THE 12 new senators who will sit in the 19th Congress were proclaimed by the Commission on Elections on May 18. One media outfit reported: “The new batch of legislators will make the Senate a more blatant family affair, with three pairs of relatives occupying a fourth of the total seats: siblings Pia Cayetano and Alan Peter Cayetano, motherand-son Cynthia Villar and Mark Villar, and [half] siblings JV Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada.”

That is only for the Senate. “More blatant family affairs” are likewise happening in local positions. There are husbandand-wife pairings, mother-anddaughter tandems, and siblings and relatives in almost all fronts. So, why the clamor to hold on to government positions?

Pew Research

I stumbled upon a research study undertaken by the Pew Research Center on why politicians want to stay in power. According to its website (www.pewresearch.org), “Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions.”

Although the study was conducted in the United States, I found most of its findings applicable in the Philippine scenario. Here are some of the findings in the study. It is now up to readers to discern whether these are true in our country.

1. “Asked to name the biggest problem with government today, many cite Congress, politics, or a sense of corruption or undue outside influence. At the same time, large majorities of the public view elected officials as out of touch, self-interested, dishonest and selfish. And a 55 percent majority now say that ordinary [people] would do a better job at solving the nation’s problems than their elected representatives.”

2. “The public also casts doubt on the commitment of elected officials to put the country’s interests ahead of their own. Roughly three-quarters (74 percent) say elected officials put their own interests ahead of the country’s, while just 22 percent say elected officials put the interests of the country first.”

3. “The influence of special interest money on elected officials tops the list of named problems; 16 percent say this. Another 11 percent see elected officials as dishonest or as liars.”

It is interesting to note that the public overwhelmingly thinks of elected officials as selfish: 72 percent say this describes them at least fairly well, and 41 percent say this trait describes them “very well.”

The same study confirmed the perception that the influence of money on politics is greater today than in the past and that the high cost of running a campaign discourages many good candidates from running. Majorities across demographic and partisan groups say that there should be limits on campaign spending, that money’s impact on politics has increased and that the high cost of campaigns is driving away good candidates.

What is the biggest problem in the government? The study revealed that Congress, politics and partisanship, size or scope of the government, and corruption are most cited.

Interestingly, about threequarters of the public (76 percent) say the government is “run by a few big interests,” while only 19 percent say the government “is run for the benefit of all the people.”

Salary does not matter

Doing a simple comparison between the total amount spent during the election campaign and the projected salaries of the position for the next three or six years shows a huge discrepancy. There is no way for an elected government official, if relying only on his/her salary, to recover the cost of the election campaign.

The positions of senators and congressmen are both in salary grade (SG) 31, which entitles them to a P273,278 monthly salary. Senators would receive a total of P19,676,016 in their six-year term while congressmen would have earned P9,838,008 during their threeyear stint.

If the senator you voted into office spent more than P19 million, then you need to question your choice. If the congressman you favored with your vote used more than P9 million in campaign spending, then you have to ask yourself the same question.

On the local front, provincial governors and city mayors are SG30 (P185,695) salary-based. In a term of three years, they would receive approximately P6,685,020 in salaries.

Obviously, the salary does not matter. What matters to them is the power that they hold, the influence they wield, and the authority they exercise over others.

So, how would an overspending elected official recoup the high cost of campaign? Definitely not through the legitimate salaries and allowances. It is much more beyond that.

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