Santiago: Most voters, leaders not educated

[CoDer]

Santiago: Most voters, leaders not educated
By Cathy C. Yamsuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:31 am | Saturday, November 24th, 2012

Those who are “not educated for voting” are choosing from those who are “not educated for serving.”

This, in Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s typically trenchant view, is what ails the Philippine body politic.

Speaking before students of the Far Eastern University on Thursday, Santiago said the “greater majority” of the country’s 50 million voters who will troop to the precincts in May “are not intelligent … not educated for voting.”

And, as there is no educational requirement for candidates vying for elective posts, voters are likely to end up choosing among many who “are not educated for serving,” she said.

Compounding the problem is the lack of a literacy requirement to qualify voters so that the “uneducated poor” invariably vote the actors they see in films and television, thinking their screen persona would translate into what they could be or deliver in real life.

And if not to actors, these voters will sell their votes to the “rich candidates,” or those moneyed enough to buy 30-second spots on television in this season of premature campaigning.
Is it any wonder we are where we are?

Santiago said there are instances where actors voted to office “are acting as senators and congressmen, merely relying on their legislative staff to feed them with the proper things to say during the sessions of Congress.”

“In effect, therefore, they are little better than talking dummies. And in addition, I worry that they might be more susceptible to the pressures exerted by lobby groups and other interest groups funded by the rich,” she added.
Santiago has four colleagues in the Senate who were actors before they became senators: Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Majority Leader Tito Sotto and Senators Bong Revilla Jr. and Lito Lapid, the latter two being huge action stars.

Of course, the deposed President and convicted plunderer Joseph Estrada was a hugely popular movie star whose real and reel lives intersected on the public stage, beginning with the screen name by which he is largely known.

Revilla continues to make fantasy-based action movies that earn big at the tills while Sotto still hosts the noontime show “Eat Bulaga” on days when the Senate is not in session.

There are reports that Lapid will soon star in a teleserye based on his popular “Leon Guerrero” character in ABS-CBN.

Naghahanap ng away si lola.

[yebo]

tama naman siya. last term na kasi nya kaya can afford na siya mang-away ng mga kasama nya sa senate. lalo na yung inaaway nya e anti-RH.

[Type 100]

Them's fighting words but they're also the truth.

And unlike most Pinoys who flame with only vitriol and anger, Santiago backed her "trolling" with facts. We can play our "emotional surplus" card all we like, and b!tch and moan and groan all we want against Santiago, but that doesn't change the essential truth she states that it's essentially a government of celebrities we have and the hoi polloi vote using showbiz image knowledge.

In the end, what's one educated vote against a landslide of showbiz ones?

In my line of work, what Santiago did is what we call "root cause analysis" - and the thinking goes, if you can address the root cause, everything else down the line gets fixed. Good luck fixing this one, though.

[CoDer]

tama naman siya. last term na kasi nya kaya can afford na siya mang-away ng mga kasama nya sa senate. lalo na yung inaaway nya e anti-RH.

Tsaka matagal ng public knowledge to. Yun nga lang iba ang tone pag galing kay Brenda, grabe patama sa mga kasama nyang epal sa Senate.

Matagal na ring moron ang mga educated politicians natin.

[testament11]

Truth hurts. Kaya dapat, yun mga voters at yun mga tatakbong government officials ay gawan na dapat ng qualifications. Hindi pwede yun kung sino-sino lang ang tatakbo at kung sino-sino lang ang boboto.

Philippine politics as of now is based on who is popular and not on who is qualified.

Now, who among those lawmakers have the balls to make a bill that all candidates must pass a certain criteria? Same goes to the voters as well.

[Type 100]

Matagal na ring moron ang mga educated politicians natin.

Agreed.

More like they lose touch with the electorate the moment they land themselves higher posts in government, IMHO.

[testament11]

Matagal na ring moron ang mga educated politicians natin.

Educated nga pero trapo naman sila kung ituring ng ibang tao. Tsaka karamihan sa kanila ngayon, walang dignity.

[CoDer]

Truth hurts. Kaya dapat, yun mga voters at yun mga tatakbong government officials ay gawan na dapat ng qualifications. Hindi pwede yun kung sino-sino lang ang tatakbo at kung sino-sino lang ang boboto.

Philippine politics as of now is based on who is popular and not on who is qualified.

Now, who among those lawmakers have the balls to make a bill that all candidates must pass a certain criteria? Same goes to the voters as well.

Malabo yang bolded part. Who in his right mind will craft a law against himself.

[Type 100]

Malabo yang bolded part. Who in his right mind will craft a law against himself.

Now THAT is an altruistic test of patriotism and good governance right there.

[CoDer]

Educated nga pero trapo naman sila kung ituring ng ibang tao. Tsaka karamihan sa kanila ngayon, walang dignity.

Money and power over dignity.

In the end kasalanan din naman talaga ng voting public tong kinasadlakan natin. Unfortunately the idiotic voting public got the upper hand.