Ducky Paredes

“If we have more to choose from, who knows that we may come up with a better choice?”

by Ducky Paredes

Senator Dick Gordon seems to have announced his intention to run for the presidency in 2020. He did this when asked whether he was a possible candidate, the senator said: “Well, I am available. I’m a liar if I would say I don’t think of it. There were a lot who want me to run for the presidency, since the 1992 and 1998 elections. Even in 2004 I did not aspire for the position. The race was too tight then. In 2010, maybe. Maybe. Most probably.”
I have no candidate as yet for the 2010 presidency but I do have certain requirements: The candidate must have a population control policy. As long as our population will continue to increase at the rate that we have been going, this country will never move itself forward enough to make a difference economically. The candidate must have political will. If we need nuclear power for electricity, he ought to push that and whatever else may not be palatable to a lot of us. If we must break a few eggs to come up with an omelet, the leader must be willing to do so.
Who can be this type of leader? Is it Dick Gordon? Or is it Senator Mar Roxas or Senate President Manny Villar? Vice President Noli de Castro? Or will it be Bayani Fernando or Senator Ping Lacson or Senator Chiz Escudero?
For now, I really do not know yet who will fit the bill or even whether anyone of them will be able to do the things that need doing to moves this country forward.
The other part of what Senator Gordon distresses me a bit:
“The NP and LP, both at the moment, have nothing to offer for the country, just like they had nothing to offer in the past.
“Dalang-dala na ako. That’s why I’m partyless right now
“Pag natalo ang LP, lilipat sa NP. Pag natalo NP, lilipat sa LP. Tapos naging KBL nung si Marcos na. Nung si Cory, lahat nag-LDP, si Ramos, it was Lakas, nung si Erap, PMP. Ano’ng nangyari? Asan na ang mga ‘yun ngayon?
“Ano ba’ng ipinaglalaban nila?
“What I am saying is the Liberal Party (of Roxas) and the Nacionalista Party (of Villar), at the moment, have nothing to offer the country. They have nothing to offer, never had anything to offer in the past. They have nothing, except for personality.”
That distresses me because it seems to fit the mold of the lowest kind of political discourse. I am also in the market for someone with more positive thoughts than negative ones. If he has nothing good to say about his possible opponents, it is probably better form not to even mention them.
But, if Gordon will be among the 2010 candidates, he is most welcome. If we have more to choose from, who knows that we may come up with a better choice?
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Is the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) something that we actually need? Doesn’t this push our younger leaders into becoming the worst kind of politicians so early in their lives? The elections for the SK are as bad as all of our elections. It has wholesale cheating, miscounted ballots, bribery, overspending, vote-buying. Is there a presence of guns, goons and gold? You can bet your life on that!
What are we teaching the young by letting them go through such an exercise at such a young age? The answer has to be – nothing very good!
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Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales is undergoing dialysis on a regular basis. Recently, he was treated for what they describe as “bleeding ulcers.” Considering how secretive both Malacanang and the Justice Secretary are about his actual condition, one has to take everything they say with a healthy does of skepticism.
Malacanang says that, despite everything, the Justice Secretary would not be replaced. Later in the day, however, Gonzales himself appointed an officer-in-charge (Undersecretary Renato Pineda) to run the department while Gonzales is recuperating in an undisclosed hospital.
If the Secretary of Justice is too sick to serve, Malacanang and Raul Gonzales both owe it to us to have Raul take a rest while the office is assigned to someone else who can do a proper job of running the Department of Justice in the meantime.
* * *
We had heavy rains Monday morning and afternoon in Metro Manila. Does that mean that the Oratio Imperata Ad Petendam Pluviam that was used in all of the Masses last Sunday actually worked? I am convinced that prayers work. The Monday rains may well be the proof of that?
Now, what needs to be done is for the Cardinal to pray for even more rain. God knows we need it!
* * *
Economics professors Raul V. Fabella, dean of the University of the Philippines Scholl of Economics PSE, and Emmanuel S. de Dios have come up with a study that says that there is no need for a broadband backbone coming from a Chinese company or another one for the use of our Cyber Education Project. We already have it in our existing broadband systems coming from at least three existing phone companies. According to the professors, the government does not need to own one broadband backbone, much less two.
In addition, the two professors say: “The only backbone that the government needs today is a moral one.”
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hvp (08.06.07)