Democracy 101: What do all these elected officials do?

By James Jimenez

Just a glance at the ballot we use during National and Local Elections – like the one scheduled for next year – gives you a good idea of how massive Philippine elections truly are, and just how many elective positions are up for grabs every three years. On a triennial basis, we vote for 12 Senators, 1 District Representative or Congressman, 1 Party-list Representative, 1 Governor and Vice-Governor pair, varying numbers of Sangguniang Panlalawigan members depending on the province, 1 Mayor and Vice-Mayor pair, and typically 8 Sangguniang Bayan members. All told, an average ballot would require a voter to choose more than thirty names to vote for. And every six years, we also choose a President and Vice-President – which we will get to do again in 2028.

The sheer number of positions we need to fill inevitably gives rise to the question: what are all of these elected officials expected to do? Sadly, there are still many voters – including the millions of brand-new voters who have only recently registered and will be voting for the first-time next May – who cannot answer that question confidently or even correctly. Is it any surprise, therefore, that far too many elections end up being popularity contests, rather than true opportunities for selecting the best person for the job?

Clearly, it is an essential part of voter education to make sure that voters have a clear understanding of the distinct roles played by each elected official – from the President down to the bokal – and how they contribute to the functioning of the government at their respective levels. With any luck, an electorate that knows what these elected officials are expected to do in office will be able to intelligently match the candidates to the job, based on their track records, skills, and publicly stated positions on the issues. Sotto voce, one would hope that, on election day, all voters base their votes on actual merit

How Government is Structured.

Government has three branches: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. The Judiciary is composed of unelected Judges and Justices, so we won’t deal with them for now. The Executive and the Legislative, on the other hand, are elected, and between the two of them, they divide the work of government: the legislative branch makes the laws and prepares the budget; the executive branch carries out the laws and spends the money.

The President of the Philippines.

Heading up the executive branch is the Philippine president. This one person – elected every six years for a single term – serves as the head of state, chief executive, and commander-in-chief. No, these titles are not inter-changeable. As Head of State, the President represents the entire nation both here at home and internationally. Thus, when the President goes to a different country, he does so as a representative of the Filipino nation, acting as its top diplomat. As Chief Executive, the President functions as the top implementer of laws, with the authority to issue executive orders, proclamations, and decrees necessary to ensure that the laws are carried out, and to execute government functions. He also manages the entire Executive Branch of government, which gives him the power to appoint Cabinet Secretaries, heads of agency, and other officials needed for the smooth functioning of government. And finally, as Commander-in-Chief, the President has control over the country’s military.

As the second-highest official in the land, the Vice-President’s primary function is to replace the President in case a vacancy in that position should occur. Technically, the VP has no other official function, unlike in the United States where the VP is concurrently the President of the Senate. However, our VP is usually given a cabinet position or some specific task, but that’s entirely up to the President. One very interesting feature of the Philippine VP is that the position is elected separately from the President. In other democracies, the President and the VP are a package deal, with the VP not being voted on by the people. Not so here. In the Philippines, the VP is a true elected position and this has often resulted in the President and the VP having different political affiliations. As you can imagine, that makes for some very interesting politics.

The Legislature.

The Philippines has a bi-cameral form of government, which means our Congress – also known as the legislative branch of government – is divided into two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The primary function of officials elected to either House is essentially the same: they make laws and they hold the purse strings of government via their exclusive budgeting power. Both Senators and Members of the House of Representatives are also empowered to conduct investigations, but only “in aid of legislation,” which simply means that the investigation they conduct should be for the purpose of making, amending, or repealing laws. Note that there are two kinds of Members of the House – District Representatives are those who represent geographically defined territories, and Party-List Representatives, those who represent either political parties or certain specific sectors.

Senators represent the entire nation and are elected by all voters, nationwide. Members of the House, on the other hand, represent specific districts, and are therefore voted for locally, meaning to say only by the voters in the district they represent. Because they are not tied to a specific geographic territory, Party-List Representatives are voted for nationally, like Senators.

It is impossible to over-emphasize just how important the positions of Senator and Member of the House – both the District and Party-List Representatives – are. These two positions are almost entirely responsible for writing the laws and policies that govern the entire country; and collectively, they have exclusive authority to hammer out the country’s budget, giving them the “power of the purse.” The President, for all the power that resides in that position, cannot make laws – he only enforces them; he can recommend a budget, but in the end, even he needs to bow to the wisdom of the legislature. Given all of that, a voter would be forgiven for having high standards of performance and behavior to measure candidates against. Or at least, one would hope so.