Opportunity Cost

What does an election cost?

For Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, an election begins with a cost of four billion pesos, but ends with opportunity. When Senator Zubiri filed Senate Bill No. 60, he said that the proposed bill “seeks to reset the synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections and extend the terms of office of barangay officials to five years in a bid to address the issue of effective governance and implementation of long-term projects nationwide,” but readily admitted that the “basic premise of the postponement is cost and savings to government.” Citing the budget deficit that President Aquino inherited from the previous administration, Senator Zubiri added that “it would be better to use the almost P4 billion to other priorities”.

In the end, one could say that Senator Zubiri wanted to give President Aquino that most priceless of political commodities: an opportunity to do good. At a time when budgetary constraints threaten to prevent the current administration from taking concrete steps to fulfill the promises it made to the Filipino people, Senator Zubiri’s initiative should have been welcome. Yet, it is not.

For President Noynoy Aquino, an election begins with the cost of delay, but ends with the opportunity to reassert that democracy works. President Aquino may have been disappointed with some aspects of the local elections, but he would have been more disappointed had the elections not pushed through at all. It is important to recall that implicit in President Aquino’s campaign slogan “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” is that Aquino will continue the legacy of his mother, the late Corazon C. Aquino. Tita Cory may have drawn mixed reviews for her presidency, but she garnered almost universal praise for having left it.

To this day, I'm not sure why Tita Cory refused to seek another term. But the fact that she didn't run for reelection despite every worldly reason to do so speaks very well of her. As Conrado de Quiros once observed, “Years before, Cory was pressured to accept the nomination to fight Marcos in the snap elections, and she agreed reluctantly. This time she refused adamantly. She had restored democracy, she would not be the one to scuttle it.”

The difference in opinion between Senator Zubiri and President Aquino represents a choice that many Filipino families face daily. What is a more valuable gift: to spend time with, or to provide money for the family? Too many Filipinos already reluctantly work abroad, depriving their children of their physical and spiritual presence, in order to secure a brighter future for a family that bears little resemblance to the one they left behind. A majority of our countrymen stay and labor in quiet desperation, trusting that the intangible gains of their presence can somehow offset the perpetual need for sustenance. 

Like his countrymen, President Aquino has to choose. Would he rather have the means to implement the programs that his people need? Or would he rather reassure his people that they will never lack for opportunities to participate in nation-building, one hungry vote at a time? These are not easy decisions to make.

Yet President Aquino has to make them. In the end, our senators can only make suggestions. President Aquino, as father and steward of the hopes and dreams of many Filipinos who make difficult choices on a daily basis, will have to make the most of his opportunities to lead them.