(Un)democratic short-list

The Dec. 22 Inquirer editorial put it succinctly when it described the upcoming 2010 poll as a "crowded field of equal-strength presidential candidates", referring presumably to Noli, Erap, Manny, Chiz, Loren, Ping and Mar. The elite-oriented Philippine politico-administrative system accustoms the electorates to limit their choice from the pre-determined short-list of contenders provided by the society's power-wielders. This explains why "none of them" got the highest rating (76 out of 291 total votes) among the UP respondents in Diwang Palaboy's online survey on presidential elections.