DEMOCRACY can be a messy business but most of us consider it far more acceptable than an authoritarian system that dictates to us how we should live our lives and who our leaders should be.
For better or worse, our democratic system enabled the mayor of Davao City to become the country’s highest elected official in 2016. In fact, this freedom to choose our leaders—wisely or foolishly—is the cornerstone of our democracy, and any step away from it is a cause for concern.
One such step away from representative government is President Duterte’s proposal to postpone the barangay elections set for October and to appoint more than 43,000 village officials whose positions will become vacant.
In justifying his proposal in March, Mr. Duterte told the League of Municipalities of the Philippines that if the barangay elections were held as scheduled in October, this would certainly ensure the victory of candidates funded by drug money.
Having his handpicked officials as officers-in-charge, he added, would make sure that narco-politicians would not be in place to thwart the anti-drug campaign on the local level.
To give his proposal a semblance of proper representation, Mr. Duterte proposes that he would accept nominations for the barangay leaders from the Catholic Church, Islamic leaders, other religious denominations and other organizations. But the ultimate appointing authority would still be the President himself—and not the people, as mandated by the Constitution and by the democratic principles we all hold dear.
Mr. Duterte’s plan to appoint village leaders also flies in the face of why barangay elections are normally held separate from national and local polls—to insulate government at its most basic level from the influence of political parties. Yet one Palace official was adamant that the President would not appoint village leaders who were associated with the opposition, suggesting that politics will intrude, after all.
If it is true that barangay leaders are under the influence of drug syndicates, the solution isn’t to appoint new ones, but to let the people kick them out and vote in their replacements.
The House of Representatives, it seems, is oblivious to all these arguments and is keen on blindly obeying what Mr. Duterte wants.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, in fact, says a bill postponing the barangay elections is sure to pass in June. The bill could be passed even earlier, if the President certifies it as urgent.
The Senate, however, has been more thoughtful in its appraisal of the President’s proposal, with many senators bristling at the thought of depriving the electorate of their right to choose their own leaders. It is to the senators that we look to now, to make sure that democracy is given a chance to work.
