Politics has evolved over time, shaping communities from tribal to national and global societies. Before the Spanish colonization, the Philippine political and governance system was patriarchal, with barangays independently coexisting or competing with each other.

Our political landscape is a rich tapestry of influences woven from various periods and governing styles, each leaving an indelible mark on how our country is run today.

The following briefly explores our political progression and transformation that have shaped the arc of Philippine political evolution.

Spanning 424 years of Spanish, American, and Japanese occupations (including the inconsequential 18-month partial invasion by Britain) greatly influenced and transformed Philippine society and its system of government. The resulting political order was a blend of monarchy, imperialism, and American liberalism, with American democracy having the most profound impact.

We adopted the American Constitution, embracing its two-party system until martial law was declared and People Power introduced the unstable multi-party system. We assume and continue to this day the basic checks and balances of governance under the three branches of government: the legislative, which passes laws; the executive, which implements the laws; and the judiciary, which interprets the laws.

Post-martial law and the People Power revolution, followed by a period of almost unrestrained freedom, our governance structure was marked by complexity. With 20 percent of elected congressmen’s positions reserved for a numerous odd mix of partylist candidates, our system has become convoluted. With few exceptions, some Local Government Units elected two succeeding generations of enlightened political families who thrived and succeeded due to the competent, honest, dynamic, innovative, and compassionate leadership qualities inherited by the offspring.

A prominent Filipino political analyst coined the term “democrazy” to describe a populace that loves elections more than democracy itself because of the widespread practice of vote-buying that accompanies every electoral process.

The selling of votes became an intrinsic part of the electoral campaign, which includes monetary incentives like paying for “flying” voters, loyalists, and fake precinct watchers, and employing envelopmental persuasion to prevent voters from opposing camps from exercising their right of suffrage.

Starting with the 1969 presidential election, the media invented the term 3Gs (guns, goons and gold) to describe the violence and vote buying during the campaign period.

Because of this extraordinary campaign environment, we are probably one of the few democratic countries in the world with crusading civilian watchdogs — NAMFREL, the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections, and PPCRV, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting — which came into existence to ensure free, fair and fraud-free elections.

Despite these efforts, integrity issues persist, often leading defeated candidates to claim electoral fraud and give them the face-saving excuse that they did not lose; they were cheated.

Without imputing responsibility on any faith group, denomination, or dominant institutional church, the history of our elections is less than ideal. To safeguard the integrity of our elections and restore our faith in the system, a moral overhaul of society, starting with the Comelec, is critical.

Comelec must recapture its past glory, go beyond expectations, and present itself as the ONLY official and accepted entity to oversee the integrity of the election process and ensure the reliability of the election results. Only then can we project ourselves as a true democracy with clean and credible elections, transforming NAMFREL and PPCRV into deputized civic partners rather than watchdogs.