Under the aegis of the old Constitution of 1935, old politicos recollect the victory of Elpidio Quirino over Jose P. Laurel, when the “birds and bees” already voted in the 1949 presidential elections. Laurel, however, desisted from filing any protest at the time, mindful of the country’s stability, after the savagery experienced under Imperial Japanese subjugation.

During the 1965 confrontation between newly turned Nationalista Party presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos and Liberal Party “poor boy from Lubao” President Diosdado Macapagal, there is a  verified tale of a late evening visit by cabinet members to Malacañang asking for P50,000 to overturn an impending defeat via Mindanao that was thwarted by the integrity of the sitting Chief-Executive unwilling to bargain the fate of the republic for victory is the presidential election. The military aide to the president, in a personal account, said then he wanted to salute Dadong three times. This was a true president of his people, he said.

In the post-1935 Charter era, our democratic institutions began to be assaulted as sitting presidents proposed new constitutions or forms of government to remain in power.

The greatest threat to our democracy may be summed-up by two realities.  The increasing cost of waging a “winnable” campaign and elections. Media does not exactly have clean hands in this aspect as it capitalizes on a windfall every election period with extravagant rates for radio and TV ads.  The mystery is why candidates are eager to spend multi-millions for a public job that does not remunerate the financial cost spent in one’s candidacy. The query is posed: Should not the challenge be, for public and private institutions and corporations to strengthen our democracy by lowering the cost candidates must spend? Our election laws penalizing on the blatant buying of votes should be enforced.

The second assault to our libertarian ideals is the “mystery” of computerized elections speedily declaring politicians with connections to Comelec as victorious. We need not belabor the point on this compelling issue. Our readers are smart.