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Democratic Deficits in the Philippines: What Is to Be Done?

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Democratic Deficits in the Philippines: What Is to Be Done? Democratic Deficits in the Philippines: What is to be Done? CLARITA R. CARLOS AND DENNIS M. LALATA WITH DIANNE C. DESPI & PORTIA R. Carlos Democratic Deficits in the Philippines: What is to be Done? 2010 CLARITA R. CARLOS, Ph.D. and DENNIS M. LALATA with DIANNE C. DESPI and PORTIA R. CARLOS KONRAD ADENAUER STIFTUNG Democratic Deficits in the Philippines: What is to be Done? Copyright 2010 by Clarita R. Carlos, Ph.D., Dennis M. Lalata, Dianne C. Despi and Portia R. Carlos ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Except for brief quotation in a review, this book or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the authors. The views and opinions expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and of the Centrist Democratic Movement. Published by Center for Political and Democratic Reform, Inc. 13 Bautista Street., University of the Philippines Campus, Diliman, Quezon City Konrad Adenauer Foundation 5/F Cambridge Center Bldg. 108 Tordesillas corner Gallardo Streets Salcedo Village, Makati City Philippines Centrist Democratic Movement 804 Batis Street, Juna Subdivision Matina, Davao City Philippines ISBN 978-971-94932-0-4 Foreword When this book is published, many voices will be heard from civil society, the academe, the media and foreign observers in the Philippines expressing their hopes and great expectations for the strengthening of democratic good governance and a more successfull socio-economic development under the new administration of President Benigno Aquino III. His campaign, built on the credible promise of bringing down corruption and wrongdoings in the State Institutions, has opened perspectives for a better life for the ordinary people in the eyes of many Filipinos. There is no doubt that the importance of a good person, with the right intentions and with character, imbued in the highest office of the country, cannot be overestimated. With the extraordinary powers the 1987 Philippine Constitution bestowed upon the President, he will be able to change things and move the country forward – even with the limitation of only one six-year term in office. However, the example of the Ramos Administration in the ninetees, during which democracy seemed to have stabilized and a fresh wind of socio- economic development pushed the country for some years into the mainstream of the booming Southeast- Asian region bears remembering how the country can fall back into political turmoil and socio-economic deadlock after a change of administration. It is of great benefit from this study of Prof. Clarita Carlos that she is analysing the deep causes behind the problems which plague the Philippine Democracy from its restoration in 1986, nearly 25 years ago. Many people are blaming the Philippine culture for the flaws and weaknesses of the democratic processes; for the lack of progress in poverty alleviation – as opposed to neighbouring countries like Malaysia or Vietnam. But Prof. Carlos shows, that it is mainly the institutional set up of the Philippine brand of Democracy which, in spite of the good principles and intentions of the 1987 Constitution, perpetuated the patronage system inherited from the Spanish colonial period. It likewise prevented effective participation of the ordinary people in the political system that lead to lack of control of executive powers and subequently to overwhelming corruption. In order to create sustainable progress, the new administration has to correct the wrong incentives in the electoral system and democratic procedures which do not leave room for the development of a structure of authentic member-based and program-oriented political parties – the backbone of a functioning democracy. It has to level the economic playing field by opening up and encouraging competition in local and national markets which are presently dominated by powerful cartels or family clans. This will create a liberal framework in which job creation and poverty alleviation can take place. It finally has to provide much better competences and share much more substantial budget from the central government to the local and regional government units along the principle of subsidiarity; thus setting free the dynamic forces of the masses fighting to improve their lives and bring real democracy to the country. Clarita Carlos, further to the analysis of many democratic deficits of the country, presents in this book a great number of well assessed and oftentimes innovative suggestions for the solution of the problems. We, the Centrist Democratic Movement(CDM) of the Philippines and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, hope that we can contribute, with the publishing of this study, toward a broad and honest cooperation of Centrist Democrats from different political background for a fundamental and well targeted reform policy in the coming years. Manila, August 18, 2010 Peter Koeppinger MESSAGE The last few months of 2009 saw the fruition of an initiative by THE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RURAL & URBAN POOR (TACDRUP) and KONRAD ADENAUER STIFTUNG (KAS) on a political education program that transcends a generational divide - The SUCCESSOR GENERATION. KAS has been in the country for the greater part of four decades advancing the philosophy of Christian Democracy (CD) as practiced in Germany and some European countries. They did not enforce upon the body politic their concepts of governance. Instead they planted seeds, nurtured them and waited for them to bear fruits. In the decades since then, the Philosophy behind Christian Democracy in the Philippines underwent substantial changes reflecting local political realities. Political stalwarts of the era, Raul Manglapus, Manuel Manahan, Ramon Magsaysay and the early adherents, the Christian Social Movement (CSM) and their youth groups Young Christian Socialist (YCSP) began to formulate their own version that encompassed an important segment of our society – the Muslim community. Thus in the early 70s emerged the Christian-Muslim Democrats – which over time dropped the religious/cultural undertones to be known simply as CENTRIST DEMOCRATS. Organized as the CENTRIST DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT (CDM), the SUCCESSOR GENERATION will now take center stage in assuming the responsibility for reforms in the Philippine Society. Guided by its core belief – respect for Human Dignity – political, economic and social order must be so logically designed that the dignity of each person is protected and promoted. Mostly composed of Young Professionals and youth, the SUCCESSOR GENERATION, must begin to understand that it is now their turn at the helm. But running a country is a complex system that requires the comprehension and appreciation of power, authority and responsibility – their use, misuse, abuse and even non-use. What is required is clarity of beliefs and approaches for governance – which in political mature countries are lodged in political parties. This, the CDM must set out to do. The Centrist Democratic Movement Federation of the Philippines collectively supports the notion to abolish the deficits in democracy that continually negate the development of all sectors of the Philippine Society. The themes underlying the CDM’s philosophy of good governance and truly functioning rule of law are focused on electoral reforms and building sustainable political parties, the introduction and strengthening of a social market economy and the restructuring of the state decision making process through a decentralized system of governance following the concepts of subsidiarity. With the help of specialists in particular issues, we seek to enlighten ourselves with the principles behind good governance – with a greater priority toward political party formations. This bias towards creation of sustainable political parties is elementary. As repositories of political theories, beliefs and strategies of governance, political parties encompass an array of positions in a spectrum – from the extreme left to the extreme right. What are needed therefore are two or three distinguishable political parties that must precipitate a clash of ideas and principles – the better to present the optimum alternatives to the electorate. Clarita Carlos’ study on Democratic Deficits is a timely piece of work that can provide the SUCCESSOR GENERATION a general guide towards the strengthening of democracy. To the SUCCESSOR GENERATION, in your political journey ahead - be focused – live straight and learn well. Lito Monico C. Lorenzana CDM Convenor ACKNOWLEDGMENT In November, 2009, Dr. Peter Koeppinger had barely warmed his seat as the new Resident Representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation when we met for a welcome and getting to know you lunch. Little did we both realize that that lunch will result in this book where we both agreed that there should be a comprehensive and non-partisan reckoning of where we have been as a nation, where we want to go, what our democratic deficits are and most importantly, what is to be done to address those deficits. Always, when a work is finished, we look back and discover rather pleasantly how much the collective efforts of individuals can result in a very involved examination of an issue area, in this case, the many promises of democracy which have been compromised by our system of governance. We also discover, not too pleasantly, that the work of filling up these deficits, these democratic gaps, would require some very genuine efforts on all our parts to change and be part of that change. It is not an accident that this book is directed to the new leadership of our country which has promised us change and to them is this book dedicated. This book would not have seen the light of day were it not for the indefatigable research team I had led by Mr. Dennis Lalata. Dennis, a former star student of mine and a cum laude from our university, has shown over the years a remarkable development of his critical faculties as well as of his writing. His infinite patience and attention to details had served us well as we went into the final activities of putting this book into print.
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