An election battle to fight dictatorship

There are so many hidden battles that are being fought in the run-up to the presidential election. The outcome of these battles will be crucial in determining who will be our next president. This is the second of a series of articles where I bring to light these concealed but pivotal battles in the election campaign.

There’s a significant number of voters who want our president to be in the mold of a strongman or dictator. There’s a yearning for a leader who will have no qualms being malevolent to criminals but benevolent to law-abiding citizens.

This yearning for a benevolent dictator elevated Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency in 2016. This same desire for a strongman is also driving voters to prefer Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as our next president. They view the strongman rule of his father as the kind of leadership that our country needs, and they imagine that the son will be like his father. This is notwithstanding overwhelming proof that Marcos Sr. used his dictatorial rule to commit massive human rights violations and to amass wealth through brazen corruption.

This yearning for a strongman also benefits Sen. Panfilo Lacson because, as a police officer, he is widely reputed to have wielded an iron hand in dealing with criminals. It also benefits Manila Mayor Isko Moreno who’s billed as a “Duterte lite.”

The forthcoming election, therefore, is a battle between those infatuated with dictatorial rule and those who advocate democratic leadership.

Looking for a benevolent dictator among our current leaders is like searching for lapu-lapu in a fishpond full of hito (catfish). We have better chances of winning the lotto than finding a benevolent dictator among our current leaders.

Does our country’s reality support an aspiration for a benevolent dictator? Our reality is this — the species of leaders that rule in our country, and out of whose ranks we expect to find a benevolent dictator, are leaders addicted to power, hooked on corruption, perpetrators or enablers of human rights violations, and infected with the bad traits of traditional politicians. How do we expect to find a benevolent strongman from our mud pool of leaders? We have, of course, a few leaders who are paragons of integrity, but they’re not the type who want to be dictators and they believe instead that a truly functioning democracy is the solution to our problems.

Our countrymen who want a dictator as our nation’s leader assume that the problem lies in our “undisciplined” people. They’re seriously mistaken. Filipinos are overwhelmingly disciplined, good-natured, and industrious. We thrive when we’re governed by good democratic leaders who make opportunities available for the people. Look at Filipinos who have migrated to wealthy democratic countries like the United States, Europe, and Australia. They are law-abiding and they’re success stories. They are clear examples that if Filipinos are governed by good leaders, we prosper and shine as model citizens.

Our disciplined and successful compatriots in foreign democratic countries are living proof that what’s wrong in our country lies in our leaders and not in our people. To give more power to our leaders, by enthroning a dictator, is not the solution. Our country will get even worse. The solution is to give more power to the people so that we can discipline our leaders.

How can our people be handed a stick to discipline our leaders? Our next president should empower our people through the following: (1) push for the passage of a Freedom of Information law so that people can demand information from government offices under the pain of criminal liability for refusing officials; (2) allow people’s access to all public officials’ statement of assets and liabilities and net worth, and; (3) push for the exercise of the unused people’s initiative law that allows citizens to directly create and approve laws that Congress has refused to pass all these years.

Our people who long for a dictatorial leader cite the example of Singapore which has prospered under a strongman. This can indeed be our shortcut to becoming a prosperous country. We can become the next Singapore if we export our leaders to Afghanistan and import Singaporean leaders to govern our country.

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