On May 11, ANC sponsored a “Leadership Forum” at the Ateneo de Manila University for prospective presidential candidates for the 2010 elections. Those who attended were Chiz Escudero, Dick Gordon, Ed Panlilio, Mar Roxas and Gilbert Teodoro.
Watching the news on the forum and its highlights, I got the sense that it was not really about leadership, but more about each candidate’s likeability on TV and being able to pull out quotable sound bites and such other gimmickry for mass appeal.
I don’t think anyone of them presented a concrete plan of action if elected president.
Anyone really serious about the presidency should be ready by now with his vision and platform of government. Well, I guess our politics is still about popularity and the ultimate “winnability” thing by whatever means at hand. And perhaps, all the presidentiables are only playing coy about their real plans or no-plans to avoid controversy. After all, politics is addition, regardless of principle, as every politico in this country has always pursued. I remember taking a taxi in Iloilo during the 2004 election campaign on my way to a court hearing. The driver asked me what kind of president we should have. “Yung matino,” I replied.
He agreed 100 percent, and remarked, however, “meron ba tayo nun?”
Anyhow, let’s see what happens next. Back to our beloved Naga, perhaps we could advance our usual public fora for candidates. More so, at this time when a vacuum would be created by the non-eligibility of Jesse Robredo to run again. A conjugal dynasty is possibly in the offing now, as Lenny has been reportedly going the rounds already.
Who else? Indeed, this is the ultimate failure of leadership in Naga, when you cannot readily have a successor in mind or pool of possible candidates from whom the people can choose from. Fr. Wilmer Tria? Why not?
Personally as a friend, I would strongly dissuade him from running for Mayor. But, as against a conjugal dynasty prohibited by the Constitution although not enforced by a “kamag-anak incorporated” Congress that would surely perpetrate an administration that flagrantly violates the laws, I would vote for Fr. Tria if he does run for Mayor.
More importantly, Fr. Tria is a true leader. Matino. This he has shown in his priestly ministry and other educational, social and development engagements. For example, the Madrigal Foundation micro-finance and housing projects that he has led are not the patronage type for command votes, but selfless initiatives that give beneficiaries genuine ownership and equal human dignity and freedom. This is actually the kind of programs that we need for Naga, especially our urban poor. That is, where they can rise up by their own individual efforts, and not remain at the mercy of dole outs from the public treasury like the P2 million “loan” to SPUKOI that Robredo released way back in 1998, which remains unpaid to date to the detriment of other needy families!