We have watched the “Halalan” presidentiables’ forum aired over ABS-CBN last night and here are my top three choices, my reasons for choosing them, and why the others did not even pass my ’shortlisting.’ :)
Let me first discuss my top three choices and why I think they deserve my vote.
(My answer to the arguments will be in highlighted underlined text)
Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. It is obvious that he is intelligent and a savvy communicator (he deserves some cheers here). However, I will definitely not vote for him for the following reasons:
1. He always says he values “loyalty” and that is why he is sticking it out with Lakas-Kampi. Can someone ask him this question, please, “Is loyalty greater and more important than integrity?” If your boss and his family are obviously associated with a lot of issues such as on corruption, over-spending, over-traveling, vote-rigging, allowing of private armies (which led to a horrible massacre of innocent lives), and so on and so forth, would you still be proud that you are “loyal” to him? When should loyalty end? Must we draw a line somewhere?
IN RESPONSE: Loyalty stems from the fact that from a Sec. Gibo Teodoro standpoint, I don’t see why there is a need to bash PGMA. Sec. Teodoro is right, that it is indeed the height of ingratitude to leave the President who gave you the break to be the youngest National Defense Secretary in history. It is right to say as well that the PGMA administration has proven its worth in improving our economy, given the infrastructural milestones, and unprecedented economic growth it has posted the past few years. PARTY principles go ABOVE personalities in the party, which includes now Chairman Emeritus PGMA. Trained as a professional/lawyer, Sec. Teodoro’s stand is clear. We have to ALLOW our institutions to work to prosecute the president. If our institutions through our representatives in the institutions decide to keep status quo, that is the BEST form of REPRESENTATION, institution wise, because Our REPRESENTATIVES, by institution, represent a segmented portion of our population through the ELECTORAL PROCESS, rather than public assemblies in streets, recognized by the constitution but less powerful in democratic institutions compared to elections. PUBLIC CLAMOR is always created some people because they have the MEDIA VEHICLE to do so. However, this is not a constitutionally installed method of representation. LOYALTY stems from the fact that the President gave HIM a FREE HAND in administering one of the cleanest tenures in the Defense Department’s history.
2. He is clearly a trapo. It does not mean he is terribly nightmarish-bad but it is sad that he cannot even leave the party because of another thing (I may be wrong here, of course) – the machinery it offers. There lies the brutal fact that despite the endless issues hurled against his ‘masters’, he dare not leave them…and maybe because of the ease and comfort of having a nationwide machinery for his presidential aspirations? We can only guess. To a traditional politician, a party support is still a party support. However, Mr. Teodoro should also remember that a good party is not the same as a bad party. No more debate.
IN RESPONSE: His choice of PARTY does not only stem from the machinery of the party, but also stems from the CENTRIST DEMOCRACY stance of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party. It focuses on the human as the focal point of democracy, and that we must dignify the institutions which govern man so that there would be an efficiency in the delivery of public goods to be distributed amongst all of them. MACHINERY, whether we like it or not, is important. No ONE in Philippine History or even with the Barrack Obama campaign, would have been capable to win the elections without this. Now, if you were to qualify, at present, what is a QUALITY party or not, I guess the recent action of Sec. Teodoro on removing the Ampatuans from the party should be an indication of a strong sense of political will to carry out party reform from the man. Also, the outflux of personalities from the party is only indicative that the NEW Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party leadership, under Sec. Teodoro, Migz Dominguez and Francis Manglapuz, is keen in effecting change from within before the country. Lakas can now brag of quality membership in its regional bases. I don’t know how did you define traditional politics, but it is clear that Sec. Teodoro is anti-politician, and a clear manifestation of that came when HE, as NDCC Chair, could have used the exposure to advance his political ambitions. HE did NOT USE Ondoy as a vehicle for that, compared to others who tried to do such at a time when a nation was suffering.
3. He is a product of political dynasty, the very same thing that eventually becomes the ‘fertility bed’ for abuses. I remember his interview with Ms. Cheche Lazaro (in “Profiles”) when he said that he went back to the Philippines after staying in the US because he was convinced by his politico-relative (if I remember correctly, Mr. Danding Cojuangco) to run for public office. As if running for public office is a DNA thing. As if having relatives in politics gives one the ‘moral’ reason to also run for public office. Why do we have this penchant for husbands and wives, fathers (and mothers!) and sons, sisters and brothers, running for public office? Can we finally put a stop to these weird habit of believing that public service runs in the blood? Sure, it’s probably ok to have two politicos in the family (although I still think that a husband-and-wife team of politicos leaves a bad after-taste) but having 3, 4, 5 and even more politicians within the same surname or lineage is definitely a sign of lack of ‘delicadeza’ or shall we say, a familial addiction to power? Again, I may be wrong but let us look at things squarely; there is no need for complicated analysis.
IN RESPONSE: There is nothing wrong with political dynasties. In fact, there are some dynasties who have been proven to have given cities/provinces successes in past decades. Now, if one sees dynasties as having the veneer to control local politics, Sec. Teodoro has continuously pursued POLITICAL PARTY REFORM, which will allow candidates not belonging to these political dynasties, by support of political parties, to defeat the dynasties seated in power. Parties have to involve people in the grassroots level, and power should not sit only in the elite. The only way we could defeat BAD dynasties is through the ELECTORAL PROCESS.
4. His platform does not seem anchored on a genuine understanding of the structural problems inherent in our national woes. For example, he actually believes that we need more military and police personnel! That was how he replied when he was asked something about the huge presence of CVOs in Mindanao. Oh dear, it is as if our problems are military in nature and that the solutions also require a militaristic framework. He must talk to his former subordinates in the AFP/DND and find out more about how many of the Generals now think that our society does not need more guns but more participation in nationwide building and environmental protection. Yes, Mr. Teodoro, I have personally met Generals and Lieutenant Colonels in the AFP who are now talking about social transformation that is anchored on building communities and not on creating more private armies. Does he really think that we need more militia men to cover our 7,100++ islands instead of jobs, food security, and environmental integrity?
IN RESPONSE: I think you missed the entire platform that Sec. Teodoro proposes. One of course is the needed force structure to deter lawless elements in Mindanao. The topographic characteristics of our country and our number of policemen/soldiers are not directly proportional, and there must be a police power deployed to areas which have already been taken over by the military. DISARMING lawless elements, in fact, was one of his main focus points as DND Secretary. This is a problem which cannot be solved OVERNIGHT, that is why his Defense Administration tried to mitigate first the influx of arms in the area of Mindanao through stringent Military operations in coastal areas where entry of new firearms were taking place. There have been developments, but ONE Defense administration cannot guarantee an entire disarming of a whole island, considering we lack the force structure to do so. Now, what you missed out is the SOCIAL INTEGRATION PROGRAM that he has initiated in combating insurgents, which includes the capacity of inter-agency networks to re-introduce newly converted insurgents into the normal flow of society. But that cannot be taken care of to the fullest extent if INSURGENT NETWORKS and the GOVERNMENT will not go to the table and settle PEACE AGREEMENTS. PEACE AGREEMENTS has always been the focal point of Sec. Teodoro’s stay in the department, as the current GRP-MILF talks has achieved two major milestones: A creation of international contact group database (acting as guarantors of the deal), and the CIVILIAN PROTECTION COMPONENT, seeking to protect Internally displaced persons and finding meaningful means for them to rehabilitate their livelihood, something that Sec. Teodoro has also been supportive of during his stay as DND Sec.
The need for us to answer and clarify the issues is important, so that the public may truly know our candidates, and what they have truly done for the country, despite the seemingly wrong impression built in the minds of some of our Filipino brothers and sisters.
0 comments:
Post a Comment