The following is an excerpt from the article "Davao politicians gear up for election" posted by Grace Uddin of  the alternative media group davaotoday.com

 

Christian Lloyd Espinoza, a political science student at the University of Mindanao, said doling out goods and cash to people by politicians only bolsters the patronage system in Philippine politics.

“It reinforces the usual practice of electing people to government positions based only on their personality,” said Espinoza, the editor-in-chief of Kartilya, the political students’ school paper of the University of Mindanao. He also said that by introducing their names to potential voters this early,politicians merely want to trigger “name recall” so that voters will easily remember their names during election time.

He said that the culture of “utang na loob” (indebtedness) has been embedded deeply in the Filipino psyche that politicians are tapping into it by doling out items to potential voters. He said that in the guise of doing their official functions, politicians can already start introducing themselves to the people even before the official campaign period starts in February next year.

“The politicians have been employing creative means,” he said.

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