Transforming the Philippine political landscape

MANILA – Navigating turbulent times necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted forces shaping our nation. The Philippines faces a deluge of data, yet extracting meaningful insights and formulating a cohesive vision remains elusive. The hyperfocus on details obscures the bigger picture, a failure exacerbated by political leaders who prioritize personal advancement over institutional strengthening.

Politicians bear a wide array of responsibilities, even at the highest levels of government. These include representing constituents’ interests, educating the public on national issues, formulating policy decisions, addressing immediate concerns, managing staff, providing sector-specific leadership, embodying the nation, enriching the national experience, and crucially, building and maintaining their political parties.

Regrettably, the latter responsibility is frequently neglected in the Philippines. Political parties have become transient platforms for election campaigns, lacking the institutional memory and robust infrastructure needed to craft a comprehensive national vision.

Strong political parties, supported by well-functioning think tanks or policy institutes, can rectify this deficiency. These institutes serve as repositories of institutional memory and ideological principles, generating innovative ideas and ensuring parties remain responsive to their constituents.

Political ideologies provide the framework for parties to develop distinct platforms that resonate with voters. These platforms articulate how a party would allocate the national budget to best serve the people’s needs through a combination of public policies, goods, and services. The electorate then evaluates these platforms to determine which party is best suited to govern.

However, the importance of policy institutes is often underestimated, and their contribution to electoral success remains unclear. A prevalent bias within political parties often undervalues support staff, such as consultants, logisticians, strategists, researchers, and campaign material creators, favoring candidates instead.

Comprehending the complex and interconnected challenges facing the Philippines necessitates a multidisciplinary approach that considers political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and environmental factors. These challenges encompass geopolitical tensions in the West Philippine Sea, energy insecurity, agricultural failures, widespread contractualization, rampant crime and corruption, financial mismanagement, educational decline, and the proliferation of misinformation.

The significance of the “big picture” lies in its ability to reveal the interconnectedness of these seemingly disparate issues. For instance, the West Philippine Sea dispute affects not only national security but also economic and environmental stability. The loss of Malampaya as a major energy source reverberates across sectors, impacting food security and social well-being.

While numerous think tanks in the Philippines are actively analyzing these issues, political parties must develop their own institutional memory and interpretations of these broader trends. This will enable their members to make informed decisions and solve problems aligned with their party’s ideological framework, whether they are in government or opposition.

With upcoming elections approaching, the current political discourse remains fixated on individual candidates’ popularity rather than their potential for programmatic decision-making. This narrow focus neglects the crucial role of well-informed policy formulation in revitalizing the country’s democratic processes.

Political parties must embrace their responsibility to create a transformative political landscape. By investing in research, fostering intellectual discourse, and developing comprehensive policy platforms, they can empower themselves and the nation to navigate turbulent times and build a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable future.

After mobilizing the youth during each election, whether a political party wins or loses, it should immediately begin the task of party consolidation, recruiting, orienting, capacitating, and deploying its youth members. Following the theme of the previous column, the opposition during the last election has frittered away the unprecedented opportunity to harness and give tangible organizational shape to the political passion demonstrated by the youth.

Political parties must recruit more nonpoliticians into their fold and incentivize their tangible contributions to party building and strengthening. Political party building is a strategic civic contribution even for those professionals who have no appetite for running for public office. Our key learning should be—political parties are too important to leave to politicians alone.