Time to reform electoral process

"More than 50 million Filipinos are choosing a new president, vice president, about 300 lawmakers in the two-chamber Congress and more than 17,600 local government positions in the country's first nationwide automated elections on May 10" - says news item. Wow, this is a really gargantuan effort.


How about simplifying our election system? This simplified system can reduce manpower and logistics and make it less expensive for candidates, and maybe, even do away with computerization: Popular elections shall be held only at the grass root level, i.e., the barangay, and all higher level officials shall be elected by indirect voting. Here’s how it works. Starting at the barangay level, a popular election is held to select the barangay council members and chairman. At the next level, the town, the barangay chairmen elects a mayor from among themselves. At the provincial level, a similar election is held to elect a governor from among the town mayors. Finally, the president is elected by the governors from among themselves. The batasan and the senate are abolished and replaced by a parliament composed of governors. The cabinet is similarly abolished and replaced by appointees from among the members of parliament. Duplication of positions shall be avoided by promoting the next in rank in the lower level election. Obviously, refinements are needed, but the basic concept is there.