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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 21 April) Weve had over a century of democracy and electoral politics but real democracy and inclusive developmentits putative by-productcontinues to be elusive. All the public rituals, the sermonizing, and the verbal admonition to foster the democratic spirit or practice has not made a dent on our society.

We have yet to institutionalize true representative democracy or good governance. The people in charge remain presumptuous, autocratic, and manipulative.

There is no statesmanship. The public service has transmogrified into self-service. The laws are circumvented or openly violated.

Criminality with impunity reigns on all levels. Putschists or coup plotters are rewarded with senate seats. Corrupt or notoriously immoral politicos are elected or re-elected. Thus money politics and demagoguery prevail.

But our electorate remains passive. If it acts willfully at all, it chooses autocrats and oligarchs, or enthrones dynastic rulers.

In light of all this, it is unlikely that our political values and institutions will mature anytime soon, let alone attain parity with those of progressive nations.

For Filipinos to learn the ways of democracy, it is not enough to preach the principles or the spirit of democratic practice. Verbal motivation does not suffice.

What is sorely needed is actual experience in the ways of democracy, not ineffectual slogans and sanctimonious advocacy by do-gooders who themselves are not exactly paragons of responsible citizenship.

And now, in Mindanao, our second largest island, will be added another layer to the dysfunctional system: the so-called ministerial form of governmentone that the MILF itself characterizes as asymmetrical to the present structure and process familiar to everyone. Not a reassuring term; it means irregular, lop-sided, uneven, unbalanced.

A century of attempts to make the current system work has been difficult enough; how do they propose to make an unaccustomed asymmetrical system work? The truth is, the areas contemplated for MILF hegemony are notorious for scuttling democracy and turning electoral politics a travesty.

Originally posted here:
WORMS EYEVIEW: The imperative of hands-on democracy now