It’s election season again. So, as expected, a lot of people ask us who we think should be president. Personally I think that is a rude question. Ballots are cast in secret for a reason — because who one votes for is none of anyone else’s business. To be fair, good manners are really not a strong part of Filipino tradition. We are, after all, renowned for a habit of urinating in public spaces, jumping queues,and dumping trash on empty lots. So I’ll let that one slide and oblige the question.
Here is who I think should be President of the Philippines in 2016.
The next President of the Philippines should;
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(1) Be able to articulate a vision for the Philippines by the time he or she steps down after completing his or her six-year term;
(2) Possesses a track record of focused execution and courageous oversight; and,
(3) Be a statesman and a gentleman and behave as such.
For decades, Filipinos have wasted their precious votes on crooks, conmen, and morons.
Many will likely note that I didn’t include “honesty” and “integrity” in the above criteria. My reasons are simple. Those two are virtues one would expect of any modern civlilised human being, not just a president. So adding these two as explicit criteria in an exercise to evaluate presidential candidates really does not make much sense. Honest people will elect honest leaders and representatives. Dishonest people will elect dishonest leaders and representatives. It really can’t be more complicated than that. Philippine history is self-evident on that matter.
Then there is the whole thing about the need for “true reform”. I’ve been hearing that phrase for the longest time. It’s always made out to be a “pressing” imperative every election time. Funny enough, “true reform”, despite being made a key part of campaign slogans for more than 50 years has never happened. Why? Because obvious solutions are never implemented. Look no further than the traffic “issue” currently causing the chronic paralysis that characterises much of Metro Manila today. Metro Manila is a textbook case of a wholesale institutionalised ban on the inclusion of obvious solutions in urban planning. Even the biggest and most obvious solution of them all — eliminating pork barrel from the national budget — seems to be a monumental challenge!
More importantly, “true reform” will never happen because Filipinos do not elect true reformists. Most of the politicians who will be coming out of the rattanwork and declaring their candidacy over the next few months will be sporting familiar surnames. These will be names coming from the impossibly infinitessimal 1% of Philippine society that controls more than 90 percent of its economic and political capital. So much for variety. It is no wonder that the same inbred ideas and inbred approaches to governance will continue on over the foreseeable future. It is because the same sorts of characters will be elected into office.
The eminent scientist Albert Einstein once say…
Problems cannot be solved using the same thinking that created them.
The Philippine government today, all that came before it, and much of what will be coming in the next 100 years are products of Filipino thinking. Until Filipinos change the way they regard their leaders, they will suffer the same sorts of leaders they make a national sport out of complaining about. If Filipinos cannot imagine a different set of people they could consider for their presidents and representatives in Congress, they will continue to get the crooks, conmen, and plain idiots that govern them today.
So Filipinos really have a choice. We’ve always had one. Ours is a democratic form of government after all. How we regard the important exercise of choosing the next president is where the solution lies. If we focus on issues rather than on personalities, on platforms rather than on circuses, and on critical thought rather than on idle gossip, there might still be hope in a good president taking his or her seat in Malacanang someday.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
The next president will be dictated by the PCOS machine(or who controls the COMELEC and the PCOS), no matter how wise or idiotic the voters are.
I suggest we remove COMELEC and all its PCOS machine and equipment. Replace it with vote through text since Filipinos are fond of it anyway and that the resources for these are available. Prior to the election day a voter can register his phone number with his TIN (tax identification number). This will make sure that a voter can only vote once. To further assure that no anomalies can occur, a third party, non partisan body, probably from other countries should oversee the election proceedings. This is more efficient and convenient as we do not need to have a non working day, and save lots of resources which are otherwise wasted in going to and from the precincts, etc.
There should be no fiesta campaigning. Just post the resumes of the candidates in standard format on billboards on major thoroughfares and media as approved only. Include with this the candidates net worth at the time of campaigning including all assets and liabilities. Let us level the playing field.
No sloganeering, no shitty jingles, no miting de abanse, no dancing girls, no singing-out-of-tune actors/actresses, no noisy motorcades, no nonsense. Debates are compulsory and should be covered live on TV. I should think a debate with common people should be done too. Allow throwing of rotten vegetables/eggs in this events, too.
No showing of candidates’ life story on TV/media, or even a personalized interviews on TV shows/radio etc. The media shall only show information on voting wisely. All churches cannot mention anything about elections during masses/services, etc to their members. The church should not be allowed to influence their members on who to vote. Violators will be fined heavily.
Lastly, a candidate violating any of the rules are automatically disqualified and fined heavily.
After the election, losing candidates should be tasked to support the winners with the ultimate goal of making lives for Filipinos better than when their term started. Failure of the losing candidate to do these shall be reflected on his resume for posting on his next run for office.
The winning candidate shall be appraised by the people on a yearly basis. Pass or fail only – no nonsense. Failure means replacing with the next in command and shall also be subject to the same appraisal.
How about that?
I love this idea, using TIN number or SSS number makes so much sense, Taking a leave from work just to register in COMELEC is friggin stupid. I work for a telco and we already have a system that can support this.
sound!
best part is that the tax-paying working class will have a majority of the votes, not just anyone with a cell phone.
the TIN/SSS/GSIS database must be also updated to reflect dead members.
incarcerated individuals will not have the right to vote as well.
I appreciate people like you who express their novel ideas without reservation. Regardless of how unlikely they are to be implemented or how seemingly unreal or impractical they are, Everything begins with an idea.
Amazing. So people can register their phone numbers with their TIN and rent their devices (or even sell them) to politicians for quick and easy money. Hackers and vigilantes can even be hired to intervene with telecommunication signals to impede with the voting process. And so much so for representation of the poor. And so much too with the possible danger of traffic overload in the telecommunication lines. Globe and Smart will love this model so much, they will profit heavily without the need of updating their network systems (they may be condemned for slowdown, but no matter, more profit!!)
I like your idea! Everybody is given his own TIN or SSS numbers anyway. Nice one!
In the Philippines, the qualifications to run for president are as follows; surname, cash, dramatic narrative and of course, COMELEC cooperation.
The safeguard of democracy boils down to the education of the people. But sadly, the voters are not critical thinkers. That is the problem.
The next President of the Philippines should;
1. Not be an Aquino, Binay or other corrupted swine
2. Not be a complete lamebrain & coconut
3. See points 1 & 2
There you go! It’s that easy!
Excellent! Well said.
Sometimes I think democracy is too much for the Filipino people. Then again the alternative isn’t really a viable choice either.
So at the end of the day we are forced to make do with a broken system govern by broken politicians put into power by equally broken people(drones). Oh and don’t forget about those people who don’t exercise their rights to vote(shitty bastards).
what’s happening right now is the embodiment of one of the most ancient human desire, and that is to be the MOST POWERFUL MOTHERFUCKER in the face of EARTH…
If None in the current List of Politicians are clean (TRAPO-dirty/corrupt) or cannot be trusted and none seems to be competent (sharp), young or in good health.
Because of the rampant/blatant corruption and obvious incompetence (dumb/stupid) of our politicians today – NOBODY should be our choice in Voter Ballots
Vote NOBODY for President 2016
Don’t Just Vote for NOBODY. Get out there and ACTIVELY CAMPAIGN for a Nobody (non-politician) who you think can LEAD us Toward a Better & Safer Future.
If majority of our people voted for NOBODY or “None of the Above” rather than, “the lesser of evils,” it might force a situation where Voters would have to find someone competent to lead them.
To prevent Voters Apathy (lack of caring)-We need Active Participation of ALL in our Democratic System to show our disapproval officially in Ballots. Instead of people NOT registering to VOTE or boycott (50%) resulting a MINORITY winner (President).
NOBODY is represented by substitute/symbolical or a real candidate which People may choose based on the following:
1. A Non-politicians (not infected by system) – a simple man sincere enough to LEAD (no personal agenda or political ambition),
2. He/she is not spoiled by family/society/religion – from humble roots meaning He/she can relate/experience first hand all of our problems.
All other qualities that our present politicians and leaders lacks.
NOBODY can be anybody (a non-politician) willing to officially & legally represent the votes of ALL who disapprove or dissatisfied with current list Politician.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/77213/in-an-imperfect-world#ixzz39ZosjbUa
http://www.manilatimes.net/aquinos-new-title-thief-executive/114232/
http://manilastandardtoday.com/mobile/2014/07/26/most-expensive-parking-lot/
http://m.inquirer.net/opinion/?id=76849
http://definitelyfilipino.com/blog/2014/07/26/5-things-i-learned-from-the-corrupt-leaders-in-the-government/
http://www.nobodyforpresident.org/index2016.html
http://www.nobodyforpresident.org/
The next president depends on PCOS dictated or programmed results!
First, we are not a Democracy; our government is Feudal Oligarchy.Who would want that job?
Of course; people like the :Aquinos, the Estradas,the Marcoses, the Binays, etc..they are all crooks. They want more power, and become richer.
The problems of the Philippines are too numerous. It’s like one problem is piled up upon another…until it became like a mountain of garbage in a garbage dump.
There is a HOCUS PCOS, manipulated by the Feudal Oligarchs; that can determine the outcome of any Presidential election…
WHO and HOW can we solve all these Problems?
“Politicians (even if they were sincere) cannot solve all these problem because they have no technical capabilities, poor problem solving skills & logic and lacks observations/imagination (no vision) and bad organization/planning skills (since politician are mostly lawyers – nature of work are disputes/chaos).
Architects, Engineers, planners, Scientist, researchers & technical people are trained to solve all these problems because they have the capability, experience & know how to design, plan & construct building, community & cities – making all our lives & environment better & safer.
http://getrealphilippines.com/2014/09/why-metro-manilas-horrific-traffic-will-never-be-solved/comment-page-1/#comment-691450
SO WHY NOT USE THEM?
1. @ $20 Billion annual remittance
Philippines main Export commodity are OFW (modern day hero or a form of slavery), Philippines role will always be to supply of cheap/quality labor to the world.
Our Government always Export our Best People (OFW w/c are hard-working, productive, highly skilled & intellectual) which result to “Brain Drain”. And forever relied on their dollar remittances to fuel our economy. Those left behind (lazy & AMPAW) who are tasked or voted to lead our nation and others are appointed to vital positions in the government.
“It stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there’s someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and master, and intends to be the master” – Ayn Rand
2. Ruling Profession or majority of our POLITICIANS are ff.:
a. Popular Actors/celebrities – whose nature of work is movies/TV (fantasy or not real world), often Lack of political acumen due to poor observation & awareness of the real problems of our country. An actor turned politicians can easily be manipulated (puppet) by people around him.
Just because someone is popular (name recognition & charisma to capture votes and manipulate our mass with looks, smooth talk, act, sing or dance around important issues) doesn’t make him a leader.
b. Lawyers – whose nature of work are disputes of legal matters (negative). They simply talk or discuss & disagree/argue with one another and often forgets logic and reasoning. So they usually end up fighting w/ one another. Thus, no one cares anymore, who is right and who is wrong. All that matters is who is friend and who is foe.
“Being in a fight creates a new frame of mind, attitudes, expectations, and reactions that comes w/ arguing. Because the parts of the brain that handle reason and logic will be dormant. And the parts of the brain that handle hostile attacks — the fight-or-flight response — lit up.”
This is why our political system is so divided and Philippines remains to be a 3rd World.
We need Leaders from other professions like the ff.:
a. Architects/Engineers – whose nature of is to Create/Build/Plan (positive)
b. Doctors – (Dr. Mahathir) who cured & made Malaysia a very healthy (wealthy) nation.
Engineers and Architects are mostly OFWs/expats. The ones left behind are just waiting for the opportunity to get employment abroad. The current and the past administrations have driven away most investors to provide employment for these professionals.Instead of focusing more on industrializing the Philippines, they have focused on filling their own bank accounts with tax money by questionable “projects”.
As an engineer I see things this way: Note to all politicos, building roads, bridges waiting sheds and basketball courts are not enough to be called national investments. Passing jokes as bills and eventually into laws are expensive crap – paying hundreds of warm bodies deliberating on it along the way, what a waste of resources. Recommissioning decommissioned US warships are not an upgrade but a waste of money. Buying more guns is not modernization. Focusing most resources on jailing political rivals and on DAP/PDAF or whatever it may be called in the future is not a wise move. Spending our tax money just to look good on paper is dumb. PAGASA upgrades are not the whole science and technology pie advancing. Building more fossil fueled power generating facilities is not as good as it sounds, there are better alternatives. The government should invest more on the country’s future and not some poorly thought-of ideas, just to put extra money in their pockets.
Architects/Engineers & OFW are involved in billions dollar projects (energy) around the world which benefit not only our country but globally we literally “makes the world go round” – by providing thousands of work (employment), business opportunities and Fuel/energy supply worldwide which in turn also circulate (billions) money around the world.
The peso that we/you spend and our politician (corrupt/dumb) waste or pocketed are back by dollar(value) remittances we Architects/Engineers & OFW bring to our country. Without the dollars remittances (fuel to our economy) we bring-in, our Peso basically has no value & trade will be a problem.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Japanese-companies-turn-Filipino-workers-into-overseas-leaders?n_cid=NARAN012
This is basically how a president is chosen in the Philippines.
His/her mother must be famous and popular and must have died right before the elections.
His/her last name must be well-known household names, or must end in or rhyme with -o, -ay, -a, -os.
He/she must have a catchy slogan.
Gaining voter’s attention & support by appealing to people’s love of a sob story (Death or Sickness) is a clear sign of an AMPAW Republic. Instead of showcasing his/her vision, experience, capabilities & qualifications to LEAD (PRESIDENT or in any Public Office).
1. Running for public office after a recent personal or family tragedy- a death is enough to trigger sympathy vote.
Example:
PAST
a. Ninoy Aquino’s Death catapulted his wife Cory to Presidency,
b. Cory Aquino’s death catapulted her son Noynoy to Presidency.
c. Jesse Robredo’s death catapulted his wife Leni Robredo congressional seat in Camarines Sur,
d. Fernando Poe Jr.’s Death catapulted his adapted daughter Grace Poe to gain most votes for Senator.
FUTURE
a. Either/both Ramon Revilla and/or Joseph Estrada death may catapult either/both Bong Revilla and/or Jinggoy Estrada to Presidency/Vice President.
2. Sympathy publicity such premature campaigning gain from :
a. alleged/accused crime/detention (Jinggoy & Bong)
b. Anybody who is physically ill (True or fabricated/imaginary?). will get sympathy, well wishes, attention/free publicity and people may go out of their way to help you (if Legit, it’s understandable) specially if it’s terminal as stage-4 cancer.(Miriam)
Politics is the art of deception.
It’s more about making the public believe half truths and lies to gain votes. Politicians will stop at nothing for power and wealth,
c. wheelchair/neck brace gimmick is designed to gain sympathy from our people/masses hoping that doing so will lessen anger & hatred. (Arroyo, Corona, Timothy Bradley)
I hate our people’s immature way of voting & supporting candidates. My apology if you dislike or misunderstood my comments above.
hey, a different phenomenon is up…..catapulting your whole family to public office while you are still the incumbent VP 🙂
ME, I will throw all the thieves right under a bus, and employ people at livable wages. I’ll get the GOCC’s straightened out and start serving the people, not robbing the people.
I KID YOU NOT ! VOTE FOR ME, I WILL STRAITEN THAT WHOLE MESS OF A COUNTRY RIGHT OUT !
Sounds like the Philippines needs a richard dick Gordon. No more “F” actors, actress, boxer, reporters.
definitely yes!
Filipinos who can think have know this ever since. Sadly, the number of thinking Filipinos is low, just look at our last senatorial elections.
No fun in Asia’s number one thiefdom
I Have a Dream!
I would like to see elected as president a man of the people and for the people. A man of wisdom, of letters and of greatness. Yet humble enough to admit his mistakes and shortcomings. A man of action who will act with justice, equity and who will unite the country towards the road to greatness. A man who will fight for what is right and never for what is wrong! A man for all seasons who will not be afraid to stand for what is right in defending the country, the people and the Constitution! An honest man who will set all the correct examples to be emulated by the people! A man for the rule of law, Republicanism, due process and the Supreme Court! A statesman who can deal with problems and have solutions that refer to the state of the nation! And finally a man who believes in God and the Sovereign Filipino People!
Read SciFi much?
Requiring a presidentiable to believe in god? Doesn’t sound like Thomas Jefferson to me.
Who will be the next President of the Philippines?
IDK what his/her name will be, but IT IS A GUARANTEE: The next President of the Philippines will be a CRIMINAL, just like every other President since 1948.
It is a certainty.
It’s sad that people in this country are still waiting for some political messiah to come sweep them off their feet…..I tell you, there is none in this failure of a country.
Another idea just popped in my head while reading Ilda’s old article, why not hold elections without the names? Just put candidates as P1, P2, P3, etc for presidential candidates, VP1, VP2, VP3, etc for VP and so on. Just attached to these codes the resumes of each candidate(of course without details to expose the candidate’s identity) . This is sure as hell to filter out idiots and thieves from getting elected into office. And this will be good since the common pinoy will learn to dissect first a candidate’s accomplishments and capacities before goes to vote. But then again, there should be no more campaigning, which is also good.
Wanted: President
What shapes a great president? Family life? Professional background? Religious beliefs? Managerial skills? Political ambitions?
I believe that a good president hails from a normal childhood, an achiever early on, works his way to go on top, can debate about his ideas, earns respect, a doer and sets a vision.
Offers solutions on these four areas: job creations, modern education, quality health care and addressing crime problem.
Someone who would tapped the best minds to join his cabinet. A professional team who believes in the vision of the president but they should have the courage to tell the president‘s lapses.
We need a thinking, no-nonsense, determined, goal oriented, workaholic, educated president.
Will I see this in my lifetime? I do not know. For as long as the voters remain dumbed, another idiot, one after another would be elected president.