In his October 7, 2024 column in the Manila Times, former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad ruminates on the stampede for 18,272 elective government positions advised voters to ask the would-be candidates hard questions.
Among the queries the former Catanduanes assemblyman wants answered: Where do you propose to take the country and its people should you get elected? How do you propose to do it? Do you believe the unprecedented rise of corruption and crime can still be arrested and reversed? Are you the person to do it? Do you believe we can still stop the stampede of the political dynasties in the Senate and in local government, or must the institution first be totally abolished?
The same questions, with a minor revision, could be posed before those who filed CoCs for local positions between now and March 28, 2025 when they begin their respective campaigns.
Since none of them are considered as “candidates” by the Commission on Elections during the period, the local media as well as the Church and other stakeholders should take advantage of the five-month period to invite those running for the lone Congress seat, governor, vice governor, mayor and vice mayor one by one for a frank discussion of their respective positions on key issues in the province.
The interaction could be done live or recorded for proper editing, with the invitee allowed to opt for “off-the-record” remarks on sensitive issues.
The face-to-face meetings would be best in eliciting the real opinions of incumbents and those who aspire to replace them, as the candidates’ forum format is limited and bound to result in participants giving answers that the voting public wants to hear.
Of course, there’s no assurance that they would not tell an outright lie or offer a plausible but incorrect story when pressed on a controversial issue.
The likelihood of their maintaining their stand on the issues until election day or even after assumption to office is the same as the chance that they would honor the “Panata para sa Malinis, Marangay at May Dignidad na Kampanya sa Halalang 2025” when they filed their CoCs.
At the minimum, the one-on-one fora would give the organizing groups an idea on whom to endorse or actively support by the time the actual campaign begins.
The statements given by the would-be candidates on similar issues could then be publicized for the benefit of that dwindling portion of the electorate who still decide on their choices on the poll bets’ stand on issues of the day.
On the Times opinion piece that also cited a vibrant clamor for drastic change in the political class, Tatad also posits that before the nation can reform its political leaders, it must reform the voters first.
There’s just no other way of doing it, the native son of Gigmoto concludes, without clarifying how the reform would be carried out.
In view of the half-hearted effort of the government in instituting reforms from prohibiting political dynasties and arresting vote buyers and sellers, those who hanker for such drastic change should resign themselves to an electorate that votes for either the lesser evil or those giving the most money.