A FRIEND who has an extensive vocabulary told me the Philippines is a kakistocracy and not a democracy.
When I asked him what ?kakistocracy? means, he smiled and told me to consult the dictionary.
This is what I found:
Kakistocracy is a government run by the least qualified or most unprincipled. It is also a government run by the worst of its citizens.
In short, a government run by scoundrels.
One is immediately reminded of the massive cheating in the 2004 presidential election, the ZTE-NBN overprice scandal, the fertilizer fund scam and other irregularities that only an unprincipled and shameless administration could have committed.
Kakistocracy also reminds us of the government in Maguindanao which, until lately, was run by the Ampatuans, who allegedly masterminded the Maguindanao massacre.
Who could be worse than the Ampatuans?
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If we elect leaders who are the ?the least qualified or most unprincipled? and ?the worst among the citizenry,? then we will continue to have a kakistocracy.
If we elect candidates on May 10 based on results of popularity surveys, even if we know such candidates are unprincipled or not qualified or society?s scum, then we should not complain later on that we have a bad government.
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If you ask me, the only qualified presidential candidates based on competence and leadership are Dick Gordon and Gibo Teodoro.
Choose your pick between the two.
How ironic that both Gordon and Teodoro, both bright lawyers and principled leaders, are at the tail-end of popularity surveys.
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Dick Gordon is not only very intelligent, he?s a true leader.
After every disaster or at the height of disasters, Dick was always present and personally supervising rescue operations.
Whether as Olongapo City mayor, as chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and as chair of the Philippine National Red Cross, Gordon?s presence after or during a disaster was reassuring to surviving victims, families of fatalities and the public.
I know, I know: I?m advertising Gordon.
But unless we have forgotten, Gordon?s job as disaster czar was in the newspapers and announced on radio and shown on TV when he was in the thick of every tragedy.
In a disaster-prone country like ours, we need a leader like Gordon who is in control of dangerous situations, much like New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was in the aftermath of the bombing of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Think about it.
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There is a party-list called ABAMIN, short for Abante Mindanao, and it?s running in the May 10 election.
Being from Mindanao, I urge fellow Mindanaoans to vote for ABAMIN and other Mindanao-based party-lists.
Mindanao is the second largest island in the country, yet it is under-represented in government.
Of the 54 seats for party lists, only five come from Mindanao, or only 10 percent of the total.
At present, there are only two senators from Mindanao out of 24.
In the executive branch, there is only one department secretary from Mindanao out of 24 Cabinet positions.
That?s the reason Mindanao gets the crumbs while Luzon and the Visayas get the entire cake.
