THE MOUNTAINEER

Edison L. Baddal
Recall process abused (2)

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- Intriguing questions that beg to be answered relative to the flurry of recall petitions flooding the Commission on Elections are: Are the recall petitions really the initiative of the voters? Or are they just part of the machinations of sour-grapping politicians who cannot accept defeat and are therefore using their supporters for their political ends?

Incidentally, in Philippine elections, politicians either win or are cheated. As fair play and objectivity do not generally underlie transactions in the country including elections, no loser in an election is man enough to graciously accept defeat. As humility is likewise not among the sterling virtues of Filipinos, its spillover effect in politics is manifested through the use of goons, guns and gold.

These 3 “Gs” are part of the package of an electoral campaign of many aspiring politicians particularly at the local level to ensure an electoral win. Unluckily, as politics is a favorite game and pastime of Filipinos, voters enjoy viewing electoral rivals bruise and outmaneuver each other. It is a way of sublimating their brutal instincts.

As electoral losers generally don’t take their defeat sitting down having invested much to get elected, some resort to outright lodging of electoral protest after their electoral defeat while others wait for some time to lapse before galvanizing their supporters to lodge a recall petition against their tormentor. In this context, my reckoning is that almost all recall petitions being lodged in the Comelec are politically motivated as they are propped up and prodded by political losers. As they have a lot of money to splurge on the recall process, electoral losers are the shadowy financiers of recall petitions in order to affect innocence of their participation in it.

They usually use their middle class supporters to initiate the process with the latter often obliging to such whim as they will benefit most in terms of political favors once their candidate wins. The middle class does not hesitate to take chances in boosting their economic stock as political involvement is among their avenues to be at par with the upper echelon of society.

The recall process is far from perfect as any mechanism is but it should be scrutinized thoroughly in order to minimize its use for political machination by naughty politicians. Right now, the system is being grossly abused by vile politicians. It is high time that foolproof amendments should be structurally emplaced in the process to ensure that only the noble intention of worthy public service should be the primary reason for its initiation.

One amendment should be the abolition of the preparatory recall assembly which is composed of local chief executives who are hardnosed politicians. Any recall petition from their ranks may always smack of political ill will and vicious backlash because of their stature.

In this context, only the 25 percent electorate should initiate any recall petition as provided in the law but this should be from the poor voters and not the middle class so as to erase any suspicion of currying political favors from the potential candidates. All said, this will also ensure that its purpose for replacing unworthy officials as provided in the constitution is strengthened and not defeated aside from vesting the process with credibility.