Voting for Senators

Election season is upon us again and this being a midterm election, it's safe to say that this would serve as a good barometer for the performance of President Duterte among the masses. I won't be talking about who I'll be voting for as I haven't decided on that yet.

I'll be talking about how inefficient it is for all Filipinos to be able to vote in all 24 senators (just 12 this midterm election). Honestly, who has really looked at the platforms of all the candidates individually? Most Filipinos have a hard time voting for one person for the positions of President, Governor, Mayor and their representative and we have to vote for 12 senators? The choice for my mayor is a simpler one. All I really need to ask myself is, "Did my mayor perform well the past 3 years?" If yes, he gets my vote. If not, my vote will go to someone else.

It's difficult to find out what senators are doing as individuals and what pieces of legislation they vote for or against during their time as senators. It's easier to keep track of the members of the house of representatives and their voting records because as a voter, you only need to keep track of one person's voting records. With the senators, you need to keep track of at least 12 senators running for reelection plus how everyone else stands on certain issues.

With how the election process is set-up, it's quite possible to not have any senator from Cebu or Davao and several from Metro Manila. One could argue that it shouldn't matter as the 24 senators shouldn't be representing their hometowns but should be representing the Filipino people but I return the question. Do 24 people really feel responsible for the good of the country? Such a wide net is cast that every senator can simply point to the next one and say it was the other guy's fault. A much better system would be one where people need only choose one senator and can hold him accountable.

This ties into the idea of taking away the power of the majority to tyrannize the minority. Our system today makes it very possible to have all 24 seats taken up by one part of the country if they're able to get enough votes. What's even scarier is that technically, all 24 seats could be taken up by one family if they're popular enough.

Remember, power corrupts and if the past few elections are any indication, it can corrupt the voting masses. We have to move away from a pure democracy and we need to do it soon.