On May 2010, the People of the Philippines will be selecting their next president. Just recently, the Commission on Election has disqualified quite a number of aspirants and left 8 candidates to proceed with their candidacy. Those who were disqualified were barred due to their inability to sustain the rigors of the campaign period, the Comelec educed. It is understood that the Philippine campaign setting is physically and financially draining.
One presidential aspirant once said that running for president in the Philippines would need one to have 1 Billion pesos ($2 Million ++). That leaves one to think that running for office in the Philippines is like investing in business big-time. therefore we still cant get away with the notion that the presidency is only for the rich.
The answer to this setback should be the party system. Anybody with strong capacity to run for office should be under a party to get support. It is in the party that these candidate get all the logistics they need. The party system should take care for the financial concerns of the candidate all throughout the campaign period. It is in the party where apply the principles behind the political system.
Political system in which individuals who share a common set of political beliefs organize themselves into parties to compete in elections for the right to govern. Single-party systems are found in countries that do not allow genuine political conflict. Multiparty and two-party systems represent means of organizing political conflict within pluralistic societies and are thus indicative of democracy. Multiparty systems allow for greater representation of minority viewpoints; since the coalitions that minority parties must often form with other minority parties to achieve a governing majority are often fragile, such systems may be marked by instability.
In the party system, they plan for what is best for the country. Everybody contributes for the achievement of that goal and they pool resources together to become strong. Pooling of resources includes financial contribution so that this party is really a party for everybody. Raising the Php 1 million ($2 Million ++) is not a question therefore for any candidate to run for the presidency if he belongs to one party.
The Philippine political party system doesn't work this way. The political party is mostly ran by the rich and powerful, controlled by one or very few individuals. Political party leaders often woo businessmen to support there candidate; and we do not have limits to the financial support that they provide. More often than not, they finance almost all of the presidential candidates campaign needs thereby making their candidates their subjects who obsequiously submit to their whims and caprices after winning the election.
Running for the presidency is like investing in business big-time, indeed it looks like it is. With no cap for financial support therefore means there is no cap for financial return. They will definitely get back what they have invested if indeed we are talking of 1 Million bucks investment.
This is the reason why every time there is someone interested to run for president and they have someone to back him up then he can create a political party. Package himself well to be advertised like a fresh product. If he wins, then we have a new president that easily.
This is also probably the reason why you will notice that many of the ad campaign that these presidential candidates do are market driven. They market themselves by getting what the pulse of the masses would be and not based on what the political party's platform. and the needs of the nation are. It is only in the Philippines where popularity is the basic requirement to run for office. A lot of actors are running for political office, boxing icon Pacquiao is seeking congressional seat as well. You will be ahead of the rest if you have popular candidates in your slate no matter how inutile they may become for as long as you get your return so quickly.
Because it is likened to an investment, then their basic platform is to get the return of investment the shortest possible time. Ofcourse this doesn't apply to everyone.
The party should establish a platform of government and cascade this to the people. We always get these general approaches in most campaigns, food, clothing and shelter, nothing else is new. Everybody knows that these are the things people need, but on how to do this, these parties don't have an inkling on what to do.
Look at how many presidential candidates do we have, 8 candidates for president. If we have only 12 Million voters, therefore he only needs 2 million votes to bag the presidency if votes are shared equally. It means that there will only be 2 Million people who will decide for the more than 80 Million Filipinos. If the political party system in the Philippines is streamlined, we would have lesser candidates and the votes should be the real voice of the people. if the parties are also well placed with the right perspective, they wouldn't have allowed mediocre candidates to take the place of the more capable one.
One presidential aspirant once said that running for president in the Philippines would need one to have 1 Billion pesos ($2 Million ++). That leaves one to think that running for office in the Philippines is like investing in business big-time. therefore we still cant get away with the notion that the presidency is only for the rich.
The answer to this setback should be the party system. Anybody with strong capacity to run for office should be under a party to get support. It is in the party that these candidate get all the logistics they need. The party system should take care for the financial concerns of the candidate all throughout the campaign period. It is in the party where apply the principles behind the political system.
Political system in which individuals who share a common set of political beliefs organize themselves into parties to compete in elections for the right to govern. Single-party systems are found in countries that do not allow genuine political conflict. Multiparty and two-party systems represent means of organizing political conflict within pluralistic societies and are thus indicative of democracy. Multiparty systems allow for greater representation of minority viewpoints; since the coalitions that minority parties must often form with other minority parties to achieve a governing majority are often fragile, such systems may be marked by instability.
In the party system, they plan for what is best for the country. Everybody contributes for the achievement of that goal and they pool resources together to become strong. Pooling of resources includes financial contribution so that this party is really a party for everybody. Raising the Php 1 million ($2 Million ++) is not a question therefore for any candidate to run for the presidency if he belongs to one party.
The Philippine political party system doesn't work this way. The political party is mostly ran by the rich and powerful, controlled by one or very few individuals. Political party leaders often woo businessmen to support there candidate; and we do not have limits to the financial support that they provide. More often than not, they finance almost all of the presidential candidates campaign needs thereby making their candidates their subjects who obsequiously submit to their whims and caprices after winning the election.
Running for the presidency is like investing in business big-time, indeed it looks like it is. With no cap for financial support therefore means there is no cap for financial return. They will definitely get back what they have invested if indeed we are talking of 1 Million bucks investment.
This is the reason why every time there is someone interested to run for president and they have someone to back him up then he can create a political party. Package himself well to be advertised like a fresh product. If he wins, then we have a new president that easily.
This is also probably the reason why you will notice that many of the ad campaign that these presidential candidates do are market driven. They market themselves by getting what the pulse of the masses would be and not based on what the political party's platform. and the needs of the nation are. It is only in the Philippines where popularity is the basic requirement to run for office. A lot of actors are running for political office, boxing icon Pacquiao is seeking congressional seat as well. You will be ahead of the rest if you have popular candidates in your slate no matter how inutile they may become for as long as you get your return so quickly.
Because it is likened to an investment, then their basic platform is to get the return of investment the shortest possible time. Ofcourse this doesn't apply to everyone.
The party should establish a platform of government and cascade this to the people. We always get these general approaches in most campaigns, food, clothing and shelter, nothing else is new. Everybody knows that these are the things people need, but on how to do this, these parties don't have an inkling on what to do.
Look at how many presidential candidates do we have, 8 candidates for president. If we have only 12 Million voters, therefore he only needs 2 million votes to bag the presidency if votes are shared equally. It means that there will only be 2 Million people who will decide for the more than 80 Million Filipinos. If the political party system in the Philippines is streamlined, we would have lesser candidates and the votes should be the real voice of the people. if the parties are also well placed with the right perspective, they wouldn't have allowed mediocre candidates to take the place of the more capable one.
Among those people on the picture, only five of them are sure to run in the presidential line. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete-pia-
http://www.facebook.com/ramon.guico