In the Land of the Rising Sun

By Michael Henry Yusingco, LL.M

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege to spend a week in Japan to do a series of seminar lectures in the Graduate School of Law and the Law School of Hitotsubashi University and give a talk in a brown bag seminar organized by the university’s Institute for Global Governance Research.

In one of the seminars, a young law student asked why Filipinos are so interested in politics. She said this was so incredible for her because by and large Japanese people are not inclined to get involved in any politics-related discussion. Her professor added that after voting, they just trust their political leaders to steer Japan in the right way.

Obviously, not all Japanese officials stay on the straight and narrow. Indeed, the former Prime Minister resigned with the weight of a scandal in his party getting too heavy to bear. But there is something to be said about an electorate treating trustworthiness as a given. This phenomenon must be more than just voter naivete.

For Filipinos, the untrustworthiness of politicians is the given. Hence, we must always maintain a critical eye when relating to public officials. We must always be ready to ask those in government the tough questions. We must make an effort to ensure that the political class never feel that citizens are inconsequential to politics and governance.

An unforgiving mentality towards politicians is also necessary during election season. As responsible citizens we must be actively engaged in the days leading up to election day. There are two things we must do here. First, we need to research the track record of the candidates to determine their suitability to the office they are running for.

We must thoroughly study the platform of government offered by the candidates. Information in this regard should now be available in the candidate’s website and social media accounts. Corollary to this, we must closely monitor these candidates in debates, forums, and interviews where they are given the opportunity to elaborate on their platforms.

We must not be afraid to pose questions to the candidate themselves or their campaign team. We can do this through the website or through the social media account of the candidate. A key reminder here is that if we have to pester these people for answers, then we must not hesitate to do so. Candidates who ignore us do not deserve our vote.

Second, we must form spheres of deliberation to help us in our evaluation of the candidates. This means reaching out to your friends, family, workmates, or even online groups to discuss matters or issues concerning candidates and/or their platforms.

Just to be clear, this is not about creating “echo chambers”. Groupthink is not the desired outcome of this undertaking. This effort is really a nod to democratic deliberation which is a form of communication that is based on principles of democracy.

Deliberative democracy is grounded on the belief that people can “come together, on the basis of equal status and mutual respect, to discuss the political issues they face and, on the basis of those discussions, decide on the policies that will then affect their lives.” Election season would be a good a time as any to start practicing this principle.

Voters need to be reminded that the primary purpose of the campaign period is to help them make the right decision on election day. Some candidates will impress us with their credentials, while some will entertain us with their song and dance schtick. Some will present us with coherent and comprehensive platforms, while some will simply stick to the usual sound-bytes and slogans.

Unfortunately, we do not enjoy the same privilege as our Japanese friends do when it comes to a politician’s trustworthiness. The candidates who actually help us in our decision-making process deserve our serious consideration. But we should not bother with candidates who only want to humor us and disrespect the gravity of this democratic exercise.

Voters must help each other in demanding more from all candidates. We are all in this together, as the ditty goes. The reality is we can never take a candidate’s word on face value. Doing so will only make our dire situation even worse. We must treat voting as if our lives depended on it. Indeed, whether we like it or not, it really does.