Levanza, Ernest The Unfounded Pillar of Democracy We have plenty of problems here in our country.

A ton of complains by our countrymen as to the direction of our motherland, yet we fail to act on this complains and do not achieve what is expected. We do not however, realize where the core of the problem is. I am a political science student and in my perspective, there are a lot of things we can change and do something about our countrys problems if we focus on fixing our election. It all begins with the election. It is here where the people choose who to lead this country forward. It is here where we choose which path to take. The election in a democracy should not be taken for granted for this one day will spell out the difference between progress and distress. This is a sacred practice, duty, responsibility of every citizen at the age of majority to choose the leaders of this country. Everyone who has the capacity to vote should vote. I stress the importance of the election for the results will transcend to the future generations because of the quality of leaders we put into office. In this process of choosing, we are the most powerful here, and this is where citizenry is empowered for we choose the faith of these ambitious individuals who claim that they have nothing but the best in mind for our country. We realize how the elections mean to a democratic country, what then should we do next? Next is that we have to check what is wrong with our system. If we can describe the election in 3 words, that would be, expensive, violent and unethical.

Is the election really democratic if only the rich can the opportunity to win seats in government? They say that the criteria for one to be qualified to maintain a campaign are first, he should have a name and next is that he should have resources. And when we say resources that would pertain to the abundance of money into the campaign. A sad reality faces our society where the rich are those who can run and the poor or less fortunate end up not being represented. There is a need for reform with regard to the regulation of money used in funding the campaign. There is a need to design a law that will regulate, uniformly apply to all candidates a standard that should be set and the implementation guidelines be set clear. By regulating such, we can avoid the rich from maximizing the use of their money to get votes. This is one of the major problems of our Philippine election. If we really do want the marginalized to be represented, they have to get into office; they have to be in the positions to stand up for their rights and the opportunity to push reforms they need. Give the less fortunate a chance to govern themselves, this is will be in line with our ends of social justice. Gun shots here and there, plenty of injured just to protect the votes of their precinct are rampant every time there are election related issues. In our recent history, in the Province of Maguindanao, where the biggest and worst election related violence happened if not here but also the rest of the world. This is a sad record we hold but a lesson and eye opener for the Filipino people. We are indeed a country of violence, a country overtaken by the greed of power that uses means which are very unacceptable just to reach their personal ends. This has to stop. Violence has no place here in election. We are a democracy, and peace should always be at the center core of this process but how come that there are too many bloodshed that is happening every time elections happened? There is a need, yet

again another reform. Why can we just have peace similar to instances where our very own Manny Pacquiao has his boxing match? That would be a wonderful sight to see where no drop of blood be spilled during elections. Here in this country, we are given the opportunity to see the best of the people and make their characteristics one of the basis of our votes. However, this process also brings out the worst of them. Here, people or should I say candidates become very unethical just to win. People engage in dirty politics where the campaign is not centered on platform but rather making the opposing candidate look bad. The crab mentality is manifested and that we will do anything in our power to make us look better than the others. Others do the bad thing, they cheat. In the case of Hello Garci scandal, it was sad that our former President did cheat and used tactics like dagdag bawas. These people should be punished for their transgressions and that the acts of these individuals should not be left unscathed. A student from the class was asked about his perspective on Philippine elections, what really hurt me the most is that he said that it is useless. I cannot blame him on his point of view, considering the kind of leaders we have, however such perspective is not healthy especially when such thought is shared by a lot of people. This kind of sentiment would bring our country down. I voted. I registered and lined up and made sure that my vote was counted. I have engaged in such practice and it is very fulfilling on my part. I am becoming more of a citizen of my country, manifesting love and patriotism by voting in the elections. I had my own perspective, but by voting during the last elections, gave me a right to questions those I have voted for. I will make sure that my vote counted. Not only being counted in the ballots but counted in a way of performance of our leaders.

This election, the very foundation of our democracy, indeed needs more pillars to support it. It is never too late to establish such foundation in our pillars of democracy.