Get back to business
In the hottest election years in the United States, primaries and caucuses in the Republican and Democratic parties perk up the electorate long before the campaign period and actual polls.
Against the background of these preludes to election day, the work of law enforcement, legislation and administration of justice continues with effectiveness and efficiency.
We cannot say with conviction that the reality is similar in the Philipines in the face of the astonishing political maneuvers that we saw in major localities like Metro Manila and Cebu province last week.
Ousted president Joseph Estrada declared with miting de avance fanfare that he will compete against Mayor Alfredo Lim for City Hall in about a year’s time.
The Lakas Christian and Muslim Democrats dropped the Kabalikat ng Masang Pilipino, the party of jailed former president and Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2nd district, Pampanga) whose notoriety tarnished Lakas-CMD-Kampi’s image.
Vice President Jejomar Binay’s party, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan, in the meantime, continued consolidating its ranks across the archipelago.
In Cebu, political battle lines gained definition.
We know now that former Mandaue City mayor Thadeo Ouano desires a seat in the Lower House representing the 6th district. That makes him potential rival to incumbent Luigi Quisumbing.
The 3rd district looms as the battleground for former senator John Osmeña and Board Member Alex Binghay. Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia may decide at the eleventh hour to abandon her senatorial aspirations and seek a Lower House seat representing this district.
The 4th district may see a contest for congressman between incumbent Benhur Salimbangon and Mayor Celestino Martinez Jr. of Bogo City.
Commentators have been unable to find an apolitical interpretation in the involvement of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and Rep. Tomas Osmeña (south district) in the certain barangay Apas residents’ campaign to prevent the demolition of their houses.
While all these amount to a hair-raising chess game for political observers, the developments potentially mask a gaping failure on the part of leaders to really serve their constituents.
The period for the filing of certificates of candidacy is in October yet. Elections will not be around until May 2013, but unfortunately a political circus is already in full swing even though the wounds and divisions created by the last one have not yet healed to the point of providing adequate space for disinterested public service to take place.
What guarantee do we have that many of our elected leaders’ concern for political survival has not become an inordinate obsession that deafens them to the people’s plea to be served?
What do some ubiquitous congressmen have to show so far in terms of laws crafted in little over two years in office? What do those who aspire for higher positions have to show in terms of accomplishments in their current posts?
It seems like the electorate gets shortchanged all the time by those who sit for three years in office. Their energies are spent on a year of campaigning, a year of settling scores with their political opponents and only a year, if any, of slow, inefficient service.
Would that all leaders, to paraphrase Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, learn to be detached from the distant scene to focus on the step of service so needed by their bosses at the moment.
