Freespirit
Up the ante
Three weeks before the May 14 polls, we undertook a survey in the south district of Antique asking respondents on their preferences among the candidates. With more than fifty percent of those we asked already settled as to their choices, it was no surprise that the results of our survey reflected the outcome of the elections. Except for the ranking, the top choices in the survey came out the eventual winners with the unshakeable independent candidate Dante Beriong firmly notched at first and second place.
That early though, we took note that by a thin margin, there will be a shift in the majority comion of the board so that today those who used to be in the minority are now in charge.Both aligpositned with the Arroyo administration,contending forces at the Antique SP are those coming from the camp of Congressman Boy-ex Javier and those from Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez. The past SP was dominated by Perez's allies. The question posed before us then was this: will the new majority come in the way the previous majority did? Will tyranny of numbers be the primordial measure in a body bestowed with public trust? Will the new majority come clean from a "minority scar" and rise above party politics?
Alas, the current disposition of committee chairmanships at the SP now speaks volumes of what is. Antique only had a changing of guards but not as yet a substantial change to up the ante for statesmanship, if not political maturity.
True, the Internal Rules of Procedures at the SP much like congress explicitly bestows upon the majority party the disposition of committee chairmanships. But, unlike congress where there’s too much horse trading and where backroom operations pre-determine what goes on the floor, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan is just a small group with simple rules it can amend and improve on if they so desire.
This does not mean that by sharing committee chairmanships with the minority, the majority bloc is surrendering its position. Nor should this be misconstrued to be an abrogation of the minority in its role as catalysts, on the other hand. Of course, we do not want that to happen lest the SP become a party monolith like Marcos’s KBL
We need only to read the fine lines that the electorate had written. With a new SP where the balance of forces can tilt in one direction anytime, the public is saying they want the best from both. They want broader participation. It is up to the SP to translate that wish in its best possible terms and the one concrete step it can do in this direction is to pick out the best man to chair a committee so they can lend their expertise and the wisdom of their experience in these fields. Not to do that is to deprive the public of the best there is at the SP. Not to do that is a disservice to the very public who elected them.
Again, one can argue that such expertise can be used even without a committee chairmanship. Yes indeed, but that brings us back to the essence of this piece. And so we pose this challenge anew: When do we erase the "minority scar" and spell a difference? When do we rise above party politics and up the ante to achieve political maturity? (Note: Clemente is TNT's correspondent for Antique)