Think Pieces

A fight as big as bringing down the pork barrel SYSTEM will take a long time. We want to bring back the integrity of our political system. End the culture of "suhulan." Restore the effective checks-and-balance relationship between the executive and legislature. This will take a long time.

So as not to get lost in the fight and be of disservice to our cause, we need to start somewhere where there is opening. We have to understand the institutional context of the country and the power dynamics to identify that opening.

One of the reasons the Pork exists is because it filled-in the gap of our maldeveloped/ underdeveloped party system, which is supposed to be the mechanism that facilitates the relationship between the executive and the legislature. And party system, in simplest term, refers to how you organize political partisan affiliations. 

There is a fundamental problem if we are organizing a rally against a system that is perpetuated because of the underdevelopment or maldevelopment of the system for partisan politics if we are organizing it in a way that discredits or neutralizes the latter. We are contributing to a mindset in our political culture that is keeping us from developing our party system, key in making pork irrelevant or at least not the sole determing factor in the relationship between the executive and the legislature.

While generally peaceful and credible, there are setbacks in the conduct of the 2013 elections that require attention. 

• Voters turnout. Voters turnout is 70%, lower than in 2010 (76%) and even in 2007 mid-term elections (75%). There are 15.6M registered voters that did not vote. 12.3M in 2010 and 11.2M in 2007.
• Use of PCOS. 200 PCOS are defective. This is less than 1% of the total 78,000 PCOS machines.
• ERV: generally peaceful. 51 killed, 65 wounded (during election period). In 2010, 54 killed and 74 wounded. In 2007, 56 killed, 69 wounded. But the difference in figure is minimal. Still, violence was part of the elections. 
• Voters list. Not much of a problem. Unlike in the past elections, disenfranchisement was not a major challenge this elections.
• Canvassing - This is the major setback in the 2013 elections. 70% completed in 48 hours. Far below than in 2010 election: 78.55% in 11 hours. 

Institutions matter and institutionalizing this reform process including the political dimension of it must be attended to so that it becomes a norm and its momentum cannot easily be subverted. Patronage politics supported and fed by political elites is an all-enduring institution in the country. For it to be subverted and replaced by modern and empowering institutions, the reform process and its constituency must also take the form of institutions--repeated pattern of behavior with predictable results that is accountable and efficient. Working towards party building and party system development that is democratizing must be taken up as a critcal challenge to the reform constituencies and champions.