Presidentialism's Dance Floor Politics

 
I was thinking about the criticism that was done on President Rodrigo R. Duterte when he danced during his campaign. Some might say that the late Noynoy Aquino was better because he didn't dance. Now, Dilawans turned Pinklawans are now supporting Vice President Leni Loud Robredo as she entered the dance floor. Well, it wasn't the first time Leni Loud went dancing since she also became a cultural dance and even joined Zumba. There's even a video of Leni Loud dancing to Taylor Swift's song with the youth during her campaign. Bong Revilla danced budots after facing some charges bringing him back to the senate. Isko Moreno Domagoso having been an entertainer also danced for his presidential campaign. This is one question that the FAILED #OtsoDirestso needs to ask themselves - why the konting sayawan gets someone a seat of honor. The answer is simple - BLAME IT ON THE PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM.

The problem of the presidential system is all about popularity-driven politics. It doesn't take a political genius to notice how popularity drives the presidential system:

• Joseph "Erap" Estrada, a popular movie actor, became unstoppable after the end of the regime of Fidel V. Ramos. Ramos' attempt to change the constitution was met with people getting reminded about the Marcos Years. If people did enough research - the Marcos years weren't a real parliamentary. People should've paid attention to the late Ninoy Aquino's speech when he called the Marcos "parliament" a mockery. The result was that Erap became the next president in spite of his lack of intelligence. A vote of no confidence would've yanked him off if it were a parliamentary system.
• The next move was that the late Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) would run as the next president. TBH, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the president, as controversial as she is, is still a better choice than FPJ.  
• Ninoy Aquino dies and the late Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino is pressured to be the president of the Philippines. Okay, Cory didn't dance but one can't deny that an inexperienced housewife as the leader of your nation isn't a good idea. Cory was way more fit to remain a symbol of national unity instead of the chief executive of the country. 
• The popularity of Cory didn't stop there. When Cory died - guess who became president? Noynoy was then urged to run and became the 15th president of the Philippines. After that, his cousin, Bam Aquino became a senator because of the Aquino name. I would blame popularity-driven politics as to why Bam's once brilliant mind is thrown out of the window. Though Bam ended up losing the 2019 senatorial elections. Though one may note that Jejemon Binay danced his way to becoming Noynoy's vice president. 
• After Noynoy, Duterte also won by the basis of again, POPULARITY. The popularity of Duterte ended up something that the Liberal Party envies with his high approval rating. Rather than try to overshadow Duterte with competency-based platforms - the Liberal Party still sticks to theatrics. The Liberal Party could've done something like go to Marawi, check the slow progress, then offer their alternatives. That alone could've won a vote. Instead, the presidential system encourages people to win by theatrics. Though, the Liberal Party lost because of their focus on theatrics in spite of still having a presidential system.
• Now, the Duterte Administration is about to end and Leni Loud is no different in that regard. Leni Loud joining in the dance number as part of her campaign is no less laughable than the other dancing candidates. 

That's exactly why we're seeing more candidates dance than those who don't. The dance floor happens during elections and it will happen again during the term of the politicians. Though, it wouldn't be literally dancing but it ends up dancing with cha-cha - a dance move that goes back and forward. Constitutional reform has been called cha-cha or short for charter change. However, the real cha-cha is in the presidential form of politics.

One could think of how politicians tend to say one thing then say another. You may notice that pattern in many of the politicians and not just the current administration. For example, Leni Loud can change her mind about the National Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) such as abolishing it then not abolishing it. Duterte also has been changing his stance like he's dancing the cha-cha. Politicians tend to dance to the beat of cha-cha - going forward and going backward without a clear stance. 

How does the parliamentary system get rid of dance floor politics? 

The parliamentary form of government is focused on CREDIBILITY over POPULARITY. The way the parliamentary system is run is that there's a FORMAL OPPOSITION to run things through. For example, let's imagine Antonio Trillanes IV is the leader of the opposition while Duterte is the prime minister. Trillanes has his own set of appointees to reflect Duterte's set of appointees. It's a party vs. party competition. The opposition is given the chance to prove itself better than the government not by theatrics but through the weekly question hour. Trillanes as the opposition leader needs to prove himself better than Duterte not by just making statements. Trillanes and his team should present their solutions in the weekly question hour. That means the Commission on Audit (COA) won't be the one scrutinizing but the Shadow Minister of Audit. For example, opposition member Michael Aguinaldo won't be heading the COA but he will be the one scrutinizing it. Aguinaldo will scrutinize the COA's ratings for all the offices and present any mistakes he might find in the process. 

What would even be better in the presidential system is that there's the vote of no confidence. A prime minister or any member of the legislation can be removed easily if they fail to uphold confidence. For example, just imagine if Noynoy were the prime minister of the Philippines. Do you remember how he often said "Hindi ko alam." in some scenarios? Noynoy would know better than to answer "Hindi ko alam." during the weekly question hour if he expects to remain seated as prime minister. Imagine if Erap was the prime minister in 1998 with Jose De Venecia as the opposition leader. De Venecia would've probably been able to call for a vote of no confidence against Erap. EDSA-2 will be unnecessary because Erap would be voted out. Noynoy may have also handled things more with tact (such as the Manila Bus Hostage Incident) because the parliament would pressure him (as prime minister) to take action. Instead, the lack of pressure led to that blunder during the hostage incident. Eventually, Yolanda and SAF-44 kicked in as well. It's because of a lack of pressure to do good. Too bad really that the Yellows ignored the words of the late Jesse Robredo about having a system that forces politicians to do good. Presidentialism lacks such mechanics. 

The parliamentary system's engaging in a real, formal debate may sway the voters too. Just imagine it if the opposition can prove themselves better as a team. Just imagine what if Mar Roxas (or even Noynoy) as the opposition leader can prove that their team can do better than the Duterte-led government. Think of what if Noynoy was able to criticize Duterte directly in a weekly question hour. Maybe, that would cause the crowd to see Noynoy can be a better leader than Duterte in an open forum. Maybe, Roxas can also prove himself better than Duterte in an open forum. However, the presidential system is more focused on getting attention away from one candidate by theatrics. 

This is why the Philippines must shift to parliamentary now. The real problem in itself is the SYSTEM. We can't wait for Filipino politicians to change. It's more than time to handle the blah-blah-blahs against a REAL parliamentary government. Filipino politicians aren't good in debates because they don't have enough debates. Give them enough debates to practice and do and they'll get better. It's just like mathematics - many people suck at it. However, give a student enough math exercises, help a student to do better in math, and they will get better in math. Sometimes, the problem is more on not having something to do than not knowing how to do something. How can someone learn to do something if they aren't taught to do it?