Vote Wisely: Vote For Leni Or Shift To Parliamentary?

I would confess that rewatching the movie Ang Tanging Ina N'yong Lahat just reminds me of the perils of presidentialism. Ironic that the movie was owned by ABiaS-CBN yet the same network really has its incredibly MASSIVE failure of the mind. 2022 is already around the corner and the same old system works. Blame everything on the late Noynoy Aquino? Blame everything on President Rodrigo R Duterte? What about blame it on the SYSTEM itself. When I mean the system - it's not just about who's in charge but the system that the leaders bring. The presidential system has proven itself to be a failure yet people still insist in it. 30+ years of presidentialism after the Marcos Years and has the Philippines truly defeated its ASEAN neighbors? 

I felt the urge to write on this one because of Leni Loud makes headlines again. This Philippine Daily Inquirer (which one of its staff John Nery was a sponsor in the wedding of Jover Laurio of Pignoy Ako Blog) now has Leni Loud herself saying that she may run IF it's to prevent the continuation of the style of Duterte or the return of the Marcoses through Bongbong Marcos. Right now, I'm even doubting the authenticity of her winning the protest since it seems she may have allies in the protest after all. Then again, even if Bongbong lost, she seems to be carrying nothing more than vindictiveness. Even worse, she has some followers who think she is the wisely that Filipinos are looking for. It's laughable really especially when they say that she's got her vaccine express and Angat Buhay. One could keep trying to praise her especially for her "physical presence". Even so, she's being ungrateful as Duterte even allowed her to help but she's now saying what she just said.

Again, if she wants to run then let her run - she's eligible. However, she didn't need to make that useless comment "if only to prevent a Duterte or a Marcos". This is the problem of the presidential system - it's very focused on PERSONALITIES. I mean, SO WHAT if a Duterte, a Marcos, a Cojuangco, an Aquino, a Robredo, a Roxas, a Pimentel, a Cayetano, or ANY POLITICAL FAMILY MEMBER is in power? It's not the issue of one's family name but one's performance. Yet, the presidential system encourages us to vote by family names over by INDIVIDUAL performance. I think that's probably why award-winning entrepreneur Bam Aquino became Bum Aquino in the presidential system. Mar Roxas, once an award-winning entrepreneur, also became a clown as a result. I think the same is also happening to the current president as the BADLY NEEDED constitutional reform has NOT BEEN PUSHED. Instead, the drug war was focused when the focus should be setting up an EFFECTIVE SYSTEM for the drug war first. 

It's a bummer (really) to want a healthy opposition but to reject the presidentail system. One must question how often are we holding Health Secretary Francisco Duque accountable for his performance as the health secretary? How often is the opposition (right now) really directly holding the government accountable? The senate hearings and congressional hearings are an incredible waste of taxpayers' money. The senate should be renamed as the SLOWER house. Instead, why don't we just merge the senate and the house of representatives into the Parliament? It's because a REAL LEGITIMATE PARLIAMENTARY will have both the government and opposition butting each others' heads in a real debate. 

I'm in actually in favor of having the 1Sambayan Opposition ONLY under a Parliament. I don't care if all it takes is just one check mark and the whole 1Sambayan enters the Parliament. What's really needed is to change the form of governance to parliamentary. Maybe, they can all agree among themselves who will be the minister of who. For example, maybe they can appoint Richard Gordon (probably their best choice) as the leader of the Opposition if Leni Loud isn't going to be ideal. Maybe, we can have #OtsoDiretso in that group to have their respective ministerial positions like Bam can be the shadow minister of finance and Florin Hilbay as the shadow minister of solicitations. Maybe, it would be time to give Michael Aguinaldo a new position as the shadow minister of audit since he's acting like one right now. Conchita Carpio-Morales herself can be the shadow minister of ombudsman since she used to be the chairwoman of the ombudsman. This in turn will reduce the number of parties in order to prevent winning by plurality and to have a significant minority to serve as the opposition. 

Leni Loud needs to see how the parliamentary system is better at preventing dictatorships. The solution to prevent another Marcos-type dictatorship is NOT by removing term limits but limiting the scope of powers. The prime minister has much less power than the president in a presidential system. It's because parliamentary terms aren't defined by fixed terms but by one's performance. For example, if Bongbong Marcos made a good prime minister then why not let him have another term. If Bam can be a good prime minister then why not let him have another term? If Sarah Duterte-Carpio can be a good prime minister then why not let her have another term? The prime minister's being subject to scrutiny makes power abuse to be much easier to expose. For example, if Gordon finds any anomaly and he's got evidence - he can air it out loud and maybe call for a vote of no confidence against Duterte as prime minister. 

It wouldn't even matter if Leni Loud will be in the parliamentary. Would it even matter if Leni Loud were to lead in parliamentary? It wouldn't matter because she would either shape up or be shipped out. I think a lot of her decay right now is because she's hardly held accountable too. I don't think she would be in the state she is right now if it wasn't for popularity-driven politics. Just think maybe her vaccine express and other projects will significantly do much better if constructive criticism were offered in a parliamentary setup.

It's really more than time to stop the vote wisely campaigns. We've already had so many vote wisely campaigns but what results did it produce? People keep voting for candidates based on popularity than credibility. I'd dare say that Joseph "Erap" Estrada, Noynoy, and Duterte were all winners by POPULARITY. Mar may have had some awards but I guess he just doesn't have the magic to win. Unfortunately, Mar lost his mind all because the presidential system is all about doing theatrics to win your desired position. If you want people to start voting wisely - why not shift to parliamentary?