EXCELLENCE IS A MUST FOR

POLITICAL CANDIDATES
"All political candidates must possess academic excellence, professional excellence, and
moral excellence. Candidates that do not possess all these qualifications shall not be
allowed to run for any position."

The subject of a political candidate's excellence has been a point of contention in previous election
years, and it continues to be so now. Moral, professional, and even academic excellence are all attributes that a
prospective political candidate must possess. This is the foundation of a politician's public service. Many
political office holders have been revoked owing to a lack of morals, scholastic performance, and
professionalism, all of which are essential attributes if you want to work in politics, particularly in the
Philippines.

There are various forms of elections in the Philippines. When we say political candidates, we mean
members of the House of Representatives, governors, vice-governors, members of the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan, mayors, vice-mayors, members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod/members of the Sangguniang
Bayan, barangay officials, and members of the Sangguniang Kabataan, who are all elected for a three-year
term. The three excellencies are required for all positions, from the lowest (SK) to the highest (president). I'd
want to draw attention to the highest political position: that of the president. The three excellences are not
included in the Philippine Law regarding political candidate requirements. However, the 1987 Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines stipulates that a candidate for president must be a natural-born Filipino citizen,
a registered voter, able to read and write, at least forty years old on election day, and have lived in the
Philippines for at least ten years immediately prior to the election. This doesn't mean that a political candidate
should not hold the three excellencies.

Furthermore, Miriam Defensor Santiago, a presidential contender in 2016, is a possessor of these

three distinctions. Miriam Palma Defensor-Santiago was a Filipina scholar, lawyer, judge, author, and
politician who served in the judicial, executive, and legislative departments of the Philippine government.
In 1997, Defensor Santiago was designated one of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women (The
Australian). She is a very accomplished individual and has the expertise about politics. In one of her
statements as presidential candidate in 2016, "Politics is not a personality contest, a show for
entertainment, but rather this is a show for educating the Filipino Voters on what their own
responsibilities are... first, there should be an academic excellence - must be a head of the class or at least
an honor student. Second, must posses professional excellence - must received an award from fellow
professionals. Lastly and very important, he should have moral excellence - there is no machine you can
attach to human being so that you can tell whether the person is honest or not (ABS-CBN News, 2016).

I defend the claim that all political candidates must be academically, professionally, and morally
excellent. Why? People will look forward to you once you enter politics, and they will also look at your
background successes before voting for you. Having these three qualities will ensure a candidate's
victory. If a candidate has academic achievement, he must have specific leadership skills - leadership in
his class, humility – humility in having honors, and intelligence for making decisions in various
scenarios. Next, if a candidate possesses professional excellence, he has undoubtedly acquired the eight
core characteristics of professionalism: competence, knowledge, conscientiousness, integrity, respect,
emotional intelligence, appropriateness, and confidence, as well as the eight core characteristics of
professionalism: competence, knowledge, conscientiousness, integrity, respect, emotional intelligence,
appropriateness, and confidence. Finally, he possesses moral perfection, which entails the ability to do
what is right while avoiding what is wrong.

To summarize, moral excellence is defined by Aristotle - one of the greatest philosophers -

as "a disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and
excess, which are vices." To be a good example of a politician, he must put these qualities into
practice and strive for them because he will soon be the leader of a nation. Because of the rapid
spread of issues in the Philippines, not possessing these qualities would truly bring a lot of turmoil in
politics and even the country. John C Maxwell once said, "A leader is one who knows the way, goes
the way, and demonstrates the way."

Benjito Dominico M. Sutingco RWS PT04 Position Paper Reading and Writing Skills 11