OBLIQUE OBSERVATIONS
By Atty. Gilberto Lauengco, J.D.
The ballot chooses the government. The results should measure it. The people of the Bangsamoro have just taken part in a historic exercise in democracy.
On Sept. 14, about 2.39 million registered voters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) were given the opportunity to choose the members of the region’s first elected parliament. Eighty seats were at stake, marking a major step in the transition from an appointed regional government to elected self-government.
It is an important milestone. But an election, no matter how historic, is only the beginning. The more difficult question comes afterward: How will the people know whether their elected government is doing its job?
Democracy is often measured by elections. We count voters, ballots, and winners. We talk about turnout and mandates. But once the campaign posters come down and the politicians take their seats, another kind of measurement should begin.
We should measure results.
Did government programs reduce poverty? Did children gain better access to education? Did health services reach remote communities? Did infrastructure improve people’s daily lives? Did investments create jobs? Did communities become safer?
These questions matter in BARMM, where the promise of self-government is closely connected to the larger promise of peace and development.
The peace process created an opportunity for the Bangsamoro to exercise greater political autonomy. The first parliamentary election represents another step in that journey. But autonomy will ultimately have to be experienced not only in government institutions, but in the lives of ordinary people. This is where measurement becomes an essential part of governance.
Government agencies already collect enormous amounts of data. They know how many classrooms were built, how many beneficiaries received assistance, how many kilometers of roads were completed, and how much money was spent.
But numbers describing government activity are not always the same as numbers describing government success. A program can reach thousands of people and still fail to solve the problem it was intended to address. That is why governments need another question: What did the people experience?
Regular citizen surveys can help answer it.
Technology now makes it possible to gather public feedback more quickly and more frequently. Properly designed surveys can help national agencies and local governments determine whether programs are accessible, useful, and producing their intended results.
A new technology and app-based survey group called Pulso Intelligence has provided a way to quickly but accurately survey and track feedback. As mentioned in my previous op ed, new tech-heavy survey firms are collaborating with various institutions, including universities, to use technology to do quicker and deeper surveys and other forms of feedback. Speed is the new factor.
Such surveys should not be confused with popularity contests. The purpose should not be to ask whether a politician is liked. The purpose should be to ask whether a policy works. Imagine a local government discovering through regular feedback that residents are struggling to access a health program. Or an education agency learning that a scholarship program is reaching students but that transportation costs remain a barrier to attendance. Or a livelihood program discovering that beneficiaries received training but still cannot find markets for their products. This information gives government something invaluable: the opportunity to correct course.
The first Bangsamoro Parliament will have an important responsibility. But citizens, too, have a continuing responsibility – not merely to vote, but to remain engaged and informed about what their government does after the election.
The ballot gives citizens a voice. Measurement gives that voice continuity. In the years ahead, BARMM’s success should not be measured simply by which political bloc forms the government or how many laws the parliament passes. It should also be measured in classrooms, hospitals, roads, businesses and communities.
The question should always return to the people: Is government making your life better? This is a question worth asking in BARMM – and across the Philippines.
Because democracy should not be a report card issued only every election day.
It should be a continuous process of choosing, measuring, learning, and improving. The ballot chooses the government. The results should measure it.
