Election Season = Hunting Season

Q: What do you call 100 armed police men killing 50 unarmed civilians including women and journalists?

A: Maguindanao politics

Ok I’m not being fair. The police were accompanied by an indeterminate number of armed people as well. It could also be that the armed people were accompanied by 100 policemen. Either way it’s atrocious.

The casual observer may find it strange when they read the newspapers. Members of the Magundadatu clan are fingering their political rivals. But up until recently, both clans were allies. The papers report that the government knew the Ampatuan clan kept private armies. Apparently even the Magundadatu kept a private army. One cause being posited was that the Magundadatu brought their private army to a meeting with the other clan. We can assume the Ampatuan didn’t like that gesture.  Despite this the government hasn’t done anything.  It’s not so strange when you find out the Ampatuan are administration allies. Or that even this powerful clan has experienced assassination attempts for about a decade. The situation has its own bizarre logic.

Something ugly and rotten is happening. It’s not just politics as usual. The move is too audacious and arrogant. Even a person greatly favored by the current administration wouldn’t dare do something this brazen.

Or maybe the stinky rot revealed is that certain people do feel untouchable. That they feel they can escape justice because of connections to other influential people. Perhaps the stink is also the decay of civility. That people are so desperate they feel only violence can save them. Perhaps it is the stench of political horse trading. Leave my fiefdom alone and we will deliver votes.

If anything I hope people remember this and learn from it. I pray people remember this. Unfortunately, I doubt people will remember this. The Arroyo administration is not the only one that has its share of brazen characters. Estrada’s administration had it as well. And even certain people escaped justice during the times of Ramos and Cory. If we ever learned our lessons, the evidence is hard to see.

Platforms 2010 Philippine Elections

watch this site: Platform, plez

It collates known information about the platforms of the candidates for the 2010 elections. My experience is consistent with the info here; only a handful of candidates actually have a platform out. I agree with Ben Kritz on this one: understandable but not acceptable. The site promises updates as they get information. In fact, people are encouraged to contribute to the effort.

Check it out if you want to know what they politicians say they are planning to do. Note: planning to do.

DIY Political Platform

Now here is a very useful article from The Bad Manners Gun Club. It describes a framework for making your own political platform. Just like the title says: Its Not Rocket Science. In fact, it's downright easy if you follow the steps. It makes me want to spread the idea around. In the meantime, I will be looking more closely at the other sites.

The Mystery of the Invisible Platform

I've gotten a bit frustrated about the utter lack of platforms. It seems like the candidates have yet to hammer out their plans for the nation.  The last time I checked only G. Teodoro had a platform online. Does this mean I have to go contact the political party or candidate just to ask about it? Maybe I was too early in performing due diligence. When should I expect to see any platforms? December? January 2010? December 2010?

It's a bad sign. It seems the candidates still operate with the traditional mindset that popularity is the most important ingredient in this election. Sure it's a big part of any election, but the popularity ideally comes from having a good plan and the backbone to implement it. It's not because of some PR generated drama.

So now I'm sort of stuck. I'm getting tired of checking a candidate and then attaching a "no platform yet" statement to the work. So while I'm waiting, I'll go make my own platform. Now these candidates will get benchmarked against something. Tough for them. I'll still check out the aspirants, but I will set a criterion for the platform's declaration: 1 December 2009. I will be wary of people who declare plans after that.