Mar dropping out… Noynoy running for President… What???
If Mar Roxas drops his bid for presidency in favor of Noynoy, then he probably isn’t fit to be president at all. I don’t mean to undermine his capabilities, but the lack of conviction for something that he has planned and prepared for for such a long time only proves that he himself is not convinced that he is a far better president than Noynoy.
I also do not want to undermine Noynoy’s capability to become the country’s president, but I do believe that given where we are right now, he should have prepared himself a long time ago for the job. Deciding to run for president is not a “spur-of-the-moment” decision that you can make and think you can easily pull it off.
What are they thinking of anyway? Are they trying to compare the situation in 1983 with the death of former President Cory Aquino? I hope not. Because the 1986 election and the events surrounding that momentous year is not the same as 2010. For one, Cory was not killed or assassinated by her would-be presidential opponents or political enemies. She died of cancer. Back then, the Filipinos would have voted for anybody because they were at the point where they would prefer to have “anybody except Marcos” for president. The opposition only made the election more symbolic by fielding in the wife of Ninoy as FM’s opponent for the presidential race. Back then, Cory was just a symbolic figure. Even if it was Doy Laurel who ran for president, I’m guessing he would have won anyway. In 2010, PGMA is not running for president (I hope) so there is no proverbial dictator to battle against. The presidential race of 2010 is a battle between highly competent leaders (in their own respects) with proven track records. For Noynoy to win this, he will need more than family history and family members to back him up. He needs proven competency as leader, legislator, AND (not OR) negotiator.
We need a leader with a very strong sense of conviction for what he believes is the right thing to do, even if it means making and implementing unpopular decisions. We do not need a leader who can be easily swayed by popular opinion.
September 1st, 2009 at 9:13 pm
“In 2010, PGMA is not running for president (I hope) so there is no proverbial dictator to battle against. ”
Yes there is no dictator this time around, but this time around our nation is battling a whole different, yet equally deadly oppressor - the politics of corruption and greed.
I hate to disagree with you, but Mar Roxas does not lack the conviction to run for president. On the contrary, he offers much more than just a personal conviction to run for the highest office in the land. He had the courage to set aside his own political ambition in the name of national unity.
If standing by that conviction would mean dividing his own party and the nation, what could does that do to our country? It will only succeed in sowing more divisiveness among a nation that’s already been run to the ground by the current government’s “conviction” to advance its own selfish interest.
No, the people does not want conviction from their leaders. They want selfless sacrifice.
You say you don’t want a leader who can “be swayed by popular opinion”. But isn’t the “popular opinion” the very same mandate these leaders hope to achieve from their constituents in running for office? Why, then should they ignore that call? Who else should they count on to get the pulse of the nation but through “popular opinion”? Is there a better source of the people’s mandate, but the popular opinion? How do you win elections - through a minority vote? No, you win by popular mandate, by the majority.
By the way, one of the “highly competent leaders” in 2010 who’s also seeking the presidency wants Willie Revillame as his VP running mate. Need I say more?
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Unfortunately, nowadays popularity is not measured by a show-of-hands. A topic, issue, or person becomes popular depending on how much media mileage they can get. And because of the breadth of reach and influence of mass communications tools like internet, radio and TV, it is relatively easy to manipulate people into agreeing to certain ideas just by controlling the content of media communications being presented. Politicians know very well the power of mass media that’s why they are investing on political TV commercials to boost their image.
Before Cory died, Noynoy was not seriously considering running for president (hhhmmmm… I wonder why???), while Mar Roxas’ commercial has been running on the airwaves for quite sometime. Mar Roxas is very clear and decisive about his disposition while Noynoy is just sulking in the corner quiet and content (or probably trying to “feel the air”), waiting for what’s going to happen next.
Fortunately for him, the Ninoy moment was relived when his mom died and the issue was so hyped-up that people clamored for a repeat of the 1986 election. But does that mean that Noynoy now becomes a more competent presidentable compared to Mar Roxas? I don’t think so. But because Cory’s death is “hot news”, politicians are trying to use it to their advantage. They are pushing for Noynoy’s presidential bid not because they feel that he will make a better president than Mar Roxas, but because they feel that Noynoy will have a better chance of winning because of his association with Cory Aquino and how similar (or at least that’s how they want people to believe it) the situation seems to be compared to 1986 election.
Yes, many people are clamoring for it. So does that mean Mar Roxas now believes in his heart that Noynoy is better suited for the role? Probably not. But because people are clamoring for a repeat of 1986, and Mar’s political allies chose to bank on popularity rather than competency when choosing for their candidate, he opted to “give-in” to the clamor.
After the election (probably even before), the hype of Cory’s death will die down. But life in the Philippines will go on. If Mar Roxas fought tooth and nail for what he thinks and feels is right and convince his political party to continue his bid for presidency, win or lose, he can hold his head high because he stood by his conviction. If he gave way for Noynoy and if Noynoy loses the election, or if Noynoy wins but nothing good will come out of his term, he only has himself to blame because he chose to go with the flow instead of fighting for what is right.
We need leader with a very strong conviction in order to bring order to the chaotic and corrupt political environment of the Philippines. Corruption is actually very popular because this happens not only on national level, but up to barangay level. This has been going on for quite a number of years now that people already thinks its the normal thing. We need a leader who have the guts to make unpopular decisions and implement them in order to cascade good governance down to the lowest form of government. There will be lots of resistance and if the leader does not have strong conviction, he will fall down the wall like Humpty Dumpty.