Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
During the Opening Ceremonies on the Symposium on Asian Electoral Systems Undertaking by the International Foundation for Election System-Commission on Elections
[Delivered at the Diamond Hotel, Manila, January 27, 1997]
Asian democracy
on the march
THAT SO MANY Asian countries should be represented at this meeting will surprise many who live outside the region—and perhaps many Asians as well. For the general belief is that most Asian societies are making their way in the world under governments that are less than democratic, and that behind the so-called Asian miracle—which has set the pace for world progress—stands the dominance of authoritarian systems.
Yet when we call the roll across the length and breadth of Asia, we find the contrary to be true. In many ancient lands like India and Japan, democracy today is a tradition with strong roots dating back to many years.
The promise and the reality of democracy
In some countries that have industrialized within these last three decades—like South Korea—economic progress has brought forth stable democracies that will survive long into the future. And in many developing lands like our own, the foundations for the democratic tradition had been built and continue to be reinforced, side by side with the winning of economic progress.
Democracy in Asia may not mirror exactly democracy as the Western world knows it. Asian cultures and traditions have given democracy a shape that is uniquely and distinctively their own. And conditions in our developing societies have always and everywhere posed challenges to the building of democratic institutions and processes.
Yet amid all these influences and challenges, we can be in no doubt that democracy is on the march in Asia today. Democratic consolidation is taking place in many countries. Democratic elections are now being held with regularity in many countries. Democratic elections are now being held with regularity in many lands. And even in those places where democracy today remains a dream, the hope has risen that some day too it will become reality
Change is taking place because peace and progress have come upon Asia in our time. As the political scientist Samuel Huntington has noted: “Economic development makes democracy possible; political leadership makes it real.”
Indeed we stand in a historic time when the promise and the reality of democracy can meet.
The Philippine experience
All our countries bring to this meeting their unique experiences in making democracy possible and real for our peoples. Each of us has had to struggle under difficult odds to fashion what Lincoln memorably called “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” In the case of the Philippines, our own journey is perhaps of more than passing interest because it covers now nearly a century-during which we have found and lost—and found again our way to the democratic tradition.
In 1898 we established the first republic in Asia. Over the course of a hundred years—under colonial domination, through three waves of foreign occupation, in war and peace, and through the rigors and challenges of self-government—we have been tested in our faith in democracy.
By God’s grace and through our labors, we have kept the faith and stayed the course. And today we stand among you as a free and democratic Asian republic.
Clearly our experience underlines the now conventional truth that democracy is not an easy course to follow. It is messy and noisy. It tests the mettle of politicians and statesmen and the citizens themselves. Consensus comes only after long debates and sometimes conflict. And it gives no guarantees of success in the primordial challenge of engineering, economic development and social progress.
A nation grown in freedom
But then this also can now be said—as it has been said by many. Philippine democracy has served as our engine for economic growth. Today we can point with some pride—because we have struggled so long—that we have achieved a measure of development not by compromising the richness of our democratic institutions, but by making them work.
We have grown as a nation in freedom. The criteria for democracy are various. It demands the rule of law and fully functioning legal systems. It calls for limitations on government through written or unwritten constitutions. It calls for serious debate in the making of policies and accountability in their implementation.
But perhaps the first and the most important criterion of all is the active exercise of the people of their sovereign power—through elections. As we Filipinos see it, the exercise of suffrage is the throne on which democracy sits. Without honest, orderly and peaceful elections which are credible to the people, there can be no hope for real democracy.
Here in this conference, we have much to learn from one another in the design, organization and administration of election systems. And I will be the first to say that we have much to learn from you, just as you could learn from us.
Philippine elections are often highly contentious, free-wheeling and rambunctious exercises. They have lately become significantly less violent-although definitely not less interesting. One political analyst remarked recently, in the light of early campaigning for the 1998 elections, that the longest season m the Philippines is not the rainy season, not the hot season, but the electoral season. Because our elections are what they are, we have—since 1940-consistently reinforced the independence and the powers of our Commission on Elections.
During the election period—and we have had 81 major elections and associated political exercises during the last 55 years—the Commission on Elections becomes a virtual provisional government. To reinforce its manpower, it habitually deputizes, as authorized by law, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports, the National Police and the Armed Forces plus many other government departments and agencies. It can suspend public works projects and prevent government expenditure including for personnel appointments and promotions, if it decides that these could influence electoral outcomes.
The one indubitable fact about our electoral experience is that elections produce the peaceful turnover of power from one administration to another. Indeed, until the long hiatus of martial law, we never witnessed the reelection of an incumbent presidential administration.
Democracy as a process
Yet our long electoral tradition notwithstanding, we also know many weaknesses and shortcomings in our election system. Democracy, truly is not just a culture, it is also a process and a structure. As a civil engineer I can tell you that every structure, whether institutional or architectural, requires not only maintenance but also constant improvement
One weakness is the long and laborious process of tabulating votes in our country-which in part is due to our being an archipelago of 7,107 islands, in part to outmoded systems and in part to peculiarities in our democratic processes. Thus where in other countries, electoral verdicts are known in a matter of hours, here in the Philippines they sometimes take weeks.
Let me say a few words about the task that must increasingly concern Filipinos as we near the 1998 elections. It is surely time to turn our attention to the need to totally modernize our electoral processes and our conduct of elections.
In this age of instant communications, it is a shame that we should still take weeks to sort out the mandate of our electorate. We tarnish the image of our democracy before the world every time we falter in the simple task of counting votes.
A program of electoral reform
For this reason, we have embarked since 1994 on a massive program of electoral reform. Last year we put in place the beginning of a computerized electoral process. This will allow us to take advantage of new technologies to greatly speed up the counting process.
Beginning this year, we will have all our voters register anew and on a continuing basis. They will be issued ID cards that will help to reduce the incidence of electoral fraud.
I look forward in the near future to instantaneous tabulation of electoral results, using the wonders of modem technology. This will be a major progression from the elections that brought me to office in 1992 where the tabulation of results required nearly six weeks of suspenseful counting, canvassing, proclamation—and waiting.
But technology is not the only answer. We also must address the quite unique fact that the Filipino voter—alone in the world—has to write out every name in his ballot. This is further complicated by the fact that we have enfranchised—and with good reason—those few (3 percent) among our people who are illiterate. This makes voting a long and laborious process, whereas with other election systems, voters need only to punch colors or check out names, symbols and the like.
A more efficient electoral process is also a more credible one. The more credible elections are, the more convincing the legitimacy they bring to democratic governments-especially democratic governments that need to undertake drastic reforms that will prepare their societies for the 21st century.
This meeting will serve us well if we can share our experiences—both the successes and the problems. In this way, we can strengthen our election systems by learning more about solutions and technologies that work.
It is gladdening to note that during this conference, you plan to lay the foundations for an Asian regional organization of officials responsible for the election process. This will accelerate and regularize the effort of networking and exchange. And if your gathering will speed up the scheme, I fully endorse the decision to have this regional organization headquartered in Manila.
A wave of democratization
Regional cooperation has already achieved much in advancing our common goals, particularly in the economic sphere as we know in both ASEAN and APEC. It is only fitting that regional economic cooperation should also promote the democratization wave within our region.
None of the tasks before us can be accomplished all at once. Nor will they be accomplished without patience, dedication and tolerance for one another. Strengthening democracy in Asia is a formidable challenge because many of us are societies that are still groping for the kind of stability and progress under which electoral processes can truly work. But we can all enjoy and spread the light of democracy so long as we persist in the effort at change and so long as we believe that democracy is what will ensure the sustainable future for our peoples.
As was said long ago, so it is still true today: governments come and go; but the people remain. It is the majesty of their power that we exalt when we build functioning and free election systems. And it is freedom—in a free society with free markets—that builds communities as well as countries.