Conflicts
We did a lengthy post about this before, but the recent turn of events only serve to highlight the inherent conflicts that plague our electoral system. Is it any wonder why our country is so seriously fucked up?
Only in the Philippines do presidents appoint COMELEC chairmen who have had partisan affiliations or at the very least were related to somebody who ran for public office.
Benjamin Abalos was appointed COMELEC Chairman by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2002. Prior to his appointment, Abalos was a four term city mayor and MMDA chairman and had been a member of two political parties - the LDP and the LAKAS NUCD-CMD.
Sixto Brillantes was appointed by Aquino in 2011. He never entered politics, but he is a well-known election lawyer whose clients included high profile politicians like Joseph Estrada and Jejomar Binay. Brillantes also served as general counsel for Danding Cojuangco's NPC from 2001 to 2006.
Andres Bautista was appointed by Aquino in 2015. Andy used to head the PCGG prior to his stint as COMELEC Chairman. His brother Martin ran twice for Senator, first in 2007 under the Kapatiran Party, when Bautista boasted of having garnered more votes than Victor Wood (if Eddie Peregrina was alive, surely he would have gotten more votes than this guy), then again in 2010, when he ran under Aquino's ticket. Noynoy is said to be the cousin of Andy and Martin Bautista.
Now what is the problem with appointing people with partisan connections and previous political affiliations to head the country's Commission on Elections?
Everything.
How can you guarantee objectivity from these people when they used to be partisan or did prior service to partisan clients? And why should the President (who heads a political party himself) get to appoint the COMELEC Chairman?
How can you expect impartiality from the COMELEC Chair if he/she is appointed by the President? Any person who owes his or her appointment to a political being will instantly be beholden to the appointing power, not to mention the countless interest groups who lobbied for the appointment. The COMELEC Chairman's task is to ensure clean, honest and impartial elections but how can he perform his duties with utmost impartiality if he owes the power of his position to somebody who has an inherent partisan interest to protect?
And since we have an electoral system that runs on money and patronage and allows political dynasties to perpetuate and prohibits competent and willing players who cannot afford to launch a costly campaign from ever getting elected, the position of COMELEC Chairman becomes a magnet of corruption.
No matter how often we change leaders, so long as these conflicts aren't effectively addressed, we will be stuck in the rut like a dog trying to get out of a quicksand.
We can get rid of Andy now but rest assured it won't change a god damn thing.
It is about time we overhaul the system.
