Myths in Philippine politics
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- Myths in Philippine politics
- Language
- English
- Source
- Panorama Volume XVII (Issue No.7) July 1965
- Year
- 1965
- Subject
- Philippine politics and government
- Philippines -- Social conditions
- Philippine political culture
- Political sociology
- Rights
-
- Abstract
- The fraudulent methods and hypocrisies of the Filipino politician.
- Fulltext
- ■ The fraudulent methods and hypocrisies of the Filipino politician. MYTHS IN PHILIPPINE POLITICS In the Philippines, the voters, aided and abetted by the politicians themselves, have constructed an elaborate mythology about their pub lic officials according to which the latter must con form to a more or less clearlydefined, uniform "image,” under pain otherwise of alienating “public opinion” and the favor of the electo rate. ^X^here is, to begin with the poor boy image, which requires public officials to act and look poor, no matter how great a fortune they may have stashed away in allowances or from other sources, dubious and other wise. The poor boy image comes prominently into play particularly during the elec tions season, when politicians who are habitually garbed in imported fabrics in Ma nila show up in the provinces clad in casual shirts and roll ed-up maong pants, riding in jeeps and prewar-model cars instead of in the Cadil lacs and Electras they had left behind at home. There is the "pakikisama” image, which compels the politician to be the very soul and embodiment of warm fellowship and of sympathy and concern for his fellow men, even total strangers. He shouldn’t refuse the offer of liquor even if the stuff makes him sick or may literally kill him. He must attend the funeral of utter strangers because their surviv ing relatives are voters in the community. He is sup posed to chip in for births, baptisms, weddings and deaths. In some communities he must act the 100 per cent loyal husband and family man who is never distracted by a trim ankle even if he may have a couple of mis tresses hidden away some where, while other places want their leaders to live up to the Latin ideal of “machis mo,” or masculinity. A cham pion of “machismo” in Phil July 1965 29 ippine political history was, of course, the fabulous Que zon, who wondered out loud in his autobiography. “The Good Fight,” what earthly connection there was between his sense of appreciation for feminine pulchritude and his competence and ability to run the government. There is again the wide spread public expectation that their officials should never show any marked im provement in their standards of living and way of life while they are in office. The electorate has built up an elaborate mythology about their officials and po liticians and fully expects them to live up to it, even if for appearances’ sake only. To be sure, there can be no argument with the substance of requiring public officials to 1 refrain from feathering their own nests through be trayal of the public trust, or from enriching themselves in office at the expense of public interest, or from living ostentatiously, extravagant ly and tastelessly. The alter native would be chaos, the complete breakdown of pub lic service and a wild orgy of looting of public funds. The important thing, how ever, is that the people should insist on substantial, rather than superficial and, worse, fraudulent compliance with these rules. If they did, the politicians would then abide by them in the same manner, and we would be well on the way towards es tablishing a strong, honest and incorruptible civile ser vice. The trouble, however, is that so many of the people are satisfied with token even if unquestionably fraudulent compliance, and the politi cians know this and act ac cordingly; hiding their chi canery and peccadillos be hind pious fronts. The sys tem has thus placed a pre mium on hypocrisy, guile and deceit. — By J. V. Cruz, Manila Times, July 12 1965. 30 Panorama