Sad State In Our Electoral System
By levite
@levite (1062)
Philippines
December 11, 2009 12:18am CST
We have sad state in our electoral system. If someone wants to be the president of this country, anyone, who is a Filipino citizen, able to read and write, is qualified to run even if he or she does not have that much qualifications. But if someone wants to apply for janitor in a company, he/she at least must be high school graduate. If applying for a janitorial job needs at least high school diploma, how much more for an individual who wants to lead a nation with 90+ million people into economic, political, social and moral progress? Yes, I understand, that in the end these nuisance candidates will be eliminated but how come the electoral system is being left behind in accepting just anyone who files his/her CoC's? Can't the government pass a law to raise the criteria for anyone who wants to become president to discourage nuisance candidates before they could even file their CoCs? What is your views on this. Thanks for dropping by.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
11 Dec 09
You may have a point in there. But I think, comelec is just exercising what we call as no discrimination of anyone who wants to be elected as President of the Philippines. For the qualification of a janitor it is the right of every employer to scrutinize who he wants to be employed since it is his money that he will be putting on that person that is why he can decide on what qualification he likes to be his employee. For a democratic country like us we are free to do for as long as we do not harm anyone in the process of exercising our rights. Filing of COC's is just one of the rights of a Citizen of this country. As citizens we are encourage to seek for political position if we want to but of course we will be subjected to be voted upon by many.
If Comelec decides a candidate to be tagged as nuisance then they should undergo what we call due process to be tagged as nuisance candidate then.
@rsa101 (37968)
• Philippines
14 Dec 09
Yes I guess we are all guilty of that abuses. For many of us we have abused that rights given to us that we try to hide our earnings to the government to pay less taxes. We have this Tax avoidance were we avoid taxes legally is also an exercise of our freedom but in the process we kind of abuse that freedom also. We are given the right to be silent when arrested even though there is compelling evidence to prove your guilt you still have to undergo due process before you are really judge as guilty. These are just examples how we are abusing the rights provided for us. But still we respect them for doing that because guilty or not they shall be given equal treatment under the law.
@levite (1062)
• Philippines
11 Dec 09
And so, this democracy has already been abused by many, whether those in the position or the ordinary Filipino citizen by always saying "rights". These "human rights" are always used by many to denote: right to run for president (I'm literate anyway even if I didn't have that much qualification; right to conduct rally even if we cause heavy traffic in the streets; right to slander the politicians, the president, etc. And these human rights are often accompanied with freedom of expression and speech. And our freedom and democracy have already been abused by many here. We are free people and many have abused this freedom in a democratic country like ours. You're right with what you said," We are free to do as long as we do not harm anyone in the process of exercising our rights. Freedom and using human rights with responsibility must be used by all. Have a nice day.
1 person likes this
@jlamela (4898)
• Philippines
13 Dec 09
This is also what I've been thinking ever since. I fretted every election hearing almost all crazy people filed COC for President. Oh gosh!that's horrible because they are just making fun with our laws and abused the meaning of democracy. So for me there is really an urgent need to change some provisions on the Philippine constitution. One section that must be thoroughly redefine is the qualifications of candidates for two highest positions in the country. It should specify criteria that really qualify them so that the COMELEC won't have a hard time eliminating nuisance candidates.
@levite (1062)
• Philippines
14 Dec 09
That's what I wanted to say. They are making fun with our laws and kinda abuse it to some extent unless there are certain laws and provisions in the Constitution which will target nuisance candidates. I think some Filipinos have really abused our democracy and constitution as even "cockfighters" wanted to join politics through the party-list group "Alliance of Cockfighters" seeking accreditation from Comelec. Party-list groups represent the marginalized communities like farmers, fisherfolks, etc. but "cokfighters- marginalized 
. These people are jusy playing with our government.
. These people are jusy playing with our government.
@werdan88 (272)
• Philippines
19 Dec 09
No. That is not necessary. Anyone who wants to run has the right to run. Difference in capacity does not prevent him from doing so. Qualifications to run from office is different from being seated in that position. The chances that unqualified people would win the elections is less than 1 percent. however, their rights could not be alienated and they could not be prevented from running. At the end of the day, it is the people who would decide what qualification they want for the seat of the president.
@junmae (1586)
• Philippines
11 Dec 09
I strongly agree with you my friend, i also couldn't have an answer to this question. Why do they allowed low profile person to run as a President though we know that they are just going to be dump by Comelec. but my point is, almost all people, educated or not can run as a leader of our country. they should maintain high quality standard of all candidate because leading a country is not just a job. I hope that the qualifications for candidates running as a President will still change.
@levite (1062)
• Philippines
11 Dec 09
Yes, Congress must pass laws regarding this to avoid unnecessary individuals to run for the presidency. Even Filpino-Americans are concerned this type of occurrence happen in our country. They are sad that bad news in the political scenes and news like this are often featured in Filipino channels in the US and other countries. They wanted to hear some good news and it's a sad thing that news media often feature unpleasant news on their channel regarding the current state of our nation
@werdan88 (272)
• Philippines
15 Dec 09
I do not think that is possible. That would be a violation of the Due process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of our Constitution. We are all citizens and thus must have equal rights in relation to society. It would be a violation of the rights of other if they want to run.The criteria which perhaps you may believe as sufficient for a good president leads to elected presidents becoming the most corrupt of all. I therefore believe that election to presidency should disqualify those who have lower qualities compared to other candidates.
