\nMidterm\nelections have always been crucial for any incumbent, as results will\neither affirm or reject the programs and policies so far of the\nruling party. The 2019 midterm elections, however, appears to be\ndifferent, as it happens at the heels of the Duterte administration\u2019s\nimplementation of harshest neoliberal economic policies and\nundermining democracy. The Duterte presidency has seemingly\nconsolidated the Executive, Lower House and even the Judiciary under\nits influence, and the Senate could be the last stronghold of\ndemocratic processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAfter\nweeks of campaigning, the 2019 midterm elections is near. Candidates\nvying for senatorial posts have traveled around the country seeking\nto convince Filipinos to vote for them. It remains to be seen whether\nor not we will have a truly independent senate after the May 2019\nelections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nQuick\nvoters scan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \nLooking\nat data from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) shows that there\nare 61,843,750 voters in the Philippines with an additional 1,822,173\nregistered overseas voters for the 2019 midterm elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nA\nbreakdown of the voters shows that Region IV-A has the highest number\nof voters with 14%, followed by Region III with 11%, and the National\nCapital Region (NCR) with 11.4 percent. The Cordillera Administrative\nRegion (CAR) has the lowest number of voters with only 1.6% share of\nthe total number of voters. The poorest regions also have a low\nnumber of voters. Both Region IX and the Autonomous Region in Muslim\nMindanao (ARMM) only have 3.5% of the total number of voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nFor\noverseas voters, the Middle East and African regions have the highest\nnumber of voters with 48.7%, while the European region has the lowest\nshare of voters with only 10.2 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nWhile the\nhuge number of voters does not automatically translate into voter\nturnout, in 2016 the country had an 84% voter turnout compared to\n2013 with 77.3% and 2010 with 74.9 percent. Unsurprisingly, a high\nvoter turnout can also be an indicator of dubious activities like\nflying voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nFinding\nthe right candidate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \nInstead\nof dancing around and telling rehearsed jokes repeatedly, what does\nIBON think candidates should stand for to deserve the Filipinos\u2019\nvote in the upcoming elections?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nFirst,\ncandidates should adhere to the advancement of socioeconomic\nstrategies. Filipino industries should be protected and supported\ninstead of allowing foreign companies to dominate the Philippine\neconomy. An example is protecting and promoting the agriculture\nsector through production and price supports instead of flooding the\nmarket with imported agricultural goods, as is the rationale behind\nthe Rice Tariffication Law, to lower inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nCandidates\ninterested in genuinely effecting long-term reforms for the country\u2019s\nproduction sectors should support genuine agrarian reform. The\nfailure of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) to\nredistribute land to the tillers has only intensified landgrabbing\nand land use conversions for land market speculation. Department of\nAgrarian Reform (DAR) records show that as of January 2019, there\nwere still 549,920 hectares that need to be acquired and distributed.\nFrom 1988 to 2016, meanwhile, 98,939 hectares of land were approved\nfor conversion while 120,381 hectares were approved for exemption\nfrom land reform coverage\u2013but this is a\nconservative count as the real extent of land conversion may be\nunderreported. After CARP, majority of so-called agrarian reform\nbeneficiaries still do not own the land awarded to them or are in the\nprocess of being dispossessed because they are failing to amortize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThird,\ncandidates should be upholding people\u2019s rights and welfare.\nCandidates should be firm in ending contractualization. It is still\nvery much in place: Employment data shows that in 2018, 8.5 million\nworkers of private companies and 985,000 workers in government\nagencies are still non-regular workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nAdditionally,\nlegislating a national minimum wage of Php750 should also be a major\nagenda. Raising the average daily basic pay (ADBP) of Php401\nnationwide to Php750 will in turn add Php7,649 to employees\u2019\nmonthly income and Php99,432 to their annual income (including 13th<\/sup>\n<\/sup>month pay). This will cost the 35,835\nestablishments nationwide just Php465 billion or only 21.5% out of\ntheir Php2.16 trillion in profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nMoreover,\nRepublic Act (RA) 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and\nInclusion (TRAIN) law should be repealed instead of taking out taxes\nespecially from petroleum products which are socially sensitive.\nTRAIN means less money in the pockets of 8 out of 10 Filipinos as\nonly 5.5 million Filipino families benefit from lower personal income\ntaxes (PIT) while the remaining 17.2 million poorest households do\nnot benefit from PIT but all pay higher consumer taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nCandidates\nshould also ensure that basic social services will be accessible to\nevery Filipino. That is why there is a need to build more public\nschools and public hospitals aside from allotting higher budgets to\neducation and health. But 2019 budget for the Department of Health\n(DOH) for instance was cut by 8.13% compared to last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nLastly,\ncandidates should promote environmental sustainability. For example,\na candidate should be firm to stop destructive large-scale mining, as\nthis causes irreparable damage not only to the country\u2019s natural\nresources but to many indigenous communities. Another part of this is\nencouraging rational consumption. Our resources are finite \u2013 what\nwe produce and consume must only be within our needs. Candidates\nshould also promote an environment-friendly agriculture and industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe\npublic has heard the candidates\u2019 stances on various pertinent\nissues such as the TRAIN Law, Rice Tarrification Law,\ncontractualization, and jobless growth. Now the candidates should\nbear in mind that whatever promises they made during the campaign\nperiod would be remembered by the people, who will hold them\naccountable when they take their posts this June 2019. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe\nlast stand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe new\nsenate should carry out the task of defending the current\nconstitution against the Duterte administration\u2019s push for\nfederalism, neoliberalism, and self-serving political goals. The most\nconsistent is the intent to fully liberalize the Philippine economy\nfor foreign investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nRelatedly,\npending proposed amendments to the Human Security Act (HSA) aim to\nprevent critics, thereby putting basic human rights and civil\nliberties in peril. The HSA could expedite terrorist tagging and\nlinking and subsequent surveillance, arrests, and restricting of\nlegitimate people\u2019s movements. The new senate should stand against\nthis creeping authoritarianism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe\nPhilippine Senate could be the last democratic institution for the\ngovernment\u2019s checks and balances, independent of and not beholden\nto the power ambitions of the presidency and expected to side with\nthe people and defend whatever remains of Philippine democracy,\npeople\u2019s rights and welfare, and the country\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nWith all\nthese considered, the 2019 midterm elections could be one of the\nFilipinos\u2019 last stands for freedom and democracy. Depending on how\ntheir favorite candidates have explained these to them, they can now\nvote wisely.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Midterm elections have always been crucial for any incumbent, as results will either affirm or reject the programs and policies so far of the ruling party. The 2019 midterm elections, however, appears to be different, as it happens at the heels of the Duterte administration\u2019s implementation of harshest neoliberal economic policies and undermining democracy. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-withbanner.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1230,263,154,347,1953,1221,146,2018,116,1191,1006],"class_list":["post-8019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-authoritarianism","tag-comelec","tag-contractualization","tag-duterte-administration","tag-elections-2019","tag-federalism","tag-jobs-crisis","tag-midterm-elections","tag-philippine-economy","tag-philippine-senate","tag-train","wpautop"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-23 22:00:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8019"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8483,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8019\/revisions\/8483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}