Lights… Camera… Election!
A very popular showbiz talkshow host, who made headlines last year with her supposedly intentions of running for public office, said [to that effect] that there is nothing wrong with showbiz personalities and non-political celebrities running for public office, especially if they have the sincerest intention to serve the people.
Well, nobody can really question one’s sincerity because it is very subjective. Everybody has a different perception of what sincerity is. However, if sincerity would be the only criterion to gauge whether a person is qualified to perform a specific job or not, then the un-employment rate in the Philippines would be much much lower than 11%.
Why do you think employers put so much effort in enumerating the qualifications that they need from a prospective employer? It’s because they believe that it takes a very specific person to perform any job. The profile of a prospective employee should fit the requirements of a job opening. This profile is, more often than not, a combination of (ranked according to level of importance) technical skills, soft skills, personality, and sometimes even personal preferences. The best candidate is almost always the one who has all, if not almost all, the enumerated qualification criteria.
It is therefore very frustrating to know that in the constitution, the only qualifications for a prospective candidate for an elective position are nationality, residence and age, which practically lowers the standards in filing for candidacy for a government elective position. The constitution should be amended to include minimum skills requirements for each of the elective government position. At least that would ensure the voting public that they have a choice, and good ones at that.
A very good explanation was made by Sen. Santiago in this website.
http://liberalsociety.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/take-courses-in-lawmaking/
Unfortunately for us, though, even the "legitimate" statesmen are being lured into the bright lights of showbiz. Although ideally media popularity should not translate into votes, most of the candidates, are now believing otherwise. Slowly, the "legitimate" statesmen are mutating into a new specie of showbiz personalities. I hope this transformation can still be stopped and reversed. Otherwise, the Philippine Politics will be doomed by the time our children gets their right to suffrage.
