If University Student Government (USG) elections are any indication of greater political awareness on a national level, then the prospects for a more critical citizenry of the future are promising.
In a survey The LaSallian made to gauge voting behavior in the General Elections (GE) a few months from now, ninety percent considered voting important, while eighty two percent actually turn in their ballots. More than half (56%) of respondents also said they would consider the party’s and the candidate’s platforms before voting.
A sizable minority (18%), however, prefer not to vote, and almost half (47%) are only aware of some of the roles of an officer. And the factor students consider most when voting is a political party’s past wins first before candidates’ friendliness.
The Student Government finds strong support from the student body; sixty seven percent of students think candidates do follow through on their campaign promises… eventually.
But beyond the hallowed halls of De La Salle is the real world.
A University, they say, is a breeding ground for future leaders, fostering either real, lasting change within its ranks or perpetuating corruption in a petri dish of phoniness, with students ‘maturing’ to play the same old game of greed and self-interest that defines politics in the country.
Without dropping names, the top four universities of the country have played host to graduates of all stripes, some good, some bad; a few honorable souls among many others destined for eternal damnation—a dictator, an actor, a mole-faced one and her husband, an orphan and a revolution’s son – alongside legions of lying lawyers and the demons they defend.
Just when we thought we’d seen the worst of corruption in a trial that’s been going on for eternity, more chapters are unfolding in an on-going saga of undisclosed bank accounts, overpriced condos, screaming senators, and Justice denied. Chief Justice Renato Corona has certainly been a Chief…of deeds far short of Justice.
But no more righteous are those who accuse him of excess while their own Mercedes Benz’s sit comfortably on the Supreme Court parking lot.
All this comes as no surprise in a country that snagged the prodigious place of 129 out of 183 in an index of the world’s most corrupt countries by Transparency International last year.
Less obvious than the trial and corruption, however, were human rights violations across the board. Extrajudicial killings of journalists and activists continue unabated.
Further privatisation of public utilities is bound to raise the price of goods and services even more, limiting crucial access to the poor as trade liberalisation threatens local industries and equitable development.
Worsening poverty, crime and inequality have been masked behind statistics skewed to paint them in a more favorable light.
This has been brought by a combination of flawed socioeconomic policy, poor implementation of laws already in place, a history of colonialism and neo-colonialism, a backward culture with a slippery grasp of universal human rights, weak social security, the lack of a fully active and vibrant citizenry to pressure the government to act alongside ignorance, greed and incompetence on the part of local elites clutching desperately on their power.
And so the teleserye continues.
The rest of us look on from the side lines with impatience akin to cynicism, as the echoes of heated debate in the halls of power have made no dent in the lives of those whose struggle to survive.
While the USG has done a decent job within the University, it has yet to turn its attention to these and other issues on a societal level, to raise its own voice above those of other college student leaders clamoring for change. “Service to God and Country” is a farce unless we engage with the world head on.
The crises we face are not ones of political legitimacy, credibility, nor of integrity. We have seen how the powers that be still manage to cheat the public through perfectly legitimate/legal means.
For at the heart of the lack of political will to change infec is a crisis of compassion, a neglect of empathy, a fundamental disconnection between the masses and their elitist leaders who fail to empathise with the realities of life on ground zero: on the level of a kid rummaging through trash on the streets and the landless peasant who represents a hidden majority tucked away from view – people with nothing, who are nothing…2 billion lives deprived of life on a global scale.
The question is a challenge to a Republic of Me, My and Mine. We are indeed the 1%, like it or not. As another columnist on this very paper aptly put it: the world of One La Salle is a world unto itself, unless we open our eyes.
