DOCTOR’S PRESCRIPTION
By Santos T. Araña, Ph.D.

PAPACY vs. PHILIPPINE PRESIDENCY

I was fascinated by the process of choosing a new pontiff compared to the system a president of a republic is elected like Philippines. It cannot be avoided to compare the method because vote should be considered sacred conviction of those involve.

The selection of Pope Francis witnessed by the world was a sacred occurrence in Vatican participated by Cardinals from different parts of the world who composed the College of Cardinals. Pope Francis will be leading the entire Catholic Church in the world with about 1.2 billion Catholic believers as of 2010 Census of the 2012 Annuario Pontificio (Pontifical Yearbook).

The Catholic Church is headed by a Pope while a democratic Government is headed by a President. The structure of church government in choosing their leader is called Papacy which is the system of central government of the Roman Catholic Church of which the pope is the supreme head being accorded special respect; while the layman’s government known as presidency, the administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation.

The manner of choosing a pope begins with a papal conclave known as the meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a new Bishop of Rome. The conclave has been the procedure for choosing the pope for more than half of the time the church has been in existence, and is the oldest ongoing method for choosing the leader of an institution. These Cardinals are from different parts of the world.

On the other hand, the manner of choosing a pope and a president is significantly different. The Pope was selected by the cardinals for the papacy while the president is chosen by the people at large in a democratic or republican system.

However, the sacredness of selecting the new Pope is admirable; while in selecting a new president in a republic like the Philippines is terrible due to fraudulent conduct of election. A candidate for Papacy is chosen voluntarily by the College of Cardinals without expressing their interest; while a Candidate for presidency, volunteered themselves or pushed by powerful ambitious individual with personal motivation. A pope is chosen to govern the Catholic Church for the moral reconstruction of the world chaos society; while the president may be elected for the common good, but sometimes they are elected to govern the country to make it more chaotic for personal interest instead of protecting the welfare of the people as stated in Article II Section 4 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the prime duty of the government is to serve and protect people.

One good thing for the layman’s government in a democratic society everybody can be heard, can voice out, people can revolt against an abusive government and everybody has a chance to be in power as long as able to read and write as the basic literacy qualification in the case of the Philippines. Meanwhile, the church government is hierarchical or authoritarian, protocol is highly observed with strong discipline.

PRESCRIPTION:

May be there is no impossible for the Philippine electoral process to become more credible and trustworthy if politicians will not praise Satan for them not to be gifted will evil mind.

To maintain the sacredness of the votes, electorate must prevent themselves from receiving bribe from the candidates. A candidate who gave money must not be chosen; for sure they will become unscrupulous and corrupt. We, people don’t have the right to complain because we are already paid to be abuse and mistreated.

May 13, 2013 will be the synchronize national and local election, from senatorial position down to the Municipal or City officials, lets guard our votes, let’s observe the Vatican electoral process as sacred as we can to make our election credible and believable.