We should take a look at how majority of Filipinos may have defined "democracy" for the past three decades. It gets on my nerves every time I correct a fellow Filipino of their mistakes such as habitual tardiness, love for playing the music too loud and not following the simplest of guidelines. What's their answer? They could call me someone who's rather favor a Communist or dictatorial type of system, they say that they would rather commit suicide than follow those rules. For them, being in a democracy may mean having no discipline, do what you want, no rules and getting away in a culture of impunity. Then they want to #endimpunity all the while they love a culture of impunity. That's a very contradictory mindset, isn't it?
We could talk about the problem of not following simple guidelines. There are rules to follow and there are certain just penalties to carry along with it. It's not an act of tyranny to make people pay certain fines for throwing garbage. It would be if we would mutilate people for throwing garbage. No, this is giving people fines and certain punishments. Take a wrong turn or park your car in a no parking area? Get a PHP 500.00 to PHP 1,000.00 fine. Throwing garbage? You may consider getting a fine depending on how much garbage you threw. These rules are meant not to rain on the parade of democracy but to preserve the safety of society. I guess that's why such people call Singapore as "everybody's favorite tyranny".
That's the big problem that most people think that discipline and dictatorship are the exact same thing. No, it's not. Do you want to know why some first world countries are still first world countries while others are falling down? It's all because reasonably strict discipline is part of good economics. A good example is how Japanese people are usually known to be very disciplined and polite. It's because the current Japanese government fosters rules of discipline and politeness. It's not like what's going on with the United States of America where almost everyone has a dysfunctional sense of freedom.
With that in mind, we could think about how democrazy (not democracy) ruined the Philippines. No, I'm not suggesting that the Philippines should turn into a state dictatorship. Instead, it's all about a well-balanced, healthy democracy where freedom and authority aren't absolute. We could take a look at stuff that got implemented in the faulty 1987 Constitution and how it's ruining everything.
Commission on HUMAN Rights or Commission on Human Rights to Impunity?!
Let's bring up the Commission on Human Rights. Okay, I've changed my mind last year about abolishing it and instead, I'm more in favor of reforming it into an organization of integrity. There's always the need for check and balance and I have no problem with it. But the problem lies more on with who's running CHR than the organization itself. You can talk about three defective CHR chairpersons namely Leila De Lima, Etta Rosales and Chito Gascon. If all they do is selective justice or only acting when state agents do something wrong then they have failed for a reason.
The real problem is that CHR under the wrong people has turned it into an agency to assume that all acts of force done by military and police are human rights violations. Don't tell me that policemen who are breaking the law aren't criminals and should be treated differently? They need to see both sides - the policemen or military and the person shot. Why be too concerned about the Maute terrorists getting shot if it was done to protect civilians? While police brutality is a no-no but the problem is that CHR under De Lima, Rosales and Gascon have turned it into the Commission of Human Rights to Impunity or CHRI instead of CHR.
This reminds me of why Atty. Persida V. Rueda-Acosta of the Public Attorney's Office is really flaming mad. You can go ahead and say she's more "biased" than Gascon but it's the opposite. Who's doing the job that Gascon should have been doing? Atty. Acosta! Who's handling the case of the late Kian Loyd Delos Santos without political agenda? Still Atty. Acosta. She really told CHR that they need to be impartial but how can they be so when the current chairperson is the Liberal Party's campaign manager? Where's the sense of than independent CHR?
Democrazy respects the rights of freeloaders instead of those who work hard for it
This can be seen in the squatter culture. Why do you think it's very hard for decent Filipinos to kick squatters out? You can thank the repealing of Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.'s squatter bill for that. An article from Get Real Philippines on activist mentality said this:
That's why squatters are still getting protection in one way or another. They think that the landowners (rich or middle class) owe the squatters a favor. It's all about what they owe them. Here's what - the squatters owe their hardworking neighbors what they stole. The neighbors work hard to have a decent house and electricity to pay but what do they do? They steal away the hard work by stealing electricity and water from their hardworking neighbors. Worse, this one leeches off and could cause problems such as fires or drain pipes bursting due to them stealing utilities. What's next? Their well-to-do middle class and rich neighbors should give them free five star meals everyday?
It reminded me of how I kept hearing that stupid commercial on the radio where people are asking if its "patas" or fair that one person is playing with cans while the other is playing a PSP or one's eating steak and the other is eating buwad or dried fish. Is the commercial trying to suggest that the one playing the PSP and eating the steak should be punished for simply being better off? The whole idea of an equality driven society itself is not even a democratic idea. It's more on what Amos Yee is standing for called anarcho-Communism. This is a system that abolishes wage labor, giving equality for all regardless one works or not. Hmmm... and they have the nerve to say that they're for democracy when they're supporting that kind of system?
You want a true democracy? Then stop expecting for an equality driven society. You need to work hard for for living and stop expecting for a welfare state. It's all about working hard to get out of poverty rather than let the government get you out of poverty. Getting out of poverty should be your own decision. Poverty is worsened by welfare states and not by states that reward you according to your labor.
It's been more of a dictatorship by the majority than a true democracy that respects both majority and minority
The problem of the presidential system is that its democratic form doesn't really respect the minority bloc. It's always you have to agree with the majority or else you're an idiot with their own preferences. The problem is the majority and minority aren't always right or wrong. So how did the mob rule actually become a dictatorship of the mob?
We could take a look at the Philippine elections for a start. How is democrazy working for the Philippines? If you don't vote for the most popular candidates then you're left out. This is the problem when the government usually has no choice but to accept the majority all the time. The problem is majority of people keep voting for stupid people into power. It's always been winning by popularity rather than winning by credibility. The problem is that the minority keeps suffering as a result. That is the majority is always followed even when they're not in the right. In short, the majority dictates everything and only they should be followed even when they're in the wrong. That's why George Orwell the writer of Animal Farm said that beware lest democracies also turn into dictatorships.
We could take a look at the Philippine elections for a start. How is democrazy working for the Philippines? If you don't vote for the most popular candidates then you're left out. This is the problem when the government usually has no choice but to accept the majority all the time. The problem is majority of people keep voting for stupid people into power. It's always been winning by popularity rather than winning by credibility. The problem is that the minority keeps suffering as a result. That is the majority is always followed even when they're not in the right. In short, the majority dictates everything and only they should be followed even when they're in the wrong. That's why George Orwell the writer of Animal Farm said that beware lest democracies also turn into dictatorships.
Want some examples of mob rules to why they are dictatorships and not democracies? You can take a look at history where the minorities are oppressed by the majority for simply being the minority. A good example is how the United States of America has a racist history of the majority mistreating minorities. Asian immigrants? African immigrants? They're not Americans according to the majority even if being American should be viewed as anyone who's a citizen of America. Worse, being in the majority may also mean that if you're a white man who helps out black slaves then you're just a left out idiot.
On the contrary, the parliamentary system develops a system for both the Majority Bloc and the Minority Bloc. The majority and minority constantly engage in debates. The leader of the majority and the leader of the minority must answer to each other. The minority has their shadow ministers to compete with the majority's actual ministers. Both the majority and the minority are considered to correct each others' mistakes rather than rely on only one side.
Would have had the Philippines respected both the majority and minority then more mistakes could have been avoided. It's not a perfect system, it will always have flaws that's why both the majority and the minority are being set in place. It's not always in black and white. There are always gray areas for both areas. It's picking up the best of both sides instead of being just one-sided. Constant discussions with each other. Now that's a real democracy because both the majority and the minority are considered.
Unfortunately for the Dilawans they're getting a taste of what they did for several years now. Years back, they were the mob dictatorship. Right now, Duterte supporters are now in charge of the mob dictatorship. It should be really painful for them to get a taste of their own medicine. They once bullied the mob and now they're getting a taste of getting the mob treatment. But as said, mob rule has to change to one where there's a Majority Bloc and Minority Bloc to keep things in balance.
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This is why the Philippine democracy truly needs to have some serious reforms. That's why we have it that democracy is a government for the people, by the people and off the people (where everyone whether majority or minority must follow certain rules) and NOT poor the people, buy the people and off the people.
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