Leadership, And The Lack Thereof

Leadership, responsibility

By Raymund FernandezCebu Daily NewsLast updated 01:44pm (Mla time) 07/04/2007

The case of Lintang Bedol and the Maguindanao elections clues us to the absence of leadership and responsibility among our political leaders. This case gives us an almost complete picture of the inutility of government to deal with crises, having profound impact on the integrity of government institutions and the people’s welfare.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has allowed the count to proceed despite the fact the result is so patently questionable. It has not seen right to decide questions that are so obviously in the minds of everyone. Did the municipal Certificates of Canvas really disappear from the hands of election supervisor Lintang Bedol? What attendant facts surround this disappearance? Who is personally attesting to the acceptability of municipal tallies as a basis for the counting of votes?

Given the other questions raised, the testimonies of teachers that elections never took place in some precincts, the death by assassination of one of these teachers and the statistical improbability of the result, shouldn’t someone in a position of responsibility in government at least suggest that a certain boundary has been breached? Shouldn’t someone at least say that we have overstretched the limits credulity and call for new elections in this area?

The question that comes immediately to mind however is, who? Who and what government office indeed is responsible for deciding this? We could say rightfully the Comelec. But such is the poor state of our political life that we cannot even contain this concept in our heads. The thought of Comelec’s accepting its responsibility for the failure of elections in a province in Mindanao – the idea of this institution’s working to preserve the integrity of elections and the sanctity of the ballot over the mundane task of saving its public face and protecting its own butt – is just so simply farfetched we don’t even think about it anymore.

Instead, our minds say, Supreme Court. This institution, we say to ourselves, has a track record of going beyond vested interest and deciding in favor of the public good. Perhaps they will do so now. But as the story went, they allowed the count to go on. This is not surprising. The lawyer candidate himself went to this court for a temporary restraining order. He was in fact filing a case in behalf of the people. But he was only a private citizen. Why isn’t any agency of government filing this case? Who in government is finally responsible for the common good?
And so the count goes on. This, despite the fact we know for certain it can only lead to a series of election protests. Soon someone will sit in the Senate whose legitimacy is as questionable as that of the President. They will blame this all on Lintang Bedol. They might choose to jail him but, of course, we know there is more to this picture. We even suspect he will take the fall and be richly rewarded in the future for it. But who is really responsible?

If this thing happened in a private institution, people would like to know who Bedol’s immediate supervisor is. They would compel him to answer all questions that Bedol himself cannot, or refuses to, answer. He would be responsible for all of Bedol’s actions or lack of them. He would be responsible for all of Bedol’s sins and it would be his responsibility that Bedol is chastised, punished and reformed for these sins; otherwise, it would be the supervisor himself who must accept the blame.

But the truth is that this is another case where the people are once again alone in the pursuit of the common welfare. It is exactly the same lack of leadership and responsibility we have seen and are seeing with other cases. The continued killing of activists and the current conflict between the Cebu governor and mayor are other cases in point. Our leaders do not lead and they have disclaimed responsibility of all these. It is the same as saying they are not responsible. And of course we can only agree: They are not responsible people.