THE BEST PRESIDENT OF ALL TIME IN THE EYES OF THE OF MOST ARDENT CRITIC. IBA KA TALAGA IDOL PNOY..HE IS RIGHT,WALA KA PANG KAPALIT PARA SA IKAUUNLAD NG BAYAN..REMAIN IN YOUR THRONE,THE SILENT MAJORITY REALLY LOVES U.FORGET ABOUT THE CRABS..THEY WERE OUTNUMBER BY THE SILENT MAJORITY WHO WILL SUPPORT U ALL THE WAY . The Society of Honor by Joe America Home Anonymity Contact Us Joe America Library Policy and Terms ‘Dear Mr. President, about those term limits . . .” Posted by Joe America on September 21, 2014 · 42 Comments aquino arrives in france inquirer Full honors in Paris Dear Mr. President, Good day, Sir. I trust that you had a delightful time in Europe. The French are okay, eh? They offered a rather touching tribute to you and your mother. It seems to me that the trip was another important step to elevate the Philippines in the world’s eyes, spark an interest among investors and gain support for a law-based resolution of the conflict with China. Congratulations on those achievements. Now you are coming back from the diplomatic rounds and must again face the harsh world of real problems aggravated by venomous political game playing. Vacations are never long enough. I must admit that I am not one of your bosses other than as an advocate for my young son. He is Filipino by birth and I expect he will live and thrive here. He’s cracker jack smart . . . which is really smart . . . and has all the stubborn qualities of a full-fledged Filipino augmented by a strain of argumentative DNA from his peculiar German/American heritage. In other words, wishy washy, he ain’t. I’ve noticed that you have a little of that quality yourself. Some call you hard-headed but I refer to it as “determined”. Your father was determined, eh? It is a valuable character quality for a leader if he has his directions on right. It is a bad quality if the leader is headed the wrong way. Mostly, I think you are headed the right direction. Indeed, as I have written in these pages, I think you have led an amazing transformation of the Philippines, and it is too bad that the lower managers can’t keep pace with your ideals. But that will improve as more hiring is done for competence instead of patronage. It takes time to pull the weeds that have been growing in government gardens for years. Hire the youngsters, that’s my idea. They aspire and they are impatient in a constructive way. They have not yet been dulled by years of slog in the patronage-bound worker’s bog. If you will allow me a brief digression, I have noticed that Filipinos can sometimes be an impatient people. When a storm blows through, they want all the houses put back in six months or they will scream bloody murder. And they want you to feed ‘em whilst the construction is underway. I presume you have noticed that, too. And when your bosses decide from reading shallow and misleading news reports that they don’t like something . . . like DAP for instance . . . they tend to talk first and listen never. It’s hard to be rational when the audience is not. You’ve possibly picked up on that as well. Well, I think time is its own boss and some things just use up a lot of it. One does not remake a government or a culture or an economy in six years. It is hard to get an airport remodeling bid out and done in six years. And one does not get rid of a nationwide infestation of corruption in six years, either. One can make a dent, and yours has been sizable. You wield a heavy sledge. But there are still scurrilous money-grubbers in the provinces sucking the productive life from the nation a million pesos at a time. Frankly, I think getting this nation straightened out and globally competitive is probably a 25 year job. I don’t mean to be impolite, but I must ask. Do you believe you are the only person who can do this? That you have to be here for 25 years to get to a conclusion? As I reflect on that, it seems to me the idea of ever reaching a conclusion is an illusion. Old soldiers die and, in the Philippines, old presidents seem go to jail. But there is still work to be done. Always. So if you want to stay in the job to reach a conclusion, I am afraid you will be in office for a very long time. And the people will eventually rise up and everything will turn sour. I think it is a bad idea, this seeking of a conclusion. Because, like the carrot in front of the donkey’s nose, it keeps moving along right in front. Ever unreachable. It is a perpetual drive much akin to greed. So here’s my take on this. Although I like your confidence and your achievements, I’m afraid I am against the idea that there is only one good driver for this particular bus. To me, the trick is not finding the driver. It is getting him elected. Or her. It is easier to get a bad driver elected because Filipinos seem to prefer people with panache, with style, with an “in your face” attitude. Losers are too often winners here. Winners are losers in the Philippines because envy runs so deep. That’s Roxas’ problem. His family is too successful. Dee Meyer did a little piece about envy a while back, “Thinking outside the bucket“. But the point is, Filipinos like to flaunt convention. They like showmen and “attitude”. You know, cock fight kinds of guys like Estrada and Binay and that hen Arroyo. Or showboats like Santiago or champs like Pacquiao. Or Duterte, the Duke of Davao. He’d be a shoo-in if he ran, I suspect. Knee jerk and outspoken are seen as positive traits . . . and we’d be at war with China about a week after he took office. Our favorite angel, Grace Poe, could probably win, too, even though she seems to have the calm demeanor of a school teacher when we need a mad-hatter who will whip the place in shape. As one of my readers indelicately put it, we need an “A-hole with integrity” to break through the bottlenecks. But good Grace has the right name, fine brain, great character and an eye for progress. We also have a problem of vote splitting. Wiki illustrates in clear language what the risks are: In the 2004 Philippine presidential election, those who were opposed to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency had their vote split into the four candidates, thereby allowing Arroyo to win. The opposition had film actor Fernando Poe, Jr. as their candidate, but Panfilo Lacson refused to give way and ran as a candidate of a breakaway faction of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino. If the 2016 election shapes up to be between the “black hat” candidate versus the “white hat” candidate, how might votes get split? The only way the black hat electorate could be split is if a black hat kind of guy also ran – say a mayor of Manila – and sucked off the popular vote from the main man. The “white hat” electorate will get split about six ways, I suspect. We could imagine Roxas running for the same pool of voters as, say, candidates Cayetano, Poe, Santiago and Trillanes. And maybe toss in a Teodoro or Villar, for old times sake. So for the white hat to win, there has to be a coming together of minds, no matter what political affiliation they originally had, to decide on the strongest horse. And to back that candidate with an intensity of support that the Philippines has never seen before. It is better to do this early before all the white hat candidates have splattered mud on one another. I’m not sure the peoples’ passion is still there for you to wear that white hat. Well, from some it is there. But it can’t be like it was before. There are too many targets for opponents to attack, your aspiring to be a “dictator” perhaps the largest. There’s also DAP and some questionable deeds by your cabinet members. Busted trains and impossible traffic. Electricity and broadband problems. Floods. Every ill of the Philippines gets laid at your feet for some reason. You are no longer Mr. Halo. Now if the system were to put the black hat candidate in jail, that takes care of that, eh? That would work, too, and then we would have a legitimate election of candidates from a white hat pool, and all would be rosy. But illusive is the way of the skilled hereabouts, so I am not betting on that. Here are some people who I think could do the presidential job well if elected: Cayetano, Poe, Escudero, Teodoro, Angara, or Roxas. They are all rational people of stable and intelligent character, relatively young and decent people. I’ve left off the eccentrics (Duterte, Santiago) because they are too unreliable, and I am not really inclined to like going to war. I’ve also left off the old codgers (Drilon, Osmena) because the Philippines is a young nation and needs to move quickly. Old people are . . . well . . . rigid, not to mention inclined to taking naps at inopportune times. Trillanes doesn’t know how to smile, so I find warming up to him difficult. Leni Robredo seems too much of a stretch to me, but I could likely be swayed to add her to the list. In the framework of a white hat effort, political party affiliation should not mean much. Political parties are so artificial, are they not? Cliques of good old boys and girls, like a fraternity without the paddles. They are not more important than the nation, for sure. I think it is wise to go with the best person, no matter what party has been his past affiliation. I like Cayetano myself, among all the people I listed. I have found Poe a little mild but Cayetano is the kind of intelligent, forward-thinker . . . and bit of an A-hole . . .who can drive the nation forward. But that’s just my take on it. So that’s my view on term limits. If you believe they should be changed as a matter of stability or continuity or some other legitimate reason, then change them for your successor . . . but not for yourself. I have this image of you being truly passionate about the nation over personal gain. Frankly, I’d like to hold on to that ideal. There are so very few who can stand tall like that. Yours respectfully, Joe America
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 05:11:48 +0000
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