DIRTY POLITICS

In the Philippines politics is always the name of the game. People

doubt the act of any elected official because they are usually branded as
politicking

or activity

campaigning

for votes

undertaken for
before

an

political

reasons

election, making

or

speeches,

ends,
etc.,

as
or

otherwise promoting oneself or one's policies. The people are so used with
the word politics that it has already overtaken their understanding of what an
elected office should be and the responsibilities in that office are. Politics
according to wikipedia.org is a process by which groups of people make
decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments,
but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including
corporate, academic and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations
involving authority or power" and refers to the regulation of a political unit,
and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy. The word
"Politics" comes from the Greek word ("polis") meaning city-state. The
Greek word "Politikos" describes anything concerning the state or city affairs.
In Latin, this was "politicus" and in French "politique". Thus it became
"politics" in Middle English (seethe Concise Oxford Dictionary). It is pretty
clear from the wikipedia's point of view that politics is supposedly a synergy
of people working together to achieve a common objective. It is not always
the case in the Philippines, politics usually exist to achieve one's objective,
influencing the other, manipulating at worse, in order for him to get what he
wants to get. The agenda of course, has it always has been, greed and

power. Politics has become a byword in the Philippines for you to get
promoted, to get a job, to do business and almost everything that you need
to do work on or do with has to get pass through politicking. It may be an
abused word or overused, but that how the people look at it at this time. The
sincerity or insincerity of the leader is already tainted whenever he
does something because he is always understood as politicking.

It was commendable for some politicians who were all there at the
height of the relief operation to help calamity victims but never attempted to
take the opportunity to advertise. There are only a few of these men who are
really sincere enough to serve without expecting anything in return, not even
votes. But there are a lot who would sponsor a simple free clinic in there
barangay, and yet their banners with their grinning photos on are even
bigger than the clinic they have erected. That is how perverted we are when
it comes to politicking .The political garbage that they see on TV wrongfully
acted upon by the suppose to be mature politicians appeared to be correct
by the eyes of these young ones. It is a pity really that we continue to look
forward to a better Philippines but the leader whom we rely upon doesn't
have the heart to pursue the common goal of having a better Philippines.
And if there is one who has the heart to help out, he will have his entire term
spent working on fixing what his predecessor has destroyed. He will also
have to get rid of the people surrounding him who are more likely used to the
usual dirty politics of the former.

The 1987 Constitution, however, states that: The State shall

guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit
political dynasties as may be defined by law. As a political democracy, equal
opportunities to voice out public opinion are of great importance. A healthy
democracy has the potential to engender wide-ranging growth in terms of
economic and human development. Yet, in contrast to the theory, a majority
of seats in both national and local levels revolve only around a few family
names. It seems to be that elite clans have ventured into a whole new
enterprise that involves even the outermost branch of the family tree.
Vote buying becomes a culture in the Philippines. People especially
poor will never cast their votes unless they were unable to receive something
from the running politicians. Even youth sectors are participating in this kind
of act merely because that is how they are raised by their parents.
After election, winning politicians starts to recover the expenses they
had during election through corruption. Their salaries and benefits are not
enough to recover all their expenses, so they will engage in corruption.
Corruption is a part of life of most of the politicians in the Philippines.
Indeed, it is a dirty politics in the Philippines. Its a culture. Its the
system. Its the way of life.