Qualifications
My teenage sister was intently watching the evening news over dinner. She was the only one who paid a quid of attention to the boisterous reporting of the TV anchors. We always leave the television on over dinner, perhaps to make up for my brother's reticence, or my father's wandering attention, but that's a different conversation.
A news segment featured Senator Manny Pacquiao, boxer cum solon, lambasting a blogger in a Senate hearing for spreading fake news about him. My sister recoiled from his behavior, and perhaps from his less than perfect grasp of the English language ("Apologize in the front of my face!") and she asked out loud: "How is that guy a senator?"
"He won enough votes, he's at least thirty-five years of age, he can read and write, and he's a Filipino citizen. That's all you need to be." I shrugged while telling her this, not even taking my eyes off the dinner plate. She engaged me further: "Is that even right? Shouldn't they impose at least like, having a college degree? Or experience?" My father chuckled. "Eh yung security guard nga, ngayon dapat college degree holder eh. Ano yun, daig pa ng sekyu ang senador?"
It is an expected sentiment, one so casually felt among people in our country, this defeatist view towards politics. Not many years ago, I was also confused by the brevity of requirements for our government's highest positions, when what is required for those in the bureaucracy are higher and more specialized. Shouldn't the power that one wields be commensurate to the ability and capacity of its holder? That same quandary preoccupied my sister then.
I didn't expect the explanation I gave her: "Those are the qualifications because that's what the law requires. Certainly, the law wanted its public officials to be qualified, but even more important than that is the freedom to choose our leaders, depending on what the people need. Not every person who holds a college degree can be called "qualified" if they use their intelligence against the people. Likewise, not everyone who may not have it all in their brain can be called "disqualified" if they know how to lead. So, people are unpredictable. That's why the law requires just that - the bare minimum. People are unpredictable, so let's just do our best every chance we get. More important than an impossibly perfect politician, is the realistic need to be free enough to replace them."
I don't know where that answer came from, it just makes sense to me.