HOTSPOT
Filipinos have a special level of disdain for traditional politicians who, after winning the elections, pamper their bailiwicks while punishing barangays or neighborhoods that did not vote for them. The same goes for the sore losers who blame voters for not seeing the “wisdom” of choosing them over the winners.
Cities and towns elect mayors, provinces their governors, and the country the president, vice president, and Congress. Those who emerge as winners don’t get to be proclaimed and sworn in merely as “the officials only of those who voted for them.” No, they take the oath to the Constitution and all the people of the Philippines (or their specific city and province), whether a voter or not and regardless of how they voted.
The mayor cannot be allowed to provide services only to neighborhoods where voters cast a vote for her. Such a mayor would be committing a disservice and a scandal, and may be removed for failure to serve all.
The same is true for the President, the Vice President, and Congress. Their titles are “President of the Philippines,” “Vice President of the Philippines,” and “Congress of the Philippines.” What they say or not say, do or not do, enact or not enact, affects everyone.
The number of votes cast and the number of votes won are important only insofar as finding out who won or lost. Once proclaimed and sworn in, they are obliged to serve all without discrimination. The people and the law don’t distinguish between a winner who won by a lead of just one vote, or a total vote of 32 million. The Constitution does not rise or fall on these numbers. Even if all voters voted for an official, that official must still obey the law and the Constitution.
Vice President Sara Duterte said that she won’t resign because 32 million voted for her. But they only voted for her to be the vice president, period. The 32 million did not vote for her to have confidential funds or to ignore the accountability provisions of the Constitution.
Interestingly, the provisions on impeachment do not care about the number of votes of the impeachable official. It only cares about the impeachable acts that go against the Filipino people, voters or not.
While impressive, the 32 million votes she earned do not suspend the Constitution. Neither did they vote to exempt her from the rules about the accounting of public funds paid for by taxpayer funds coming from voters and non-voters alike. Taxes are not determined by how people voted. Her voters did not pay more or less compared with others. But everyone pays taxes, direct or indirect, and those who receive and spend public funds from taxes must account for them and be answerable to the people’s representatives.
If Duterte will insist on using the number of votes as some sort of wedge, then the House of Representatives and the Senate would easily eclipse her paltry 32 million.
Senators and congressmen received more votes than both the president and the vice president combined. If she must compare, she must do so not with the votes of one lawmaker but with the whole Congress. Congress exercises power after all as a bicameral body.
We crunched the numbers and we found out that House members were voted by 71 million voters. The combined number of votes of the 12 winning senators was around 232 million.
The election losers should also stop whining and blaming voters. They should assess why they lost or why the public did not vote for them. There must be an honest assessment that should enlighten the way forward in their quest for vindication in the future.
If the discussions reach the levels of the role of guns, goons, and gold, to campaign finance reform, to reform of political parties, to wealth, income, and social inequalities affecting election processes, that would be good for the entire nation.
Ultimately, the real figures that should matter ain’t the number of votes earned by candidates. The figures that matter are the total population that national officials should serve competently and without corruption or treason, the total number of islands and boundaries of our territory that they should defend, the high prices of goods and services that defy regional borders, wage levels that differ by regional wage boards, the millions in unaccounted-for confidential funds, and so on.