Ducky Paredes

“(A)n executive committee meeting of the ruling Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats on Thursday, Jan. 29 will discuss the process of selecting the party’s presidential and vice presidential candidate in 2010.”

by Ducky Paredes

The administration has announced that it is considering five possible candidates for President: Vice President Noli de Castro, Senator Richard Gordon, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte.
The announcement comes from Secretary Cerge Remonde of the Presidential Management Staff. Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Gabby Claudio confirms that an executive committee meeting of the ruling Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats on Thursday, Jan. 29 will discuss the process of selecting the party’s presidential and vice presidential candidate in 2010.
Among the five, Noli has the best numbers — for the moment. In surveys of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), the VP has always done better than the other four. But, Noli is a reluctant candidate. He refuses to talk about 2010 even to his closest friends; he also refuses to join the government party and prefers to remain independent. Besides, his numbers may look good for now; but, what will they be when the campaign begins and brickbats are thrown every which way?
Except for Fernando, the other four have the added experience of being legislators, which is really not a qualification for the presidency. This helps only because it gives one added notoriety. As long as we choose our Presidents based on popularity – not on what they can do — we are doomed to having politics coloring every aspect of our lives!
Three – Dick, Sonny and Bayani — have been LGU executives. Of the five, it is only Bayani who has openly and categorically declared that he wants the presidency.
What recommends Bayani Fernando for the presidency is the fact that he has exhibited an unusual brand of political will and is unfazed by flak from the public, the media, even members of Congress. Among many who have held the MMDA post, he is also the most controversial — a factor that traditional pols believe will work to frustrate his presidential ambition – and the only one who has had a positive effect on Metro Manila’s discipline, traffic and clutter.
What seems apparent is that a large segment of the voting public –sidewalk vendors, squatters, jeepney and bus drivers – dislike Bayani’s discipline. He has been described as being heartless and insensitive to the appeals of poor people — intent only in imposing his ideas on the public.
But Fernando is unfazed, unconvinced of the numbers that purport to reflect the public pulse. He says that his two percent rating would represent only some 140,000 of the total number of registered voters in the country. How can this be true? Marikina City alone has an estimated 220,000 voters that has always gone solid for him. He has also been on provincial sorties — in his free time — to introduce his concept of governance outside Metro Manila. Bayani points out that he has been having good reception even when he talks of the need for discipline and strict governance.
As for the idea of his being anti-poor, BF points out that MMDA has been demolishing buildings owned by moneyed people, and parts of structures that encroach on streets and areas of public domain. His contention is that enforcing the law and instilling discipline among the people are precisely what we need to move the country forward. He says that the root cause of many of our problems can be traced to the lack of firm political will on the part of those entrusted to implement laws.
Says Bayani: “Laws are solutions that must be observed and followed, and we cannot dispense with order and discipline if we want our country to progress.” Bayani wants to tap the innate respect for the law and the hankering for order of the Pinoy.
The MMDA chief has adopted unorthodox methods and likes going to “out-of-the-box” solutions to solve the myriad problems of the megalopolis. He has fenced off sidewalks to prevent commuters from boarding public vehicles anywhere they want, installed lane separators for buses, designated exclusive lanes for private motorists and public vehicles, built pedestrian overpasses, and set up loading-unloading bays for provincial buses. The latter, in fact, earned him the wrath of a politically well-connected businessman, Church patron and former ambassador who owns a chain of motels.
One of these motels, the Mahal Kita Drive Inn located in Pasay City, reportedly lost 60 percent of its business because one such loading-unloading bay was built near the motel. Because bus riders waited for their rides right at the motel’s entrance, this drove his motel customers away. For this, Bayani and other MMDA officials were slapped with charges of misconduct and oppression before the Ombudsman. The overall effect of the MMDA initiative, however, was to speed up the flow of traffic on that part of EDSA.
According to deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo, the criteria to be considered in the January 29 meeting of the Lakas executive committee in the selection of the party’s presidential candidate include track record, performance and winnability. Sadly, that non-word “winnability” eventually becomes the main factor in choosing candidates and is the main reason why we generally have such weak political leadership.
But, can Bayani Fernando win? Why not? Popularity wins elections; but who is popular is a constantly changing thing. Popularity can be achieved in several ways. With the current state of our media, television and radio plus some print work can make just about anyone a household word overnight. Who does not know Joc-Joc or Rustom (Bebe) or Manny Pacquiao? To become well-known is the first step to popularity which is the other face of notoriety. Projecting a positive image would be the next easy step.
Bayani is a complex person whose ideas are far from simple nor are they easily palatable, even when most of them work well. Right now, he has an urban development project that he calls “Metro Guwapo.” This is doable. Although pink and blue are not my favorite colors, where Metro Guwapo has been does change the neighborhood and one suspects even the way that its residents think and feel about themselves, the same way that Gawad Kalinga (GK) changes lives.
We could do worse than having a President who will actively change the way we think about ourselves and the way we are. We could turn out to be more focused, more dynamic and more attuned to the present century. Not too many politicians want that. Most would prefer voters who cannot think through to the end of election week and actually realize who it is that they are actually electing to be their President.

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hvp 01.22.09)