ELECTIONS are again upon us and, as in the past, there will be talk of cheating—even with the automated system that we now have.
Next to cheating, the cost of electing officials to public office grows by leaps and bounds every election year.
Billions of pesos change hands every election year, not just during the campaign period but even long before the official campaign starts—and hundreds of millions more will continue to change hands until all the winners have been proclaimed. Even party-list groups—which are supposed to represent disadvantaged or marginalized sectors—are spending millions to get elected.
This has made Philippine elections extremely commercialized. And it is not just because of the amount of radio and television commercials we get bombarded with during the campaign period.
They have become too commercialized to the extent that in more than 90 percent of cases, it is money that spells the difference between winning and losing. And each election year, the winning chances diminish for those who may be more qualified but have less money to burn. Money has become a great determinant of the election outcome.
But the bigger problem is that election spending by candidates breeds corruption.
Those who spend their own money will always find ways to recover their expenses once they are in power by dipping their hands into government coffers, if not collecting bribes from illegal gambling, crime syndicates, unscrupulous businessmen and government contractors and suppliers.
For those who receive campaign contributions, their official functions are severely compromised by certain interests that in most cases run contrary to the public good.
These candidates do not show a fair degree of honesty and decency when they submit their statements of campaign expenses and contributions.
It is time we change the way we finance our elections.
We ought to completely ban personal spending and fundraising by candidates.
Instead, the government should set up an election campaign fund from taxpayers’ money and contributions from businesses and businessmen who wish to help conduct clean and honest elections.
Individual income-tax payers can contribute by indicating any amount on their yearly tax returns. The Bureau of Internal Revenue should set aside all contributions each year and deposit them in a special election campaign fund.
As for businesses and businessmen, they can contribute to the fund instead of contributing to the individual campaign kitties of politicians. Their contributions can be made tax-deductible as part of their operating expenses.
This way, they won’t be financing the election of individual candidates and no elected official will owe their victory or position to any business or special interest group. Instead, they would finance the conduct of the elections.
The fund will be managed by a commission composed of representatives from the Commission on Elections, Department of Budget and Management, and duly registered political parties and party-list groups. You may even toss in a representative from election watchdogs, the Church, academe, the Integrated Bar or other groups.
Each candidate—depending on the position they are running for—will be allocated a proportional share of the fund. The fund will be used to pay for their radio and TV commercials, Internet or social media exposure, print advertisements, posters and other election-propaganda materials—all of which would be in a number equal among candidates running for the same position.
Each candidate for senator, for instance, can be given P100 million worth of commercials and advertisements.
Candidates would also be allocated money for their campaign sorties.
By doing this, not only do we greatly minimize, if not eradicate, corruption associated with election spending. We also equalize the funding for candidates, rich or poor, as well as their odds of winning.
