Media on Elections and Violence 2016
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CONCLUSION Further Improvement of the Electoral System Electoral Candidates Limited to National and Local Elite While automation has indeed improved the procedural conduct of the elections, the entire system could stand further review. Declaring oneself as a candidate requires little more than the filing of documents within a prescribed deadline. There are no other proofs required of competence and capacity to undertake a campaign or to fulfil the requirements of office, such as experience and track record in such or similar position. And yet the minimal requirements still result in the entry mostly of those who have power and wealth or the capacity to raise campaign funds, the latter being a critical measure of capacity. Politicians declare themselves for a position without affiliation to a political party, an institution that would provide means and machinery. Political Party System The multi-party system may suggest an openness that will facilitate the entry of different kinds of leaders. The actual reality disproves this. Politicians who have established name-recall can create their own parties or join up with any existing organizations. Thus elections are personality- rather than party-driven. Lately, most political parties have existed merely to avail their paper structure available to candidates who might win, using the campaign to revive the legitimacy of their claims as political parties. The electoral system fails to nurture politicians who have character and competence and have shown in their track record a commitment to public service. Violence drives its force into this vacuum. The strength with which one can diminish the opponent employs the apparatus of fear, and the proverbial “guns, goons and gold.” Electoral reform should evaluate the system to be able to identify the ways and means by which to check the culture of violence that afflicts politics at all levels. The Philippines compares favourably with countries in Asia and Africa where violence claims victims in the hundreds and thousands. But the conduct of the 2016 elections suggests further critical review as these incidents suggest other problems that affect the election process. Journalism Lacking Context Despite the differences in the citing of reports, the monitoring teams are agreed that media reports rely mainly on police and military records to describe the violence, detail the circumstances, identify casualties and victims. News accounts are uniformly sketchy and episodic. By and large, the press does not take the time to refer to issues of conflict or to provide background to long-standing competition of rival clans or to problematic aspects in governance and development. The case studies included in this report provide context that comes from research or direct observation of the network of journalists assigned to this project. Without such context, press reports fail to draw the kind of policy attention to the underlying issues of conflict as described by Stephen Schoof and Francisco Lara Jr. in Out of the Shadows: Violent Conflict and the Real Economy of Mindanao (2013), including the illicit trade in guns and other instrumentation of violence, land questions and clan feuds. The police would not have the capacity to address these conflict issues as they are already sufficiently challenged by ordinary crimes. Greater public understanding of these matters may help urge government to broaden the response to these problems. The consideration of legislation to impose limits to the number of family members who can be elected or appointed to public office might gain greater support. The new administration might apply a more strategic approach to activities in the “shadow economy” as the violence these cause add to the greater victimization of the poor. |
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