by Alyssa Marie Uy
As the midterm elections are taking place in less than a month, candidates savagely consume airtime and space on street posts and walls. One even starts to hear candidates’ jingles straight from children’s mouths. Amidst the frenzy over these campaign strategies, the most important question still remains: who is deserving to win in this year’s elections?
A candidate would certainly bring their best foot forward in every campaign and convince citizens that he or she must be chosen. Leadership, however, lies in action, not words.
Performance-based legitimacy
While popularity during the campaign period is indicative of a candidate’s electoral performance, a politician’s worth can be gauged when his or her term of office starts. A public servant’s legitimacy cannot solely rest on the number of votes garnered during the elections. Legitimacy – the basis of people’s consent to be ruled by authority – is maintained through performance and ethics.
Performance legitimacy is generated from a leader’s ability to accomplish constituents’ shared goals of good governance and inclusive economic growth. This can be assessed based on a candidate’s platform and the extent to which he or she is able to implement these campaign promises once in office. A legitimate public official is one who has a firm stand on crucial issues and has an unwavering character to pursue the platforms for the benefit of his or her constituents.
Performance only works with ethics
Equally as important as performance is ethical leadership. This is particularly vital in today’s time of intense globalization, where each politician – whether in a national position or local government – should recognize globalization’s tendency to promote stark inequalities which compromise human dignity. According to Professor Emeritus Randy David, a freer market must entail an increased supervisory capacity of the government. This entails leaders who have a grasp on the ethical dimension of economic growth. Without commitment to ethics, morality and rights, economic development’s promise of improved quality of life is greatly compromised.
In batting for performance legitimacy, leaders should be able to build strong relationships of accountability among their citizens. This is where ethical and moral leadership comes in. A leader cannot function in a democracy if he or she fails to uphold a moral framework which serves as basis for the protection of citizens’ rights, dignity and participation, while pursuing economic development.
Former President Ferdinand Marcos, for example, is considered by some camps to have performance legitimacy because of his economic achievements. Schools, cultural centers and world-class hospitals were built during his time. However, these achievements must be assessed side by side with the casualties of his regime. He was able to enforce discipline among citizens through martial law but he failed to attend to the social needs, ethical demands and collective aspirations of the people. Human rights were systematically violated, leaving the nation traumatized with the excesses of a dictatorial regime.
His successor Former President Corazon Aquino, on the other hand, restored democracy in the country. The 1987 Constitution became the living proof that Filipinos regained liberal rights. However, the economy remained stagnant, national debt was high, and Filipinos became impatient as the promise of democracy failed to quickly materialize. While Aquino had ethical legitimacy, she lacked performance legitimacy. The presence of one form of legitimacy but the lack of another made both their administrations unsuccessful.
Vote for an ethical and effective leader
In this election, it is imperative that voters choose candidates that are both efficient and ethical. It takes efficiency to survive in this increasingly competitive and rapidly globalizing world. Clearly determined priorities and immediate goals of government leaders enable them to achieve national economic growth, meet people’s basic needs and live up to their election promises.
Ethical legitimacy is based on how a public servants approach people on a daily basis, not just on campaign periods and on their willingness to consider the hopes and needs of these people. The Philippines needs leaders who possess both qualities. While it is easy to dismiss this as utopian, it remains important that voters keep searching for these candidates. They may just be invisible because they lack resources or they may be on television screens right now, but voters just do not realize it.
Alyssa Marie Uy is a first year undergraduate student of Business Administration and Accountancy from UP Diliman.
