Introduction
Election is a privilege for everyone. It was given by our ancestors to shape the future, to provide hope for a better change for tomorrow.
However, that has been drastically changed due to people not doing proper research on whom to vote. They just went with trends and vote whoever their friends or family is voting, or worse, those whom they see on television during election time and not through the course of history.
To me, the current election is nothing but a publicity, a stunt in whom the most popular candidate wins. It's more like Pinoy Big Brother than anything. I hope this post provides the knowledge that people needs to look out for and see what the mistakes in current election to vote for the proper upcoming president.
Author's Notes and Disclaimer
This post's goal is to provide others with more qualifications than that of the simple qualifications in presidency. This is my own opinion and you, as another voter, should do the research as well before locking in on your final vote.
I may say something negative on candidates through this post but this is not intended to defame there but rather to point out my opinions on them through observation and research.
This post may include strong language not suitable for children.
Qualifications on becoming a President of the Philippines
- Natural born Filipino;
- A registered voter;
- Must be able to read and write; 40 years of age at the day of the election; and.
- must have resided in the Philippines ten years before the election is held.
The main reason for the low qualification is for equal opportunities for anyone to join. However, as that may be true before, it feels more like a joke in today's generation.
The president of the Philippines reigns supreme above all. He has control over everything and what would happen on the 6 years he would be elected. However, applying for a service crew in a fast food restaurant has higher qualifications than being a president which is stupid.
My point is Quality over Quantity. Rather than lowering the standards on becoming a president for others to be able to join, increase the quality of the qualifications that only selected individual can become one. After all, in reality, not everyone can become a president and rule a country.
What Changes in Qualifications should be done?
I know that this post is about looking for the one suited best for the position so why are we talking something that is non-existent such as "Should be" qualifications?
Because these qualifications I would add would not be impossible to attain. In fact, it should already be in for X amount of years ago.
Added Qualifications
- More than 35 years of age but less than 60 years of age
- At least 2 years from last recorded criminal record upon submission of presidential candidacy
- No medical or psychological conditions before submission of presidential candidacy.
- At least college graduate
More than 35 years of age but less than 54 years of age
Lowering the age limit allows more people to join. The main purpose of the age limit of 40 itself is to accumulate life experiences that you can use when you become a president but I don't think it's really that useful. Worse, the older you are, the more prone you can be influenced by money. That is true as the older you are, the more financial conscious you become. This part would be important later on.
The top limit of 60 years of age is for retirement period. At 60, you start getting sick more as you reach old age. How can you rule a country if you're on the hospital for 12 hours every day? A good leader is someone who should be fit for work. A leader should be the one concerned with his people and not the other way around.
At least 2 years from last recorded criminal record upon submission of presidential candidacy
Even simple companies have NBI Clearance when applying for work. They should be clear of criminal liabilities before procuring work. No employer would want a thief becoming their cashier.
In the same concept, we, the people of the Philippines, wouldn't want someone who has committed fraud or corruption from becoming the president. Everyone is shouting every year that the president is corrupt and yet we don't have the BARE qualification against it.
Although, everyone can change. Hence, the 2 year limit. If you want to be the next president, then be a good boy (or girl) 2 years starting today. It's not really that hard.
No medical or psychological conditions before submission of presidential candidacy.
In accordance with the above two, we wouldn't want someone be in the position of presidency that would, worse comes to worst, die in a year due to some complicated ailment. These kind of stuff can be abused as the "president" can be used as a puppet for the vice president as vice president acts as a substitute if the president is unable to perform his duties.
This rule also prohibits someone from not being able to be prosecuted in case a corruption happened during the 6 years of presidency. This is also to ensure that one would not act sick, like let's say, having a brace on their neck to buy time due to graft and corruption case and miraculously be healthy right after the case has been dismissed or something of that value.
As mentioned, a president must be fit at all times because a sick president drains morale from every person under him.
At least college graduate
This one's pretty simple. Also, not that hard. Becoming a president is not a whim. It should not be something that you decided to do this year because you're bored. It should be planned. If you want to be president, (or in government as senator or above... But that's another story) then at least being a college graduate is a must.
Why college graduate and not a high school graduate?
Because being a president is more responsibility than being able to read and write. You also need to be able to comprehend what you read and write. As far as my knowledge is concerned, ALL college courses have at least a law course involved and/or combined within their course. You don't need to be a genius and learn ALL the laws but at least you should have an idea on how it was formed since you will be most likely doing so in the future as the president.
You can skip the next if you're not interested.
The Current Election System in the Philippines
Since we're in the topic of election, I have two main concerns in the current election system that I want to be addressed.
The first one is like what the Mayor of Pasig City said in facebook on Friday, April 22, 2022.
“Ang malaking gumastos sa kampanya ay mas malaki pa ang babawiin (Those who spend so much on their campaigns will try to recoup much more),” he said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Source: Philstar
This part is always a topic in my family even before he said it on public. I realized this last 2016 election when I was curious on the budget of each presidential candidates.
Why would someone spend 511,950,000 php ($10,239,000) on election to become president when they would get 165,752 php ($3315.04) a month or 1,989,024 a year ($39,780.48) or 11,934,144 ($238,682.88 in whole 6 years?
Source: CNN Philippines
Does that make sense? You found work, a 6-year job that makes you earn 11.9 Million php ($238,000) in 6 years for investing only 511.950 Million php ($10,239,000). Even networking scams cry on those numbers. It just doesn't make sense.
Would you try and make a company that LOSES 6.945 Million php ($138,900) EVERY MONTH? I don't know. If these candidates just gave their candidacy budget to people, I bet a lot of people would be able to have houses already. And have that every 6 years? My God! There's not going to be a single homeless people in the Philippines.
And now, it's worst. Someone really spent 900+ Million pesos in CAMPAIGN FUNDS ONLY. If you don't see any clearer sign of future corruption, I don't know what these voters see anymore.
Another one is the party list system. As mentioned in my intro, the current presidential campaign is nothing but a circus act. The more popular (Not the most fit for the position) wins.
The problem with the party list system is that whoever you vote as president, most likely, everyone under him would be voted as well, the vice president and other positions. A lot of people do that which is bad. I would like to see instead an independent system wherein there's no parties involved. There's no yellow, pink, white, brown, fuscia, magenta, cyan, whatever. This allows people to research on EVERY SINGLE CANDIDATE and avoid the popularity contest in which the current presidency is in.
This also avoids "favors", may it be through connections or money in the form of candidacy budget, which further attracts corruption since in the Philippines, "utang na loob" or favors is a huge thing. The higher the position you obtain, the higher these favors can indulge in one's conscience.
Who is my President?
I have a lot of qualms and problems with the current set of presidency but without further ado, the one I would like to be president is "Leody de Guzman."
"He was the former president and currently the chairperson of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, a socialist federation of militant trade unions. He was an aspirant in the 2019 senatorial elections, and is a candidate for the 2022 Philippine presidential elections under the Partido Lakas ng Masa."
Source: Wikipedia
Amazingly, among all candidates, he had the grasp on what should be done right now. While some of the candidate's focus is on strengthening the Philippine army when they get to position, Leody's aim is to repair the Visiting Forces Agreement and relationship with the US that was cut due to incompetence. Correction, the adviser's incompetence. I don't agree that it was a sole decision.
The war with China is not impossible. Regardless of the result with the arbitration in the South China Sea, China would not say no until the decision would favor to them. Hence, the war is always possible.
Even if you train EVERY SINGLE PERSON, including all the babies born in the Philippines, the difference in military strength is absurd and China can conquer Philippines with force with ease. If we're in good terms with US, China will not force the war as they don't want unnecessary war with the US Government.
The COVID problem is also a threat and one of Leody's aim is to improve the budget for Health against COVID and not aimed for better tourism like some candidates but for Health. This is the most important focus right now.
That's it.
TL;DR is I want Leody De Guzman to be president but since the Philippine Election is a show, a popularity contest, that's never gonna happen and we'll be suffering in the next 6 years.
My second vote, if Ka Leody would not become president would be Bongbong Marcos but I would go for another vice president. His vice president is bad news for me who's platform is prioritizing people going to army like in North (or South? Not sure) Korea.
Militarizing Philippines is not going to help in the possible war with China in the future. Even if you militarized every single entity in the Philippines, the gap in military might is immense. Increasing the military strength directly just antagonizes the other party (and probably hastens the possibility of a war due to increasing threat.)
I'm not trying to degrade the Philippine military but simply trying to be realistic because in war, there's no idealism. People die permanently if you made the wrong move beforehand.
TLDR: NO TO WAR, VOTE SMART
This is all my opinion. If you have negative reaction, just don't cuss and curse. Thanks.
Photos are from Bitmoji.
This is the full post for the condensed version, on Hive PH post and my final entry as well if they allow it. Thank you for the support when I was starting out.
