanish regime for more than 300 years, the Filipinos said: "We're tired of being governed by a foreign power. Let us govern ourselves the way we want to and we will have sovereignty as a people." (remember what ML Quezon said?). The Americans left and the Filipinos enjoyed a prosperous life under 2-4 presidents. Then came a dictator who valued "Utang na Loob" more than anything else. He also became greedy that so many intelligent minds who have great plans for the country, but opposes the dictator, were decommissioned from governing. And then the economy started to suffer. Because of "Utang na Loob", the Marcos regime attracted so many followers that eventually resulted into powerful families. Unfortunately, this got worse when the dictator left. More families, be it for or against the incumbent president, became powerful. And unfortunately, from my perspective (i.e., from outside of the Philippines), the economic situation of so many poor kababayans is getting worse because of how the government runs it. Sometimes, because of who they vote for political office. The 1987 constitution is being taken literally by those who aspire to govern or legislate-- no educational requirement, just the will and their popularity --- the more ubiquitous they are (TV, radio, etc), the more votes the get -- "Best Actor" = Most votes. And they win, whether or not thru the mandate of the people.