from: www.inquirer.net

[SIZE="3"]Shallow pool[/SIZE]

Editorial
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:43:00 12/03/2009

WHAT does it say about us, and the quality of our politics, when the first senator to file his certificate of candidacy for reelection in May 2010 was the one who should not have been elected to the Senate in the first place? Sen. Lito Lapid has proven himself eminently unqualified for the work of the Senate, not because he is an actor or a celebrity, but because he has done nothing senatorial in his six-year term. Naturally, since this is Philippine politics, Lapid is favored to win reelection.

That, sadly, is where we are. Despite three massive tectonic shifts in the political landscape in a single year, the pool of candidates for the Senate has turned out to be very shallow indeed.

The death of democracy icon Corazon Aquino awakened millions of Filipinos to the glory days of People Power, a distant time of both decency and possibility; the floods unleashed by “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” shocked millions of Filipinos into embracing both their vulnerability and the need for a massive investment in reconstruction; the mass killings in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, stunned millions of Filipinos into the shaming realization that longstanding political traditions made the scale of the violence both unprecedented and inevitable.

And yet look at the various Senate slates, cobbled together by the different political parties: With a few exceptions, the candidates look like the usual suspects.

There are the happily apolitical, like reelectionist Sen. Bong Revilla. Like his friend Lapid an actor and former governor, Revilla showed up at the Commission on Elections thanking four political parties for making him their “guest candidate”—as though the very absence of political conviction that made him acceptable to different parties was the hallmark of modern politics.

There are the resolutely determined, like once-defeated Ralph Recto, who lost his bid for reelection to the Senate in 2007 and bided his time in President Macapagal-Arroyo’s Cabinet.

There are the dynasts in the making, like retiring Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.’s daughter and chief of staff Gwen Pimentel Gana and retiring Sen. Rodolfo Biazon’s son, Rep. Ruffy Biazon.

And then there are the famous and unqualified, like Lapid.

Only the Liberal and Nacionalista parties managed to present complete slates—but under obvious strain. Former Sen. Serge Osmeña has made a highly publicized exit from the Liberal Party he had embraced just a few weeks ago, but the Liberals are determined to keep one slot reserved for him. The LP has also included a few relative unknowns late into the bargain, not so much to test the return of Cory’s coattails but to balance Recto’s entry into the slate.

The Nacionalista Party claimed the bragging rights to a full slate only at the proverbial last minute, with former Rep. Gilbert Remulla, the party spokesman, as the standard-bearer’s personal last choice. Considering Remulla’s oft-repeated statements that he was not interested in running, his end-of-day inclusion, regardless of his own merits, gives off the scent of desperation.

All the other political parties failed to complete a 12-candidate lineup, with a limping Lakas-Kampi-CMD, once the undisputed dominant political party, scrounging around just to field half a slate.

It is true that the cost of campaigning for a national office has become extremely prohibitive; witness TV host Edu Manzano’s inadvertently candid remarks about accepting the administration party’s offer of a vice-presidential candidacy only when he was assured by Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno of full financial support. If even a popular part-time politician like Manzano needs the assurance of financial backing before committing to a serious run, how much more other, less advantaged candidates.

But it is also true that, with the decision of Senators Richard Gordon and Jamby Madrigal to contest the presidency, the race for the Senate has suddenly become a bit more open. (The two senators were widely expected to win reelection.) Given the convulsions in the political landscape, the electorate was ready to welcome new, exciting, truly representative candidates for the Senate. What a pity that, with a few exceptions, all of the candidates look familiar, or bear the same names.