I agree sir Isagani Cruz. We have other problems besides the hunt for the next president a.k.a 16 ala 41: Portrait of my Father by president George W. Bush. In our constant searching for P-Noys replacement we have forgotten our next biggest problem: who will succeed VP Binay? We tend to forget that the office of the Vice President is just as important as the President. Lets walk down the memory lane: When Manuel Luis Quezon died in New York in 1944 he was replaced by his Vice President Sergio Osmena. Legend (or is it history?) has it that MLQs some of his memorable last acts as president was granting a pardon to a bomb-thrower on the ground that as a bread winner of family of 8 he was only making 40 cents a day as food vendor. Snapped the first Philippine president before granting the pardon, no wonder you have become a bomb-thrower ...40 cents a day? Several months later after Quezons death, Sergio Osmena was wading the high seas in that famous October 1944 Leyte Landing of General Douglas Mc Arthur along with Carlos P. Romulo to liberate the Philippines from the Japanese invaders during World War 2 and president Serging presided on the huge task of reconstruction after the great war. When president Manuel Roxas died of heart attack in 1947 at Clark field Pampanga after giving speech to the US Airforce, the VP at that time was Elpidio Quirino whose subsequent administration was tainted with widespread corruption. President Quirinos own bedroom had been scandalized with the media expose on his alleged overpriced sleeping bed which amounted to 5000 pesos which at that time the said price was considered anomalous. In 1957 President Ramon Magsaysay died on a plane crash at Mt. Manunggal with just a lone human survivor of that terrible aircraft destruction and legend has it the cause of the tragedy was that the presidents plane was overloaded with baskets full of mango fruit. The idol of the masses was replaced by his Vice President Carlos Garcia whose administration was troubled by rice shortage. When president Erap was deposed by EDSA Dos he was replaced by VP GMA whose administration found itself on the same footing, the same predicament that resulted in the popular uprising that evicted No.13 from the palace of the people by the ilog Pasig in January 2001. Now lets go to the great United States (US). The first US president George Washington who was so famous as that Commanding American General who kicked the British from the American soil during American Revolution (1777) was actually unwilling to become the very first US president. The man who convinced this reluctant General of great battlefields to become 1 was John Adams, Georges own vice president. When this founding father John Adams became president himself after Washington, his Vice president was Thomas Jefferson who was very famous for being the penman of the US Declaration of Independence in 1776. Finally, when Jefferson became no. 3, after Washington and Adams, he bought from Emperor Napoleon of France the famous Louisiana Purchase in 1803 that made the USA so big as it is now seen on the map. When William McKinley was killed by assasins bullet, his Vice President was Theodore Roosevelt whose famous initials were TR but was fondly called Teedie ( one writer wrote it Tiddy and still others Teddy). This man TR, who wrote that classic Man in the arena extolling the vitues of strenuous life like his gunfighting yet heroic Rough Riders days during the outbreak of Spanish-American War, had assumed the role of Policeman of the World when he became the 26th president in 1901. No wonder TRs verile face is carved in Mount Rushmore together with the other giants: Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. Now this made America proud and great. Now whos the next VP for the Philippines? Take your pick. This important office could make or unmake our dear country as usual.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 08:08:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015