Proem

The Americans call it "Musical Chairs." The Filipinos call it "Trip to Jerusalem." It is a parlor game in which the players circle a row of chairs to music and rush to sit down when the music stops, the one not finding an empty chair being eliminated.

Do you notice that even though we adopted the English language the Filipinos still manage to alter the name of the game and make a slight change in the game by arranging the chairs in a circle instead of putting in a row?

That is also how our political system has become. We adopted the American system and altered it in a way that even the Filipinos could no longer understand what has become of the political system taught in school as a political science subject.

Death of Party Conventions

As late as 1995, political parties still held conventions to select candidates for political offices. Nowadays (2007), political candidates are selected by consensus and backroom deals with plenty of horse-trading done along the way. The result is a sacrifice of principles in favor of convenience.

Today we see Ex-Senators Tito Sotto, Tessie Orieta, and Senator Ed Angara joining the camp of President Arroyo. These personalities were former staunch supporters of President Joseph Estrada. In the camp of President Estrada we find Senator Manny Villar, the same person whose manipulation in the House of Representatives led to the impeachment trial of President Estrada. Ms. Sonia Malasarte-Roco, the wife of the Late Senator Raul Roco is now with the Estrada camp.

There is no more talk about political party convention to choose the candidates. Every political group is now relying on the results of political sampling surveys. Nobody is focusing on the platforms how to serve and alleviate the welfare of the people.

Different Mental Set

In former times, politicians we willing to win or lose in pursuit of a political platform presented to the people. To traditional politicians, the issue or platform is more important than the person. Nowadays, the mentality of the politician is focused on how to survive or win in an election. Political patronage, horse-trading, wheeling and dealing is the order of the day.

Massive Brainwashing

Today's politicians are relying on media hype to alter the perception of the people. Take for example the issue of "Trapo" or "Traditional Politicians." The tri-media of television, radio, and print has completely maligned the concept of traditional politicians. It has come to a point that the word "trapo" is equivalent to a bad politician.

Have you ever thought that traditional politicians were much better than today's politicians? Traditional politicians focused on the political platforms not on the person.

They have the palabra de honor or word of honor. They have the concept of delicadeza or concept of shame. Patronage politics was lesser because the focus was the issue and not the person.

The new breed of politicians has no word of honor and delicadeza. In olden times the action done by Ex-Senators Tito Sotto and Tessie Orieta was unthinkable. The concept of delicadeza would have prevented Senator Angara from joining with President Arroy just as the action of Senator Villar in joining with President Estrada.

However, the media spin-masters have brainwashed the people to think otherwise. What has been held good for many generations became suddenly bad and what has been held as bad became suddenly good.

The result is that we believe the trapos are bad because they engaged in patronage politics when in fact it is the other way around. The new politicians are the ones who are great practitioners of patronage politics. That is why today we have massive vote-buying.

The game of political musical chairs is the order of the day. Since we have successfully transformed the name to "Trip to Jerusalem" we could no longer recognize how things were altered.

If you are dissatisfied with today's politicians because of too much patronage politics, absence of political platforms, etc. then actually you are longing for the trapos. The trapos were politicians who would fight for their principles and convictions. But don't look now; it is my opinion that after the May 2007 elections the political climate will swing back to emphasize palabra de honor and delicadeza.