We need a miracle!

We are voting today for 12 senators, 254 congressmen, 63 party list representatives and thousands of LGU officials.

- BOO CHANCO

cials. Based on pre-election surveys, the quality of Senate membership will go down some more notches. Our voters think this is just a popularity contest rather than a civic duty to choose qualified people who will run the country.

Gone are the days when we elected statesmen to the Senate. Maybe that's partly because our two-party system in the past screened the candidates. While a popular movie star once became a senator in the late 50s, by and large only those with track records in public service and governance got nominated.

The multi-party system of the 1987 Constitution messed up things a lot. Now the political party isn't as important as the name recall of individual candidates. Indeed, as in the case of the Villars, the Tulfos and the Cayetanos, their family name is more important than their political party's name.

The pre-election surveys suggest there will be three Tulfos, two Cayetanos and possibly two Villars in addition to two Ejercito Estradas, all siblings, in the next Senate. With about 70 million Filipinos registered to vote, nine out of the 24 senators will come from just four families. Not only did Congress refuse to pass the law banning political dynasties that the 1987 constitutional provision mandated them to do, the political dynasties have established themselves in the Senate as well.

Then there are the celebrity candidates. These are washed-up actors in movies and television who can no longer get enough work to sustain their accustomed high-living lifestyles. So they run for senator, congressman, governor or mayor because public officials in the Philippines are scandalously rich — never mind how.