CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/27 Feb) — Federalism should not be viewed as a panacea for our problems in politics and government. Shifting to a federal system can also be a ploy of entrenched traditional politicians (trapos) to expand and prolong their de facto “franchise” on politics indefinitely.
Under present circumstances, any change is not likely to reform the system for the better. Traditional politicians (trapos) and their dynasties are in power in 90% of our localities, not to mention the national government. We are a trapo-dominated society.
To let the trapos tamper with the system is a sure way to strengthen their stranglehold on it. It will make them and their dynasties virtually impossible to remove or replace.[]/a> with |||
The acquisition of power and privilege is but a political game for such leaders; hardly anything to do with public service or nation-building.
Democracy and the public service are not served by the ambitions of such people, nor are the citizenry’s welfare and morale.
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It cannot be helped, however, that there are constituencies that actually crave the leadership of imperious or bullying leaders. It is a false sense of security, more like the secure feeling of a weakling who takes shelter under a strongman’s umbrella and thrives on his patronage.
On the other hand, there are leaders who think they have so grown in stature and importance that the small scale of power and privilege they enjoy in their towns, cities, or provinces no longer fit them, and thus aspire to larger jurisdictions that are, in effect, empires disguised as “federal states.” They should be eschewed, ostracized even, for they will not dignify People Power or sovereignty in a democratic society.
Leaders known to be autocratic and presumptuous in behavior—as if superior in outlook, breeding, or ability—should be eschewed and put in their proper place: in the servants’ quarter of the House of Democracy where sovereign citizens are the masters.
Although we cannot begrudge their ambition, but we must subject it to scrutiny and apply the proper standards of public service in vetting them.
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Ambition, Cassius said of Julius Caesar’s dream of empire, must be made of sterner stuff. Let us be stern and exacting in humoring the ambitions of our leaders. Let them not presume on public approval for what they desire.
As for federalism, let us insist that they first lay the foundation for it—by establishing a regime of true local autonomy in their jurisdictions. They must make of every community or barangay a bastion of People Power by activating its mechanisms for involving the people in its direct democracy with its unique form of parliamentary governance.
This regime for local autonomy is already provided for by R.A. 7160 (The Local Government Code of 1991).||| |||buy synthroid online with |||