PRINCIPLED POLITICS is a contradiction in terms: mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed, for in politics “no one acts on principles or reasons from them.”
There is that generalization arising from the fixity of our intellectual habits that deems the recurring characteristic trait of a segment of one species as representative of that species, if not of the whole genus. Thus, taken on the whole, politicians are “…the vilest and the narrowest of sycophants and courtiers that humanity has ever known; their sole end basely to flatter and develop all popular prejudices, which for the rest, they but vaguely share, never having consecrated one minute of their lives to reflection and observation.”
And Monsieur Leroy Beaullieu did not even live long enough to read of the Filipino politician, writing as he was of the French kind in the 1890s.
So what’s the difference between a Filipino politician and dalag (mudfish)?
One is a voracious filth-feeding bottom-dweller. The other is a fish.
Expediency and convention, utility and interests – self-serving, vested interests, are the fundamental matters – I could not even dare write principles here and desecrate the word – whence politics breeds.
SO READ the opening paragraphs of a column I wrote in the defunct Pampanga News in January 2006 yet. I was reminded of it reading yesterday’s Punto’s “gray-areas” story on the automated polls where a Movement for Principled Politics in Pampanga or MP3 was supposed to have been launched.
“I had wanted it to be not merely for purposes of the elections, but something that can be called Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Politics.” So was Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, MP3 convenor and trustee, quoted as saying of the movement.
Politics being more, much more, than elections; politics being the interactive relationships between the governing and the governed or in the true democratic system, between the serving and the served, Among Ambo, saw the need for a responsible political watchdog to follow through – doggedly, if I may add – the election results, that is to hound the elected officials, monitor and report on their performance or lack of it.
Hence, MP3 as his brainchild germinating from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) of which the good bishop is also provincial chair. Indeed, responsible voting there transcending to responsible citizenship, the very essences of good governance. Pray it shall work.
“A non-partisan group composed of like-minded ordinary citizens from various sectors, institutions, and organizations, that seeks to promote the common good through the practice of good governance and responsible citizenship in the province of Pampanga.” So described our good friend Frankie Villanueva of MP3, of which he has been designated president.
Frankie, a Ph.D. holder, professor and corporate whiz, makes a most ideal MP3 executive officer, a perfect complement to Among Ambo.
Perhaps if only to stress the basic requisite of non-partisanship for MP3 to be relevant, credible and effective, Frankie was emphatic at its launch that MP3 “does not support any political candidate in the May elections, particularly in this province where suspended priest Gov. Eddie Panlilio is seeking reelection under the Liberal Party against Lakas-Kampi-CMD candidate Lilia Pineda.”
Frankie could as well have said that under no circumstance would MP3 support any candidate in any election.
The work at hand for MP3 is in the field of “socio-civic and political education and active engagement in local government units.”
“Specific areas of interest include care for the environment, infrastructure development, traffic management, and processing of permits and licenses,” says the once president of the Clark Investors and Locators Association.
Definitive tasks there that defines the relationship the MP3 shall pursue with LGUs – nothing short of “critical collaboration.” Tall order there.
Principled politics is a contradiction in terms: mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed, for in politics “no one acts on principles or reasons from them.”
I wish Among Ambo and MP3 the best.
There is that generalization arising from the fixity of our intellectual habits that deems the recurring characteristic trait of a segment of one species as representative of that species, if not of the whole genus. Thus, taken on the whole, politicians are “…the vilest and the narrowest of sycophants and courtiers that humanity has ever known; their sole end basely to flatter and develop all popular prejudices, which for the rest, they but vaguely share, never having consecrated one minute of their lives to reflection and observation.”
And Monsieur Leroy Beaullieu did not even live long enough to read of the Filipino politician, writing as he was of the French kind in the 1890s.
So what’s the difference between a Filipino politician and dalag (mudfish)?
One is a voracious filth-feeding bottom-dweller. The other is a fish.
Expediency and convention, utility and interests – self-serving, vested interests, are the fundamental matters – I could not even dare write principles here and desecrate the word – whence politics breeds.
SO READ the opening paragraphs of a column I wrote in the defunct Pampanga News in January 2006 yet. I was reminded of it reading yesterday’s Punto’s “gray-areas” story on the automated polls where a Movement for Principled Politics in Pampanga or MP3 was supposed to have been launched.
“I had wanted it to be not merely for purposes of the elections, but something that can be called Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Politics.” So was Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, MP3 convenor and trustee, quoted as saying of the movement.
Politics being more, much more, than elections; politics being the interactive relationships between the governing and the governed or in the true democratic system, between the serving and the served, Among Ambo, saw the need for a responsible political watchdog to follow through – doggedly, if I may add – the election results, that is to hound the elected officials, monitor and report on their performance or lack of it.
Hence, MP3 as his brainchild germinating from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) of which the good bishop is also provincial chair. Indeed, responsible voting there transcending to responsible citizenship, the very essences of good governance. Pray it shall work.
“A non-partisan group composed of like-minded ordinary citizens from various sectors, institutions, and organizations, that seeks to promote the common good through the practice of good governance and responsible citizenship in the province of Pampanga.” So described our good friend Frankie Villanueva of MP3, of which he has been designated president.
Frankie, a Ph.D. holder, professor and corporate whiz, makes a most ideal MP3 executive officer, a perfect complement to Among Ambo.
Perhaps if only to stress the basic requisite of non-partisanship for MP3 to be relevant, credible and effective, Frankie was emphatic at its launch that MP3 “does not support any political candidate in the May elections, particularly in this province where suspended priest Gov. Eddie Panlilio is seeking reelection under the Liberal Party against Lakas-Kampi-CMD candidate Lilia Pineda.”
Frankie could as well have said that under no circumstance would MP3 support any candidate in any election.
The work at hand for MP3 is in the field of “socio-civic and political education and active engagement in local government units.”
“Specific areas of interest include care for the environment, infrastructure development, traffic management, and processing of permits and licenses,” says the once president of the Clark Investors and Locators Association.
Definitive tasks there that defines the relationship the MP3 shall pursue with LGUs – nothing short of “critical collaboration.” Tall order there.
Principled politics is a contradiction in terms: mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed, for in politics “no one acts on principles or reasons from them.”
I wish Among Ambo and MP3 the best.
