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By Mio Cusi, Ric Puod
Anne Ruth Sabangan
and Johnna Villaviray, Senior Reporters
All eyes were on Victoria Elishadella Salvation
as she sat quietly in a jeepney bound for Intramuros. Her presence
made the other commuters grin as she searched for something in her
bag.
“Comelec,” she told the snickering driver
while handing over the coins. Even as she remained in her majestic
poise, the other passengers were chuckling to themselves.
The next day, the public saw Victoria’s
picture on a newspaper daily bestowing her “blessing” on Orlando
Abitaw, a co-presidential aspirant.
Victoria and other nuisance candidates numbered
79 against the four other major contenders—Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,
Raul Roco, Panfilo Lacson and Fernando Poe Jr.—whose vast
political machinery can penetrate the grassroots.
In the Commission on Elections logbook of
presidential aspirants, there also appeared the name of Philip
Morriss Samson. He claimed to be a divine prophet with a master’s
degree from the “School Career College of Mystery.”
Another candidate, Ferdinand Emmanuel Marcos
Jr., proclaimed himself leader of the “H-World Piunfeo.” Marcos
announced he is the “greatest teacher of the law of peace and
redeemer of all the Filipino families.”
Andres Ugboc, who gave his occupation as a
“natural-born construction employee,” also filed his candidacy.
He once gained prominence during the 1998 presidential election
campaign by appearing in a number of TV shows.
Loose electoral system
Although the presence of nuisance candidates
draws alarm, annoyance or amusement, the public isn’t likely to
see the last of them in the prelude to this year’s political
exercise, not until positive changes are made on the party-list
system.
“There is a loose, absurd or unwieldy system.
It symbolizes the politics of the Philippines,” says Ricardo Abad,
professor of sociology at the Ateneo de Manila University. He noted
that the presence of nuisance candidates results from a system that
is not well planned.
In agreeing with him, the political psychologist
Cristina Montiel said that although the tolerance of current laws on
nuisance candidates indicates a working democratic space, the same
condition reflects a flaw in the political system.
“Something in the institution permits this
kind of occurrence. The rules are very loose. The race is open to
anybody who wants to be in it. They [nuisance candidates] prove that
the democratic space is not being used optimally,” she said.
Abad pointed out the absence of a mechanism that
can distinguish platforms that are state-related from those that are
not. He said that discriminating laws should have been put in place
in the past to streamline the electoral process. “But nobody made
the effort,” he said.
Describing the electoral process as
“immature,” Montiel feels that much remains to be done for the
country to understand democracy. “The culture of democracy in this
country is not yet ripe. We have only a few transformative leaders
and groups participating in the electoral arena.”
Delusion of grandeur
Montiel explained that delusion of grandeur
drives some nuisance candidates to run for higher public offices.
This is distinguished from delusion of persecution, in which the
individual feels victimized by outside forces.
She said this could be traced to the
candidates’ childhood days, current needs and motivations.
“They don’t have a grasp of reality, because
they think they are worthy of occupying the post and capable of
winning. Those two beliefs in their minds are not accurate. They see
themselves in a much bigger light than their real selves,” Montiel
noted.
Perceiving that the defective belief is rooted
in the conflicts within the mental processes or interpersonal
relationship of the individual with others, Montiel says the
nuisance candidates do not represent sectors in conflict with the
dominant groups.
“The act of filing a candidacy gives the
nuisance candidates the glory they are looking for.
“The very fact that politics is exciting
attracts individuals with strong needs. Politics offers a taste of
power. Some individuals are drawn to power plays because they feel
inferior,” she said.
Montiel noted that the media become the
instrument to satisfy this need by rewarding the candidates with
print and television coverage. She compared the nuisance candidate
to a noisy student who craves for attention in the classroom and
wants to be rewarded for his behavior even through constant
scolding.
For instance, 74-year-old Luis Biancas filed his
certificate of candidacy for president, despite the embarrassing
treatment he got from the Comelec personnel. Although people made
fun of him, he seemed to like it. He sold the flier that
contained his political platforms for P1 each.
To avoid reinforcing the nuisance candidates’
behavior, Montiel advised that the media give less attention during
the filing of candidacies.
Her advice came a bit too late, though, as
Wendell Lope, facing the TV cameras at the Comelec last week,
dangled a stack of yellow papers and read some words which his
audience could not understand. He claimed to have evidence that
could disqualify other contenders.
“I’m here to prove their
disqualification,” he told his audience as he singled out Roco.
While his voice trembled, he displayed his campaign sign which he
himself could not figure out—to the laughter of the people around.
On meeting Lope, Chair Benjamin Abalos advised
him to concentrate on other productive work. “It would be best,
please, that you devote all your efforts to help the country in some
other ways,” Abalos told him politely. Lope appeared at the
session hall hours after President Arroyo and her running mate,
Senator Noli de Castro, filed their certificates of candidacies.
Although Lope can be adjudged outright as a
“nuisance,” based on his inability and limited resources to
launch a nationwide poll campaign, Abalos said the Comelec will
exercise due process to disqualify the candidates and notify them
immediately.
“Well, this somehow gives us some relief,”
Abalos said of the nuisance candidates.
‘General of the world’
Abad thinks, however, that the deprivation of
media attention is the problem rather than the solution in some
cases. He said some of the so-called nuisance candidates are
serious, but their representation is marginal.
Paulino Corpus, a 44-year-old pedicab driver who
filed his candidacy, told The Times that he wanted to run for
president because he was fed up with the corruption in government.
“I no longer trust the present leadership, because it is no longer
capable. First of all, there is corruption.”
Corpus, professing to be the “general of the
world” sent by “God the Father,” has been staying in Manila
for the last six years. From Zamboanga he went to Dinagat Island,
Surigao, and became a member of a cult group called the Philippine
Benevolent Missionaries Association. He anchored his candidacy on
his sincerity and experience with poverty to justify his intention
of seeking the presidency.
“The fact that I don’t have money means that
I am more serious in running. I will focus my efforts on how to
develop this country,” he said. ”But the other candidates who
have money, what did they do? They made the lives of the people more
difficult. They have done a lot of awful things. And the law is
wrong, because it serves only the rich, not the poor. There is no
equality before the law.”
While many may look at Corpus and the other
nuisance candidates as socially maladjusted, Abad considers it
inappropriate to label them social or political “deviants.”
“Deviance is a relative term. One should ask the
question—‘Deviance or nuisance to whom?’”
“Lack of media attention forces them to seek
offices to correct what the media said about them. Running for the
presidency is a way to get public recognition,” he said.
Nonetheless, the media gave these candidates a
relatively fair coverage but in a way that did not befit the
position they seek and the respect they wish to have. “These
people deserve a little compassion,” Abalos told The Times.
Many social scientists view the phenomenon of
nuisance candidacy as a consequence of restricting the participation
of the underprivileged in enjoying the “social space” or the
rights, benefits, goods and services created by society.
To curb the number of nuisance candidates, Abad
stressed the need for promoting a “public culture.” “The
strong sense of public culture means a strong sense of civil order,
civil state and recognition of ‘public’ spaces instead of purely
‘private’ ones. What rules here is the law.”
But for personal wants to be gradually subsumed
to higher public interests, Abad emphasized that Filipinos must
undergo a transformation from a mere passive victim of oppression to
a person having a stronger and more favorable image of one’s self.
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