Original Image Source: Krisia - Pexels
Philippines was among the few Asian countries that is under the rule of a Democratic government. This means that under this rule, the people have the power to choose the leaders that they believe to prioritize the interest of the people by creating and enacting laws and policies that will ensure the country's security and prosperity. The selection will be made through the process of voting where people can elect their candidates which later will be counted and the candidate with the most number of votes will have the right to take the government position. Because of this, a person can assume a governmental position regardless of his wealth, prestige or education as long as he wins his sit. Theoretically, we could say that a Democratic government was the best type of government as it is capable of ensuring that the people have freedom of expression and equal rights but that is if the system is properly implemented which is not the case for the Philippines as much as I want to deny it unless the whole country works on the things that I wrote in this post.
Voting plays a significant part in a Democratic government as it gives citizens the ability to elect its government representative and in this way, people will have the sense that the candidate that will take the government position has won it fairly. But truth be told, here is where the corruption starts as the candidates would resort on Vote-buying in order to secure the number of votes that they need, exploiting the poor by giving little amount of money and since they need the money, they will throw away their freedom to vote. I have since this practice many times before ever since I start voting and to make it worst, all the parties competing for the government position has been doing it and its just a matter of who can pay the most people that will have the greater chance of winning.
Original Image Source: Element5 Digital - Pexels
Another thing that hinders our country for achieving true democracy was the existence of the "Padrino" (Patron) System as a candidate would try to gain political favors on a Patron which will then use their wealth and resources to help the candidate win the election. In return, once the candidate assumes the position, he would grant his Patron favors like government contracts or would avert their eyes form any crimes that the Patron commits. Some recent event that I could cite as an example to this revolves with the recent arrest of Apollo Quiboloy who has been on the FBI's wanted list since 2021 due to charges of alleged sex trafficking, money laundering and many more but has remained free until a few days ago as he gets protection from Rodrigo Duterte who has been the country's president until 2022 as Quiboloy was his spiritual advisor and being the leader pastor of Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is a religious organization that has branches in different countries. If you are curious about this case, you can check Mutahar's Video.
Aside from those practice that the people on the position would resort to obtain a position of power, various things also make the citizens frustrated which makes them lose their fate in the power of democracy like the continued corruption in the government while voting has been a continued struggle for old and disable people as well as for voters that lives in rural area. Another thing that makes the people frustrated was that, many of the candidates that runs on governmental position are always the same so even if those candidates already lose their credibility, voters does not have an alternative candidate to vote. Speaking of credibility, what could be more frustrating as a voter than to see individuals that have been convicted of corruption and sent to prison to be able to obtain a government position once again.
In order to achieved rue democracy, it requires that the true voice of the people to be heard by having stricter policies against vote-buying and that information about the candidates to be uncensored. Additionally, it is also necessary to have more transparency in the government and always held our leader accountable for their actions.
Thank you for reading my post and see you on the next one!
