Revised: May 09, 2022 | 12:45 P.M.
Before we vote, let’s hope that what we have in mind is not predominantly based on distractions and or based on uninformed conspiracies. It is in our best interest for the Philippines to continue to thrive. We can never go wrong by not forgetting to strengthen Law and Order – the foundation of a well-functioning society that adds convenience to achieve economic prosperity for most of us, if not all. Remember our example back then? If kindness is the effect, wow! There must be law and order, sound policies are in place, and people feel safe enough to be kind.
Law and Order.
Our emphasis on strengthening law and order has its roots and doesn’t limit to economic prosperity. It’s to make it easier to progress towards human development, which is more sustainable. It’s more valuable than achieving economic prosperity. Economic prosperity is just a manifestation; it never supersedes human development. We create wealth, not the other way around. And as we all know, there are a lot of individuals out there who will continue violating the rules ’til they get severe sanctions or charges. (a.k.a “lulusot at lulusot yan, hangga’t makakalusot”), Or perhaps they’ll follow the rules for a week or two; try to build a good impression (a.k.a “pa-good shot muna”), especially if there’s someone paying attention, then eventually go back to wrongdoings when nobody is paying attention. As we mentioned earlier: “lulusot at lulusot yan, hangga’t makakalusot.” And the cycle continues because the strength of the rules depends on the leader’s style who’s implementing them – that should not be the case. A good system with a sound set of rules remains good because it evolves and does not rely on human character or style. Anyone can implement it as long as they are implementing it as it is.
This is your TEAM.
As you vote, try to think of it as if you’re building your own team. While it would be nice to know the cabinet members beforehand (it would be interesting who’s feeding information to the President, right?), we don’t have that. However, we should be doing our homework (not guesswork) to give serious thought to other positions in the government, such as the vice-president, senate, and up to the party-list candidates. We can’t expect them to be micromanaging each other, so vote for a hard thought credible public official for every seat. This approach doesn’t guarantee to produce the best team; what’s important is we did what we could; we gave it a serious thought. Imagine if most of us (if not all) do that? Maybe it could yield results unexpectedly better than we thought.
Investing in the Philippines. Investing in the Filipinos.
We are still under the clouds of economic wars. Currencies are manipulated to boost exports, produce jobs, and improve national revenue. Commodities are weaponized to exercise one nation’s will. And embargoes, boycotts, tariff discrimination, and sanctions are increasingly less surprising parts of the news. Clearly, we can’t deny government businesses are at play here. So what’s in it for us? We struggle. We lose. We’re left with less and way less to some. Do we seriously think that the major players of this economic war feel the pinch of the rising cost of living we’ve been having? Think again. The corporates never run out of budget for happy lawyers (who’s not going to be happy if there’s always a budget anyway?) willing to defend their tax claims; executives, directors, and some politicians alike.
We need leaders who have a track record of investing in the Philippines, putting significant bets on the Filipinos in the sense of helping us grow so that we can prepare ourselves to 1) work with foreign talent, 2) maintain our global competitiveness, 3) further expand inclusive growth, and 4) prepare ourselves for the new economy such as the ever-expanding automation (some traditional jobs will be obsolete). We want to stay here and be with our families; why doesn’t this country even try to stop providing reasons for us to seek a better life in other countries? No other citizen can solve the Philippines’ hurdles other than the Filipinos themselves.
Support for Federalism.
There must be unity among us. We share common goals. However, since we choose democracy, it’s also important to understand that we can’t be on the same page all the time. We should appreciate these differences; it thus provides a diversity of ideas, looking at things from different angles. Let’s harness its advantages and monetize them.
Strategic Diplomacy Involves Well-threaded Agreements. We can only rely on ourselves to defend our Philippines.
We signed treaties with other countries for military cooperation. However, it would be safe not to resort to that as our initial approach – war is expensive. This means that when we are faced with conflict, we’re not just going to do the way we want because we have our allies to back us up. In fact, leniency in preventing war and conflict deserves skepticism. And there’s nothing wrong if we start on who benefits from the war (e.g., military/defense contractors, commodity traders, and financiers, to name a few). In the event of a war, it sucks to be part of the general public. We end up paying for the higher cost of goods due to inflation. It costs more to borrow money for our needs, and defense-related expenditures have to come from somewhere – now we might end up paying higher taxes.
Another thing to note is we can safely say that we should not be surprised if a ceasefire did not materialize from the aggressor country just because the defending government, initiated peace talks. As an aggressor, it’s not a wrong assumption that the initiation and duration of peace talks is a strategy of the defending country to re-group or re-organize if the aggressor pauses military combat. A reasonable guess is: Why would the aggressor halt the military action if there is no clear outcome from the peace talks?
So what’s the lesson here?
If and only if we get ourselves involved in a war, it would be safe to assume that it matters less how sincere we are as we initiate peace talks during the war. Any one of us is still a stray bullet away from death. Do we seriously think that an MMK-like drama in the middle of the war would capture the hearts of the aggressors and shed some light on their souls (dear lord, susmariosep!) who are just following orders according to their sworn duty?! What matters is the outcome of the peace talks, which takes time. Worse is, the result of peace talks doesn’t matter anymore because most of us are (or could be) dead anyway.
Live to fight another day. Can we all agree on that?
Thank goodness! President Rodrigo Duterte handled our China conflict well – live to fight another day. We may have a lot of reasons to dislike the aggression of the Chinese government in taking over the West Philippine Sea, but let’s not forget that their capacity is the fruit of their hard work. In other words, while we kept chanting “Ibon man may layang lumipad”; they were busting their asses to achieve economic power. Economic might is not a reason for aggression; however, we don’t have many advantages to rely on – it’s just not there (yet?). I don’t know to some of you, but I love our Philippines. We have lots to lose. We can take this discomfort. We can think of it as a result of our mistakes from the past. We’re in charge of our present. We can always make a better history. Live to fight another day.
At the end of the day…
Whoever wins the race, and whatever type of government system we may end up with, we can never be wrong relying on ourselves. And because it’s never wrong to depend on ourselves, we have to invest in ourselves, take good care of ourselves, and appreciate our self-worth, by ourselves.
Due to the steep disparity of Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.’s (a.k.a. Bongbong Marcos or BBM) popularity among other candidates, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt if we tackle some possible risks after he wins.
What happened to Anti-Dynasty Bill? Did we re-visit what it encompasses? Although it’s not a law yet (as far as the writer is aware), the bill was created for a reason. Is it worth the risk of enabling the concentration of power on a specific family? Who will police BBM’s relatives in the public office if they violate the law or abuse their power? While nobody wishes for that cliche to happen, maybe it shouldn’t be a concern anymore. After all, it’s already deemed as a cliche, bad cliche, though.
Are we confident that BBM’s relatives won’t abuse their power while he’s the President? Are we expecting BBM to police his relatives if they misuse their power? (I hope not, he has a bigger job to do). Is BBM popular because of the assumption/hunch/rumor/conspiracy that they, the Marcoses, will unleash their so-called hidden wealth once BBM is in power? So this sounds like an economic concern, then.
Personally, in my opinion, I don’t mind if the Marcoses become even more prosperous, legally, without abusing their power, and not at the expense of our public funds. Given that their family got caught in such a bad history, whatever, we’re here. I’m sure they’re not the only ones who continue making ways to be even more prosperous. I feel this is not just about wealth; wealth is just the manifestation. It’s already 2022; there are more ways to amass wealth considering their capacity. The Marcoses, their family’s culture is to run for public office; win-lose, they never get tired of running. There is something to be learned here. And how can we prevent that? Some or a few of them will always be included in the Philippines’ political landscape. Let’s say BBM doesn’t win this 2022 election; what would stop them from running during the next term? They have been doing this for decades. If it’s not BBM, there will be another from their family.
We all have our aspirations as individuals, or in the case of the Marcoses, as a family. And political aspiration is a valid one. Just because they are the Marcoses, that doesn’t mean they should be deprived of achieving their aspirations. And same goes for other presidential candidates, namely, Panfilo “Ping” Morena Lacson Sr., Maria Leonor “Leni” Gerona Robredo, Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso, and Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. I wish them all the best.
And by the way, this applies to all candidates; a good candidate doesn’t really mean they will do a good job. They’re just good at being a good candidate. Yes, they exist – it’s a global phenomenon.
J. Letre
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