Search for leaders unifies advocacy groups

On a November afternoon last year, in a posh multinational coffee chain in Quezon City, Jose Calida and a group of friends came out with a plan for the 2010 national elections.

The United States presidential election had just ended, but the aftermath of Barack Obama’s winning sweep and America’s hyped up electoral process had been the talk of the town.

The plan was simple: to rally behind a candidate who is not a trapo or a "traditional politician." The group later on launched itself as the Movement to Elect Non-trapo (MEN) and rallied behind Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

In the same month, a church-based group called Capitol Christian Leadership had been brewing ideas for reforms through non-partisan means: a thorough selection process for candidates. They eventually called themselves 1Vote, though they did not formally launch the movement.

At about the same time, another group was finalizing its agenda although it was months ahead in conceptualizing its vision. For the 2010 elections, the Movement for Good Governance (MGG) wants a series of Pinoy-style primaries.

Election trend

The creation of various movements is an election trend, said former Senator Serge Osmeña. “Many groups come to the forefront because of the elections,” Osmena told abs-cbnnews.com, adding that there is a tendency for groups to “taper off” after the elections.

Likewise, there are no rules that limit the creation of movements or any election-related organizations. Various coalitions, both partisan and non-partisan, are now mushrooming.

But what is consistently being questioned is the capacity of these groups to remain active even after the elections, and how they will shape the outcome of the 2010 elections.

Picking a candidate

For MEN, they decided to endorse Puno for the executive office. Calida, who is a former undersecretary for the department of justice and chair of the movement, said that Puno embodies what the group considers the perfect President.

“We chose him because he perfectly embodies the characteristics that we look for in a president,” said Calida. The criteria MEN used was called LIGHT, which stands for leadership, integrity, God-fearing, honest and honorable, and trustworthy.

MEN has launched a signature campaign to urge the chief justice to run. They are also gathering the support of religious groups to support this campaign.

According to Calida, they are using the church as a vehicle to encourage Filipinos to support Puno. It is the easiest way, he said, to reach the grassroots community.

Representing a silent majority

A month after MEN had its formal launch last February, another group came out and endorsed “non-traditional” aspirants. The Panlilio-Padaca sa Pagbabago Movement (PPP) endorsed the tandem of incumbent Pampanga governor Ed Panlilio and Isabela governor Grace Padaca.

The PPP movement was launched by Kaya Natin! Movement, Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka, and the Philippine Alliance of Ex-Seminarians.

According to Harvey Keh, spokesperson for Kaya Natin, Panlilio and Padaca had been constantly urged to run for the executive seat ever since the group started to visit schools and communities.

“It’s always been a topic ever since particularly because there had been many groups approaching Among Ed to run for president, and there are groups pushing for Padaca to run,” narrates Keh.

Over coffee last year, Keh and Jesse Robredo, current mayor of Naga City, thought of inviting active reform public officials to discuss “problems and best practices.” The conversation eventually led to the creation of Kaya Natin. Panlilio and Padaca are included in the three-person group who started Kaya Natin last year.

As for PPP endorsing Panlilio and Padaca, Keh said that it was not “well-thought out” and “everything just fell into place one weekend.” Many groups came out to support the tandem and a coalition was formed.

The idea of floating the names was PPP’s way of putting a face to what Keh termed as “the silent majority.” This bunch, according to Keh, is tired of having the same traditional politicians in office and is pushing an alternative candidate who does not “corrupt the right and the left.”

Full campaign support

Both Calida and Keh told abs-cbnnews.com that they will raise funds and campaign for their candidates if they ever decide to run.

According to Calida, MEN might eventually morph itself into a political movement should Puno run, and it will extensively use its grassroots network to campaign for him. In exchange for the support, MEN will ask Puno to “implement justice to level the playing field.”

Calida claims MEN is composed of people who represent different sectors, from businessmen to politicians to lawyers, and church groups.

In the case of Kaya Natin, Keh mentioned that there are already overseas Filipino workers who are willing to shell out money for Panlilio’s and Padaca’s campaign.

Likewise, leftist organizations such as the Bayan Muna, Gabriela, and Anakpawis are willing to support the tandem and would use their whole grassroots network for the campaign.

Should Panlilio and Padaca run, Keh said they will form a list of Cabinet members “who will advise them on health, education, and other relevant issues.”

Keh is positive that a reform candidate will win, considering that many aspirants are still floating at the moment. He added that for a candidate to win, he or she needs ten million votes.

Block votes?

Kaya Natin is a member of MGG, another movement which earlier floated the concept of rallying 10 million votes to back up a certain candidate in the 2010 elections.

Another church-based organization, 1Vote under Rev. Jojo Gonzalez, told abs-cbnnews.com that they can promise one million votes for a candidate.

But to get the support of these movements, the candidates should undergo a “process” that MGG and 1Vote have formulated to imitate the American primaries.

Town hall meetings

According to chair Milwida Guevarra, MGG will evaluate candidates through scorecards that measure leadership qualifications. Afterwards, candidates will have to attend a series of nationwide town hall meetings and debates where voters will get to interact with the candidates.

After the debates, the movement will have a “sort of preliminaries through texting” where members will cast their choice of president. Whoever gets majority of the members’ votes will get MGG’s support, if an ideal candidate emerges before the elections.

“Through the texting survey, MGG will be able to get a consensus of who the majority wants as president,” said Guevarra. The process is long and tedious and Guevarra admits some member organizations are becoming impatient.

Kaya Natin, for instance, has already urged other groups to endorse the Panlilio-Padaca tandem. Although Kaya Natin already came out with a candidate, Guevarra said they are open to Panlilio and Padaca undergoing the primaries set by MGG.

They are also open to Puno, should he agree to run, to take part in their preliminaries.

Despite the membership bottleneck, MGG is not rushing to choose a candidate. “The bottomline of MGG is to evolve a process where Filipino voters will listen to issues, will look at the candidates from very solid criteria and will make a choice,” said Guevarra.

According to Guevarra, they will be starting their primaries in May, and majority of the scheduled venues will be in Manila. She added: “Filipinos are intelligent voters and they can rise in choosing who to vote. We just have to give them the opportunity and provide them the tools and guide them.”

‘Looking for a CEO’

As for 1Vote, the selection procedure entails a convention where candidates will present their platforms and credentials to a group of 1,000 organization leaders.

“For each presidential aspirant who applies for our vote, there will be an open forum, and through that, we will discern who to support,” said Gonzalez. Although they have yet to specify the exact standards, Gonzalez said a candidate should be “God-fearing” and should “pass the biblical standards of righteous leadership.”

The candidate will be chosen through prayer and discernment. After the convention, the 1,000 leaders will then hold their own conventions for their members and discuss among their groups who to support.

The convention will last for the whole day, and the group will choose three eligible aspirants and then monitor their performances. If, as the election nears and they show consistency in their ideals, Gonzalez said they will eventually come out to support him or her.

Although Gonzales personally knows Calida and some members of MEN, Gonzalez said they want to evaluate other candidates before endorsing one. They are also opening their doors to Puno—but he has to undergo the process and emerge from it successfully.

Realities on the ground

Osmeña pointed out a reality on the ground. Synchronized elections in the Philippines, where candidates, from the President to the barangay captain, are chosen during at the same election period, cause rift in support, even if there are numerous organizations behind one candidate.

Similarly, an organization leader cannot prove that he or she has a sectoral block vote. “Not because you’re a group means everybody will vote the same way as you,” he said.

For instance, Osmeña cited the 2001 elections when he had a teammate who was a member of a church group told him that her group alone has one million members. The teammate told Osmena that if she could convince 10 leaders, she will have 10 million votes, therefore a seat in the Senate.

“Towards the end of the campaign, they had a national convention in Cebu and they took a survey, the lady came out number 14, just a little higher than the national survey. Absurdly, she did not even land first in her own church group.” Osmeña narrated.

But that does not mean a movement’s support is unnecessary, Osmeña clarified. Groups can help in the campaign by doing legwork, phone calls, and making noise in the streets, which are very important during a campaign. “It’s good enough that they can campaign.”

‘Don’t return to the closet’

Likewise, Osmeña said that some movements “come out of the closet during the campaign period and they go back to the closet after the elections,” eventually ending the advocacy.

This behavior is both good and bad, Osmeña said. Numerous movements that crop up during the elections means many groups are engaged in choosing their leaders. But the downside is that these groups do not monitor the politicians in office.

“I’ve always encouraged more participation in politics to keep it clean. We don’t give in to them, they [politicians] say we have laws, but no, you have to watch. You really have to always be watching,” Osmena said.

Even after the national elections, Keh said Kaya Natin will continue with their advocacy. “We did not create Kaya Natin for the elections, so I doubt if it will die down after the elections.”

Likewise, Guevarra said MGG considers the 2010 elections as a start. “There will be many opportunities depending on what leader we have. If we elect a worse leader, the challenges will be different and we will respond.”


*Finally, my first special report. :) Okay, not the first but the first one I'm confident in writing. To read article, click here.