POPULARITY, PERSONALITY, PLATFORM: An Assessment of Communities’ Choice of Public Officials

Abstract

This research tackles the voting behavior of the Filipinos. As the socio-, political and economic conditions of the country grows worse, and the basic services so badly needed by the people are not being effectively delivered, one must look into he mechanism that puts the leaders into their posts. Being a democratic country, the Filipino people were bequeathed with the privilege of choosing whom they think should represent them and be their leaders. Here, the researcher shows the voting behavior of the Filipino people, what their influences and criteria for choosing these leaders. Through surveys, interviews and group discussions, the answers to these questions were revealed. Whether they voted on the basis of personality, popularity or platform, or are there other factors that are also present in their decision making process on which candidates to vote for And a deeper, more probing look into the minds of the people was showcased as self-reflections of the people with regards to their voting attitudes and values were discovered. An analysis of the gathered facts was also given and from these recommendations were presented by the researcher. Hypothesizing that unintelligent voting leads to the poor quality of the leaders at post, the researcher recommended that the multimedia - the choice source of information of most of the people, the candidates and the people as well should be more inclined into looking in what is really important and not the trivial things that are easily portrayed in the media. Education on the voters, responsible coverage and journalism on part of the media and a better sense of accountability on the part of the candidates/ politicians, when taken together will spell the best recipe for better leadership, better governance and better standard of living.