By Antonio C. Abaya
Written on Aug. 17, 2009
For the Standard Today,
August 18 issue
Reader Vida Royal Manigsaca emailed me on August 8 that “I have questions regarding the sorry state of our country that I want you and your generation to enlighten me about.
It is difficult for me to express them because I don’t want to be regarded as unfair and disrespectful to my elders. Please bear with me. Here they are:
1. Why did our elders fail?
2. How did they fail?
My reply, which was electronically published in my “Reactions to ‘Damaged Control’” was as follows
“Our generation – your elders – failed because we did not produce a Lee Kwan Yew, or a Mahathir Mohamad or a Park Chung Hee. Instead we had a succession of mediocre, insipid, even stupid leaders who could not see beyond their noses and had no economic plan to build a prosperous society. The two who had the brains and could have made a difference – Marcos and Arroyo – turned out to be irremediably corrupt and wasted their time and talents trying to stay longer in power so that they could steal even more.
“Your generation does not show much promise either. Look at those positioning themselves to be president: Manny Villar, Joseph Estrada (again), Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda, Noli de Castro, Bayani Fernando, Gilbert Teodoro, Ronaldo Puno, Noynoy Aquino, Among Ed Panlilio, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Jamby Madrigal, Nicky Perlas, Grace Padaca, JC de los Reyes…..and tell me if you can see in any of them even the faintest resemblance to a Lee Kwan Yew or a Mahathir or a Gen. Park. “
My answer, of course, is that none of the above has the makings of a Lee Kwan Yew or a Mahathir or a Gen. Park. And yet it is someone who has the qualities of these three foreign leaders that the Philippines badly needs in order to overcome decades of consistently poor governance, restore our badly battered self esteem, and draw for us a credible vision of what we want our country to be.
We need someone like Lee Kwan Yew who was/is personally incorruptible and at the same time was/is so conversant with economics and international relations that he could speak ex-tempore and defend his policies before an assembly of multinational CEOs and diplomats and made/make solid sense, whether they agreed/agree with him or not.
In addition we need the strong sense of nationalism of Mahathir Mohamad who in the 1980s drew a vision – Malaysia Vision 2020, that sought and seeks to transform Malaysia into a fully industrialized country by the year 2020 – that he was able to convince the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious people of Malaysia to embrace as worthy of their national loyalty, beyond the narrow appeals of their tribes and ethnic groups. No mean feat, considering the catastrophic demise of equally multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious federal Yugoslavia in the 1990s that cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Mahathir’s nationalism also expressed itself in his readiness to fearlessly fire back at other countries, other world leaders, as well as international agencies whenever he felt they were trampling on the national self-interests of Malaysia.
We also need the single-minded determination of Gen. Park Chung Hee to transform his impoverished, resource-poor and inconsequential Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979 (when he was assassinated) into a fully industrialized country that is now one of the ten biggest economies in the world.
Compared to these three giants, most of the contenders for the Philippine presidency in 2009 are mere pygmies, bereft of any national vision aside from having themselves installed in the highest office, and devoid of real substance, like puffed-up balloons, the products of clever political marketing through self-serving infomercials, generous praise releases from hyperactive PR technicians, and lavish but undeserved hoohahs from mercenary columnists….. and not much else.
Noynoy Aquino is only slightly different from the rest of the pack. His sole claim to fame is that he is the son of Ninoy and Cory and the brother of Kris. Through many years in the Lower House and in the Senate, he has not succeeded in establishing his own political persona. Perhaps he has not even tried, content as he may have been to bask in the reflected glory of his forebears and his famous sibling.
Are these the attributes of a revolutionary leader? No. And yet this is what the Philippines needs, a leader who can start and lead a revolution, a peaceful one, as much as possible; a violent one, if necessary.
I do not know what Noynoy has accomplished nor what he believes in, that I must vote for him for president. What have you done and what do you propose to do if you were to become president? The same rule-of-thumb by which I measure others, especially Chiz Escudero and Gilbert Teodoro, two young men in a hurry to become president, but without any solid accomplishment to their credit, without any clear idea of what they would do if and when they got there.
It is not enough that you have a glib tongue in criticizing the many shortcomings of the Arroyo administration (Escudero), or that you went to Harvard Law School and was a bar topnotcher (Teodoro). What have you accomplished, and what do you propose to do if you were to become president?
By the same token, it is not enough that you are the son of Ninoy and Cory and the brother of Kris, Noynoy. What have you accomplished and what do you propose to do if you were to become president?
If his endorsers hope to connect Noynoy subliminally with his mother Cory Aquino’s People Power “Revolution” of 1986, then they would be making a mistake. By many accounts, including mine, the most notable thing about that “Revolution” was that it did not result in anything revolutionary, aside from removing the over-staying dictator.
For all her many admirable attributes, Cory Aquino was no revolutionary. She looked backward, towards restoring our polity to its pre-1972 configuration. She had no vision for the future, for building a New Jerusalem.
We cannot afford to have another backward-looking president, who wants to restore our polity to a pre-Arroyo configuration. That would be nothing less than – Holy Mother of God! – an Erap restoration.
We need a forward-looking president, a truly revolutionary president, someone with the attributes and visions of Lee Kwan Yew, Mahathir Mohamad and Gen. Park Chung Hee.
That is why Noynoy (and Chiz and Gibo) must tell us what he and they have done and what they propose to do if he and they were to become president.
No, no, Noynoy. Being the son of Ninoy and Cory and the brother of Kris are not enough to reward you with the presidency. You must develop your own political persona, and part of that persona are your accomplishments in the past and your vision for the future.. *****
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