030 Voters Ed (1)
One would think that Voters Education is something that is indispensable in a democracy. Perhaps that’s not the case here in the Philippines, since we only talk about it when we’re in the middle of a contentious election—when we’re seeing voters show their inability to discern between good and bad candidates—when it’s actually too late to educate voters on what responsible voting is all about.
It’s a vicious cycle really—we hold elections, we see how voters make poor electoral decisions, we tell ourselves that we need to educate the average voter, we don’t because it’s too late and we vow to do it before the next big election, we don’t (repeat and rinse).
Some say that it’s in the traditional politician’s best interest not to educate the voters (or the entire citizenry, in effect), so they can continue to win elections using the same trapo tactics that have kept them in power. Sounds just about right.
So we continue to hear the lame ass jingles and see these so-called “honorable” ladies and gentlemen make fools of themselves in campaign sorties—to the delight of their adoring supporters—since they win that way anyway.
There’s also the danger of giving false hopes (free housing for everyone, zero crime in x-number of months, all these bridges to nowhere… you know the drill). The politician gets elected, which would mean (1) his promises will not be kept, or worse (2) he’d keep his promises even though the nation’s coffers can’t afford it.
Voters Education is a must. And it should really begin in school, wherein the right values are taught to the child alongside the lessons on good governance that all citizens must internalize to make democracy work.
To be fair, I’ve seen some attempts to teach voters ed, including one brave effort by an admirable schools division superintendent to enshrine the concept of responsible voting in the schools in her province. Her laudable efforts blew up big time—in her face—when a sitting senator of the republic got hold of the memo she sent to the schools.
Objectively speaking, there wasn’t really anything wrong with the proposed voters ed lesson. It asked teachers to educate their students about responsible voting (good, right?). Well, there’s just one problem—the memo used as an example of responsible voting the act of not voting for entertainers, athletes and such.
Needless to say, the good senator was a product of the entertainment industry. And needless to say, he was up in arms—he immediately asked that the superintendent/culprit be brought to the Senate floor to face his wrath.
As part of my role then as the communications adviser of the education secretary, that problem fell into my lap.
I had to do what I can to fix it, somehow, before it escalated into a major crisis for the department and for our boss, Secretary Fe Hidalgo (It was budget season then, so it could mean disaster for the education budget if this lone senator went ballistic over this issue).
But what can you do? What would you do?
(To be continued)