Mad scramble for 17,928 local elective posts begins Friday

LUIS “Chavit" Singson seems to have it all—vast properties in the north, a stint as the President’s deputy security adviser, and a reputation as a close associate of the world’s greatest boxer. He even beat up his wife and got away with it. But for May 10, Ilocos Sur’s political kingpin only wants one thing: to reclaim the kingdom he lorded over for 26 years by winning the gubernatorial seat in the province. Chavit is but one of 49,996 local candidates in the mad scramble for 17,928 posts up for grabs as the campaign season unfolds from March 26 to May 8. Other prominent people in the race are President Gloria Arroyo, aiming to replace her son Mikey as representative of Pampanga’s second district; former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who wants the second district of Ilocos Norte; and boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, trying his luck in Sarangani after losing his previous congressional bid in South Cotabato.

The May 10 elections promise to be more turbulent than usual. An array of problems - from technical breakdowns to computerized cheating - could mar the country’s first nationwide automated elections. But that scenario hasn't stopped many prominent personalities—including religious leaders, celebrities, and political has-beens— from scrambling for power in their respective provinces, districts and hometowns. What’s in it for them? There are so many “perks" to being a local lord, including access to funds and power, that local elections often turn personal as friends and relatives are sometimes pitted against each other to the bitter end. Blood feuds Elections are a modern institution but the passions they bring out in the Philippines are often primordial, and sometimes cannot be controlled. As “they think it is tribal war, so they go out head-hunting—pinapatay nila yung kalaban (they kill the opponent)," said political analyst Benito Lim. Police said there have been 95 election-related violent incidents nationwide since June 2009. This does not include the gruesome November 23 massacre in Maguindanao, where 57 people including 32 journalists were killed. Oligarchy has characterized the political environment in local government—where dynasties compete for power and money in their areas of influence regardless of what it takes, said Bobby Tuazon, director for policy studies of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG). “Systems of accountability have collapsed. There’s a degree of tolerance because local security forces are used to serve the electoral agenda of public officials," Tuazon said.
Mutual agreements Local politicians play a vital role in national politics, delivering votes en masse by sheer political clout or through other means, which national candidates need to get elected. In exchange, local leaders get more money, power and privileges from their national patrons. Philippine politics is about mutual agreements between local and national leaders, Tuazon said. Presidential bets court local lords, whose access to the national government helps them retain their clout over their areas. “National candidates need to draw the support of local officials and kingpins to run a campaign machinery. But that is not without any anticipated trade-offs. After the candidate wins, what’s in it for the local candidates?" Tuazon said. Critics said Mrs. Arroyo was partly to blame for the Maguindanao massacre, alleging she allowed the clan to maintain a private army and amass weapons in exchange for the votes they secured for her and her allies in previous elections. In 2004, Maguindanao voted 193,938 to 59,892 in favor of Mrs. Arroyo, spelling the political demise of her closest rival, actor Fernando Poe Jr. In the 2007 senatorial race, the administration candidates under Team Unity scored 12-0 in the province against the Genuine Opposition. Maguindanao officials denied accusations of fraud in 2004 and 2007, but the CenPEG in its 2007 Elections Forensics Report said Mrs. Arroyo’s political ties to the family of former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. helped her win in the region. “The Ampatuan dynasty, based in Maguindanao province, is Arroyo’s present conduit to helping ensure her influence over the whole of Mindanao, which hosts many of the country’s grizzled but otherwise powerful political clans," the CenPEG said. Vote buying The Commission on Elections said hacking into the counting machines to be used in the May elections will be nearly impossible. According to Lim, national politicians who want to commit fraud will likely use their local allies to buy votes, a more feasible approach to gaining votes in an automated election where the usual “dagdag-bawas" method of poll fraud is supposedly impossible. “The local candidate will carry out the buying (of votes) for them," Lim said. “Papayag din yung local candidate, kasi meron din siya (The local candidate will agree, because he or she also has a share in it)." How do national candidates get local allies in the first place? According to Lim, local politicians naturally gravitate toward national candidates who are ahead in the surveys. “It is more of the need to be with somebody who has power to get what they want for their district," he said. Money and power Local politics is not all about power. It is also about access to funds to maintain that power. Each congressman is entitled to P70 million in Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) or pork barrel money, often blamed as the source of corruption as politicians are alleged to get “kickbacks" out of the money for their projects. Whether the funds would be released depends on the lawmaker’s closeness to the administration, as Malacañang approves all proposed local projects, Lim said. This explains why Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, for example, was alleged to have used almost all of his pork barrel money in his first six months in office. In contrast, representatives of party-list groups critical of the administration such as Akbayan and Bayan Muna complain that it takes years for their proposed projects to get funded. Tuazon added that provincial governors, city and municipal mayors are also coveted positions because the incumbent officials can access the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), the local governments’ share of collected taxes. Tackling the politics of Abra province last 2007, a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report cited a scion of a political family in the province as saying those in power are only after their share in the IRA. Tineg town in Abra receives an IRA of about P41 million, but the roads there are impassable. “[Officials] use a big bulk of the IRA for reasons that have nothing to do with the social welfare of their provinces," Tuazon said. With the campaign period for local elections now officially on, jingles and colorful paraphernalia will surround a multitude of candidates promising heaven and earth while waving at voters. But despite the circus-like atmosphere of the elections, its consequences on the country are no laughing matter. - with reports from Kim Tan/ RSJ/DVS/HGS, GMANews.TV