ANGELES CITY – After advocating for a minimum educational requirement for politicians in order to eliminate incompetent and inept public officials, the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) is now contemplating on pushing for a law that for the next 50 years only those qualified can be voted in public office.
The PGKM said a 50-year experimental period should be made into a law that only qualified candidates can be voted into public office in order to professionalize governance.
“Botu tala pamu detang megaral (Let’s vote for those who finished their studies),”said PGKM Chair Ruperto Cruz. The law should also allow those who lack college education to finish their courses, he added.
“Atin lang time magaral detang e megaral (Those who did not finish their studies should now have time to study),” he said. In the meantime, let’s weed out the corrupt public officials, he added.
Cruz said this is a challenge to Congress to enact a law that would professionalize politicians and finally set our course on the right path to good governance. “Anya mesira ya ing Pilipinas (The Philippines was ruined) because of the kind of politicians that we have.
They tailored fit everything to their advantage because of their greed,” Cruz said. Meanwhile, Cruz said the PGKM also supports the plan of Senator Miriam Santiago that only taxpayers should be allowed to vote.
Why should Filipinos trust their future to persons who don’t even participate in nation building (referring to non-taxpayers)? Santiago asked. How come corporations promote their employees based on the merit of their studies? Why not government? Cruz asked.
“We should level up now,” he added. Earlier, Cruz said thePGKM is advocating a bill that will require politicians to hurdle a set of criteria or standards in order to be qualified for election into public office.
Cruz said incompetent public officials who know nothing about governance usually resort to corruption. He said unqualified public officials get themselves elected only to advance their selfish interests.
However, Cruz said even if the public official’s intention is noble, his lack of educational background and knowledge in governance will most likely also result in “a weak leadership that promotes poor economic policies resulting to unequal distribution of wealth PGKM wants educated professional politicians in government and poor educational policies that contribute to the unemployment problem and promote social injustice.”
Cruz said public officials should not only be competent and knowledgeable in governance but should also be good managers. But if a public official lacks even the most basic educational qualification, then his constituents will surely suffer because of his ineptitude.
Cruz said the electorate should be shielded from merely popular candidates. Blood relations or through consanguinity to an incumbent public official should not be the key to holding public office, he added.
