Like the United States of America the Philippines is a Republic. Practically the whole system of governance was bequeathed to the Philippines by the USA during the colonial period. Why then is the political system in the Philippines so vastly different from the USA? Why, despite the gun and liquor bans during election season, are Philippine elections so incredibly violent? Because Filipinos lack civic virtue.
In The Story of Civilization Book 11 Will Durant writes the following:
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| https://bawar.net/data0/books/5cb1af64a9e1e/pdf/Durant_Will_-_The_story_of_civilization_11.pdf |
He thought of virtue in Montesquieu's sense, as the indispensable basis of a successful republic; without unpurchasable voters and officials democracy would be a sham.
Montesquieu defines virtue thusly in Chapter 5 of In The Spirt of the Laws:
IT is in a republican government that the whole power of education is required. The fear of despotic governments naturally rises of itself amidst threats and punishments: the honour of monarchies is favoured by the passions, and favours them in its turn: but virtue is a self-renunciation, which is ever arduous and painful.
This virtue may be defined the love of the laws and of our country. As such love requires a constant preference of public to private interest, it is the source of all private virtues; for they are nothing more than this very preference itself.
This love is peculiar to democracies. In these alone the government is intrusted to private citizens. Now, government is like every thing else: to preserve it, we must love it.
https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/montesquieu-complete-works-vol-1-the-spirit-of-laws
The influence of Montesquieu on the founders of the United States of America and the framers of the Constitution of the United States would be hard to overstate. Every single one of those men are very clear that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.
Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. - Ben Franklin
“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men; so that we do not depend upon their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.” - James Madison
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” - George Washington
https://nccs.net/blogs/articles/only-a-virtuous-people-are-capable-of-freedom
Th big difference between the Philippines and the United States is that the USA is the culmination of 2,000 years of political history beginning with Greece. Americans, Western Europeans in general, fought tooth and nail against emperors, kings, and tyrants to eventually form what has been called the American Experiment of self-governance or as Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg address:
Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
The Philippines went from thousands of years of tribal leader ship to a colonial monarchy for 300 years and then to being given a republican form of government practically overnight.
It's no wonder why the USA wanted to give Filipinos time to learn how to govern themselves before handing them the reigns. Teddy Roosevelt issued this stern warning about the dangers of giving the Philippines self-governance too soon:
In our anxiety for the welfare and progress of the Philippines, may be that here and there we have gone too rapidly in giving them local self-government. It is on this side that our error, if any, has been committed. No competent observer, sincerely desirous of finding out the facts and influenced only by a desire for the welfare of the natives, can assert that we have not gone far enough. We have gone to the very verge of safety in hastening the process. To have taken a single step farther or faster in advance would have been folly and weakness, and might well have been crime. We are extremely anxious that the natives shall show the power of governing themselves. We are anxious, first for their sakes, and next, because it relieves us of a great burden. There need not be the slightest fear of our not continuing to give them all the liberty for which they are fit.
The only fear is lest in our over anxiety we give them a degree of independence for which they are unfit, thereby inviting reaction and disaster. As fast as there is any reasonable hope that in a given district the people can govern themselves, self-government has been given in that district. There is not a locality fitted for self-government which has not received it. But it may well be that in certain cases it will have to be withdrawn because the inhabitants show themselves unfit to exercise it; such instances have already occurred. In other words, there is not the slightest chance of our failing to show a sufficiently humanitarian spirit. The danger comes in the opposite direction.
https://www.infoplease.com/homework-help/us-documents/state-union-address-theodore-roosevelt-december-3-1901
It is true, and I am proud of it, that I once said, “I would rather have a government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven by Americans.” I want to tell you that I have, in my life, made no other remark which went around the world but that. There had been no paper in the United States, including a village paper, which did not print that statement, and I also had seen it printed in many newspapers in Europe. I would rather have a government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven by any foreigner. I said that once; I say it again, and I will always say it as long as I live.But that is not an admission that a government run by Filipinos will be a government run like hell. Much less can it be an admission that a government run by Americans or by the people of any other foreign country, for that matter, can ever be a government run like heaven.We have had four years of our government—the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines—a government run by Filipinos, and I defy anybody, American, foreigner or Filipino, to tell me that ours today is a government run like hell. I should say that this is the best government we have ever had in the Philippines, and I will now enumerate the facts to prove this to you.
This speech was made four years after the enactment of the Commonwealth when the Philippines was making its transition to full independence. Four years is not a time frame by which to judge a nation. The Commonwealth was set up in 1935 which is 88 years ago. What have we seen in that time frame if not a government run like hell with corruption in all levels of government culminating in the disastrous and dictatorial reign of Ferdinand Marcos Sr?
But this is less about political institutions and more about the common man because as the 1987 constitution makes clear:
The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-constitution/
Thus the burden of governance falls squarely on the shoulders of the Filipino people. In idea at least the Philippines is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Going back to Montesquieu can we really say that Filipinos love the laws of the country and put the public interest over their own?
This virtue may be defined the love of the laws and of our country. As such love requires a constant preference of public to private interest, it is the source of all private virtues; for they are nothing more than this very preference itself.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1213455 |
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has disqualified 21 candidates, including 10 who won in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on Oct. 30.
In a statement late Friday, the poll body said the BSKE bets were disqualified after the First and Second Division found them liable for premature campaigning and vote buying.
"The Commission on Elections has granted motu proprio Petitions for Disqualification against 21 candidates in the October 30, 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections," the statement read.
Of the 10 winning candidates, two are barangay chairpersons, three barangay kagawad (councilors), two SK chairpersons and three SK councilors.
Out of the 11 losing bets, nine ran for SK kagawad and two for barangay kagawad, the Comelec said.
The poll body said there are still 318 pending motu proprio disqualification cases against BSKE candidates. These include 292 disqualification cases for premature/illegal campaigning and 26 for vote-buying and/or vote selling.
Earlier, the Comelec ordered the suspension of the proclamation of winning candidates who have pending disqualification cases.
There was violence with 26 ending up dead.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1213437 |
The number of validated election-related incidents (ERIs) from the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) has climbed to 96, nearly two weeks after the polls.
In a press conference on Friday, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said there were actually 305 incidents recorded from Aug. 28 to Nov. 9.
Of the total, 13 were undergoing validation while 196 were classified as not related to the Oct. 30 polls.
The confirmed poll-related incidents left at least 26 dead and 96 injured, she added.
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has the most number of validated ERIs at 55, followed by Northern Mindanao with 14; six in Eastern Visayas; five in Cordillera; four in Bicol; three each in Ilocos and Central Visayas; and one each in the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Soccskargen and Zamboanga Peninsula.
The majority of the verified election-related incidents were shooting, mauling, and physical injury.
On the other hand, the police arrested 2,211 BSKE gun ban violators and confiscated 1,689 firearms.
A total of 2,425 firearms were also deposited to the PNP for safekeeping while 1,785 were surrendered.
The election period for the BSKE will end on Nov. 29.
And as of this writing 5 newly elected officials have been assassinated.
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| https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/5-newly-elected-brgy-officials-killed-a-week-after-polls |
A TOTAL of five newly elected barangay officials were killed a little over a week following the just concluded Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported.
Of the five victims, two were from villages in North Cotabato, and one each from Pasay City, Davao del Norte, and Pagadian City in Zamboanga.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, PNP spokesperson Colonel Jean Fajardo said they recorded six violent incidents involving newly elected government officials, which two were in Soccsksargen and one each in the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Northern Mindanao and Davao Region.
Of the six victims, two were newly elected barangay chairmen, while four were barangay councilors.
On Nov. 1, Suharto Antillino was gunned down by a still unidentified suspect shortly after he was proclaimed as among the winning barangay council candidates of Barangay Poblacion in Midsayap town.
Barangay 37, Pasay City Kagawad Lina Camacho was also shot dead while inside the barangay hall on Nov. 6. One of the two suspects was arrested.
On Nov. 7, Barangay Datu Abdul Dadia in Panabo City chairman Paul Albert Saquian was gunned down while driving his car.
On the same day, Barangay Dolores, Antipas, North Cotabato councilman Edmar Perero was also shot dead while on board a tricycle.
The latest victim was newly elected Lapedian, Pagadian City village chief Rodolfo Dacol, who succumbed to a bullet wound in his abdomen on Thursday, Nov. 9.
Fajardo considered the first six incidents as election-related.
Fajardo said they are still monitoring post-election activities and scenarios.
He added that regional directors and field commanders were given the discretion to determine if they would lower their alert status, particularly their security deployments in areas where they see that the situation is still hot especially even after the election.
That is NOT the doings of a virtuous people.
One has to wonder why there was so much violence over local elections. It comes down to power. Filipinos are clannish and so all the barangays in the nation as well as cities and various fiefdoms are run by families and they will do anything to keep their family in power.
But this is nothing new. Filipinos have been terrorizing Filipinos since long before the Spanish arrived. The natives even thanked the Spanish from saving them from the tyranny and domination of their chiefs.
“We answer that we wish the king of España to be our king and sovereign, for he has sent Castilians to us, who are freeing us from the tyranny and domination of our chiefs, as well as fathers who aid us against the same Castilians and protect us from them.”
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXIII, 1629-30, pg. 253
Manuel Quezon is wrong. The government of the Philippines, from barangay to Malacañang, is run like hell. The reason why is because Filipinos have no civic virtue. As it is the Philippines remains one of the most lawless nations on the planet.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/10/26/2306513/rule-law-philippines-remains-one-weakest-region |
Rule of law in the Philippines remained one of the weakest in East Asia and the Pacific, as the country fell one spot in the latest index of the World Justice Project.
With a score of 0.46, the Philippines ranked 100th out of 142 countries in the WJP Rule of Law Index 2023.
In the East Asia and Pacific region, Manila ranked 13th out of 15. Other nations with low scores in the region were Myanmar and Cambodia.
Countries get a score of zero to one, with one indicating strongest adherence to rule of law.
The Philippines scored 0.47 in constraints on government powers, 0.43 in absence of corruption, 0.47 in open government, 0.40 in fundamental rights, 0.67 in order and security, 0.47 in regulatory enforcement, 0.45 in civil justice, and 0.31 in criminal justice.
Filipinos do not love let alone respect the laws of this nation. But they do love power. Especially the power that "grows out of a barrel of a gun."
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