Corrupted and corruptor
Corrupted and corruptor
Only two out of five can identify the three branches of government. Hardly 30 percent know how many years are congressmen’s and senators’ terms of office. A low 25 percent can name the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. Only 50 to 60 percent of eligible voters vote during elections.
The claim has been made before: Filipinos are dumb and clueless and hardly deserve the enjoyment of such democratic rights as that of choosing their leaders in free elections. Jose Rizal, whom the Spaniards executed on December 30, 1896, did after all assume the ignorance of his countrymen in arguing for the need for education in the making of a free Philippines.
No, the above numbers are not about Filipino voters; they refer to the American electorate. No study has made similar information available about the former. But anecdotal evidence suggests that not only could those numbers be even worse in the Philippine setting. What most Filipinos don’t know, or are misinformed about, could also include a range of areas in governance, politics and society about which knowledge is crucial in the election of their leaders.
Comments (0)