POWER is intoxicating. It is insatiable.
Once one has it, one wants to have more of it. For this reason, power has to be
controlled. This is especially true of power over people. There is then great
wisdom that there should be checks and balances for the proper exercise of
power in governance. In a democracy these checks and balances are
institutionalized in the different branches of the government. Hence, we have
the legislative, the executive and the judiciary which are supposed to be
independent of each other and should check each other. We also have other
institutions which scrutinize the exercise of power, like the press and the
civil societies, and individual citizens who care for the common good.
Dictators do not want the checks and
balances of power because they want total control. They do not want to be hampered
in their exercise of power. This is why they tend to control the other
institutions of governance either by buying them out, or by curtailing their
activities through laws, by breaking their will through coercion and
intimidation, or plainly throughelimination by killing them, by jailing them or
by exile.
Is this not happening in our country
now? The Lower House of Congress is in general subservient to the President who
buys them out through favors and pork barrel allocations. The Supreme Court is
now under the control of the President by ousting the Chief Justice and in the process taming
the other justices. Senator Delima is now two years in jail for unproven
allegations. The Ombudsman and the Comelec Chairman are appointees of the
present President. The military and the police are being wowed by increased
salaries and political appointments of retired generals in civilian positions;
business is being threatened by the controls of the bureaucracy; press freedom
is threatened by spurious allegations and false news. Even the church and civil
societies are fair game for vicious jokes and outright threats. In this time
the Senate is still showing its independence. But for how long? This coming
election is crucial. If we are able to elect independent minded people who are
courageous and truthful in serving the country, we have a fair chance of
preserving democracy in the land. If not, then we fall into de facto control of
the President who is bent on exercising power without any control and who is
very sensitive to criticisms.
The bishops of the CBCP had seen this
already back in January. They came out with their pastoral letter on the May
elections entitled: Seek the Common Good. It stated: “The year 2019 is not just
an ordinary election year. The midterm election in May 13 is in itself already
crucial. In our country today the checks and balances in the government are
being undermined. So far the senate is the institution in the government that
is holding out as our country is inching towards total control. It is very
crucial therefore that we elect candidates who are principled, courageous, and
who have the common good as their main concern and not their own political
interests.” In this election then let us vote for candidates who can assure an
independent senate.
Already bills on death penalty, on the lowering
of the age of criminality to 12 years old, and on Constitutional Change have
been passed by subservient Congress. It is the Senate which stop them from becoming
laws of the land. Pork Barrel insertions were done by the Lower House and it is
the Senate who called the attention of the nation to these insertions. The
President is making a lot of international agreements with China behind the
backs of the Filipinos. It is within the competence of the Senate to question
these international deals. Where would we be if the President’s people and
allies fill up the senate hall?
We need strong opposition to preserve
our democratic space. We need a strong senate who can prevent the onrush of
totalitarianism. Let us vote for an independent senate!
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