AS PUBLIC interest lawyers, we render legal services to peasants
and workers, the urban poor, fisherfolk, consumers, religious minorities
and other sectors disempowered and exploited by globalization and
militarism. We seek what little relief we could for our clients within
the interstices of the legal system whose parameters we painstakingly
attempt to expand. We are opposed to military adventurism and “no-el”
as a matter of principle. For these reasons, we seriously consider
the people’s options in the coming May 10, 2004 elections.
The options are indeed bleak.
When Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her campaign managers realized in
late-March that her ratings have plateaued (plateau: the figures have
leveled off and stopped rising), they pulled all stops. By using public
funds, they succeeded in getting favorable media coverage, buying
off ward leaders, political bosses and brokers, factions, and alliances;
and forcing a slow rise in her ratings. The rise in ratings after
her plateau were all bought, begged for, stolen, and borrowed using
government funds and patronage.
Exploiting to the fullest the machinery of government and all resources
and advantages available to the Office of the President with which
to purchase support, GMA almost incredibly has risen from her position
as the candidate most hated for her three-year track record as President
at the start of the race to be one of the two top contenders. As the
elections draw nearer, opinion polls condition the people’s minds
to accept the seemingly foregone conclusion that either GMA or FPJ
shall be elected on May 10, 2004.
Neither GMA nor FPJ deserves the people’s vote.
On the one hand, GMA has conceded virtual basing rights to the American
troops and supported U.S. wars of aggression, even spreading the same
within the borders of our country, to clinch American patronage for
her election bid. Though she now basks in the adulation of big business,
it is undeniable that the same business leaders have previously criticized
her boundless thirst for power as aggravating and further bringing
our economy in dire straits. The masses see that the so-called “intelligence”
and “experience” which she boasts of as her edge over her
closest rival are nothing but her brilliance at preserving her own
hold on power and proven track record in carrying out the twin policies
of globalization and all-out war.
On the other hand, FPJ has nothing to offer the people in terms of
an alternative program of government, and merely relies on his popularity
as a screen idol to propel him to Malacañang. He could not
expound and has failed even to reveal his positions on such key issues
as privatization and deregulation; the implementation of agrarian
reform; the prosecution of murderers of activists and human rights
workers; and the alignment of the Philippines with the US’ war
on terror. The electorate is left to conjecture about what he stands
for on the basis of his well-known association with the late dictator
Ferdinand Marcos, the disgraced former President Joseph Estrada and
their cronies. Indeed, FPJ’s so-called “sincerity”
has a most hollow ring to it.
The candidate with the most dreaded character Ping Lacson, running
for President to save himself from charges of human rights violations,
corruption and suspected connections with international illegal drugs
syndicates, and possible replacement of FPJ as the candidate of the
united opposition, is even worse.
Historically, Philippine elections have always been futile exercises.
They have never been vehicles with which to empower the masses and
address the basic ills of our government and our society. Elections
are mere props to conjure the illusion of a democratic system that
renews its legitimacy through the ballot. Through this illusion, elite
rule obtains fresh mandate.
The present election is no different. With GMA and FPJ at the top
of the pack, the May 10 race is nothing but another farce. With the
present election reduced to the false choice between GMA and FPJ (or
possibly Ping Lacson) who are no different from each other, the electorate
continues to be deprived of the opportunity through this election
to effect even the smallest reforms in government and in society and
make even the smallest dent on elite rule.
The irrelevance of the present election will doubtless spawn greater
cynicism and opportunism which rest on the regard for the ballot as
another cheap commodity, further eroding the legitimacy of the Office
of the President and corrupting the body politic.
GMA and FPJ are the two biggest obstacles to the holding of a meaningful
presidential elections this month.
We call on the Filipino people to follow their conscience and explore
other alternatives. If we convince enough people, we can at least
mobilize a respectable political force and deliver a strong message
to the trapos and the elites.
