Mediocrity, stupidity mark PH electoral culture, says election lawyer

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–“Mediocrity, sheer ignorance if not stupidity” still prevail in the country’s electoral culture, an election lawyer said Friday.

In a statement, lawyer Romulo Macalintal said he agrees with President Benigno Aquino’s call for the electorate to be more discerning in their choice of candidates.

Aquino, in his Independence Day Celebration speech said that the public should choose candidates who will uphold the welfare of the country, and not those good only at reading scripts, dancing and singing.

Aquino’s term ends in 2016.

“Let us accept the President’s challenge to choose candidates who can fight for the interest of the people (as) we don’t need those who are only good at reading scripts, dancing or singing…We need new and fresh ideas from truly qualified leaders who could lead our country and our people to their much-deserved economic and political recovery,” he said.

Macalintal said it is important to educate the voters in the proper exercise of their right to vote

He said the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Isagani Cruz in his separate opinion in Adiong vs Comelec acknowledged the need to educate the voters to ”prevent them from deteriorating into popularity contests where the victors are chosen on the basis not of their platforms and competence but on their ability to sing or dance, or play a musical instrument, or shoot a basketball, or crack a toilet joke, or exhibit some such dubious talent irrelevant to their ability to discharge a public office.”

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