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Like every man,
all Philippine presidents (1965-2009) have their good and dark sides.
President
Ferdinand Marcos, a constitutional dictator, wanted a disciplined society to anchor
the country's economic growth. He started with the right foot but ended with the
wrong one.
Marcos
asked Filipinos to give up their freedom in order to have bread. Martial Law resulted
in Filipinos instead not having both bread and freedom.
His
redeeming and eternal contribution was the cultivation of authentic Pilipino culture
and arts that flourished in his era. Great cinematic showcases and the birth of
original Pinoy music are just two landmark areas of achievement.
Ferdinand
Malakas almost always wore the barong Tagalog and Imelda Maganda the endearing
terno. In that area, the two walked the talk.
Cory
Aquino, meanwhile, gave back international respect to the Philippines through
a bloodless People Power where Imelda would only imagine we had respect in her
time.
Cory,
a transition president, restored "democracy in the ways of democracy"
- and empowered the local governments. She broke up many cartels and monopolies
that hindered the full blooming of the "free market."
With
her vast powers, Cory Aquino could have railroaded the Ninoy assassination case
into a legal conclusion or have herself constitutionally re-elected in 1992. But
the modern political Joan of Arc - took the road less traveled.
Fidel
V. Ramos, the military man, made buzzzwords in his term - of "privatization"
and "BOT" (Build Operate and Transfer) variants that resulted in robust
economic growth and unprecedented record of budget surplus for some years.
He
solved the energy crisis in the country - though his over-zealousness resulted
in less than advantageous deals for the nation. FVR also made strong population
growth control statements - correctly seeing the misery of having too many mouths
to feed in a Third World country.
Joseph
"Erap" Estrada, on the other hand, showed that political charisma can
beat organized politics. The actor-politician showed that the masses love a leader
with a high EQ (Emotional Quotient) more than the one with a high I.Q. (Intelligence
Quotient).
He
was a swashbuckling crime-fighter and pulverized Muslim training camps in Mindanao
in an "all-out-war."
Estrada
began as a populist president devoted to bridging the gap between the rich and
the poor and told Big Business to back off his pro-poor policies. Humble enough
to recognize his lack of preparedness for the presidency - he chose one of the
most able and honest crew of Cabinet men in recent memory.
Estrada
had activist Boy Morales for DAR, ex-priest (SVD) Edicio de la Torre for the Peace
Process, whistle-clean Harriet Demetriou for legal adviser, Orly Mercado to "civilianize"
the Defense beat, professional banker Ed Espiritu for Finance;
La
Salle Brother Andrew for the DepEd, spotless former justice Cecilia Muñoz-Palma
as head of the often graft-infested PCSO, Budget Secretary Ben Diokno and, of
course, Gloria M. Arroyo for DSWD, if one insists.
President
GMA, a great economic mind but a poor politician by heart - had grown the economy
vertically from 2003-2008 and fortified the international reserves to an all-time
high of US$39 billion.
These
economic statistics, however, failed to filter down to the masses such that the
latest SWS (Social Weather Station) survey still showed that 30 million Filipinos
(28% of total of 90 million) are still stalked by hunger.
In
her long wake, RP was crowned as the "most corrupt nation of Asia" while
close to 900 extra-judicial killings had gotten the ire of international human
rights advocates. The Guinness Book of Records had RP's 3,515 murders in the year
2004 as the highest in the world (save war-torn countries).
Perhaps,
the weakest link in her armor is the issue of legitimacy engendered by an alleged
fraudulent elections (2004) of which she had responded obliquely by pampering
the military, congressmen and the local executives to thwart any grab at power
or impeachment.
PGMA
had tried to accelerate the infrastructure projects to keep the Philippines to
an even keel with its ASEAN neighbors. However, many of the mega projects like
roads (World Bank issue), some irrigation dams, the broadband network (ZTE), a
major airport terminal (NAIA) and a high railway (Luzon) have been wracked by
graft-ridden scandals.
As
the 2010 presidential election draws near, it is worthwhile to reflect on each
president's individual gifts of leadership and virtues.
The
better to know what kind of president we should vote for in 2010.
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