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A Little Backgrounder for the Forgetful

Everyone knows I’ve never shown much affection for this current administration. Although there have been a few occasions on this blog where I lauded government efforts and even Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for that matter, most of them were done in passing. Why? I’m sure you have  a ready answer there so I’ll let you reason out for me.

I have also expressed disinterest in whoever the Palace anoints as its party standard bearer in the elections for I guess, the very same reason most of us have. But a few months before the much-awaited Philippine presidential elections in 2010, I find myself without a candidate to support and with very limited choices. And often, critical of speculative and presumptive surveys.

If you have been following this blog, you may know exactly what I am talking about. If you don’t, well, it’s not too late to keep up with this post by reading my series of posts on the 2010 presidential elections.

Like many of us, I was once momentarily swept by this irresistible “Yellow Fever” and that promise of “politics of morality” or whatever they call it. I mean, come on, you’ve got an icon of democracy taken by cancer, you’ve got a senator almost in tears giving up on a dream, that heart-tugging infomercials and all that appeal to your emotions — all of that goings-on will somehow melt your heart and make you feel for once that there are people in a sorrier state than you are — at least at that point in time.

But just like those tear-jerker movies we watch, our affair with our emotional self ends the moment we leave the theater door. And off we go once more to our lives — probably even more pathetic than theirs, but who cares? At least our lives are “real”.

It’s a tough decision, as a Facebook friend SJ San Juan puts it: “Are we guaranteeing the poor Filipino people a life better than what they have right now if they will vote for our ‘manok’? Are we ready to look into their eyes and make them that promise?”– to endorse a candidate and to campaign for one with such fervor despite the fact that there is always that probability that you are wrong — or as Barack Obama puts it, “on the wrong side of history”.

To SJ and to everyone else, I commented: ”

Right now, who can really tell? We can never be 101% sure of anything these days. What with all the lies going around as we near elections, what with all these empty promises masquerading as “change”…

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Pawns for “The King”

For all we know, we are all just being played like pawns on a chessboard, all of us assuming we are in control of the game when in fact we only exist to protect “The King”. It’s not so bad if  “The King” is The Philippine Constitution. It’s even noble and heroic if “The King” is The Philippines — our country — the only one we have.

In an ANC Leadership Forum geared towards “presidentiable” debates, I can’t remember whether it’s the first one or the second, I got to hear former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada quirkily answer “beauty pageant” questions. If there’s anything I miss about Erap, it’s his being achingly funny every single time, so much so to his disadvantage — perhaps sense of humor gets better with age, and that goes for both of us. One thing he said that night though stuck with me to this day. I intended to write about it in a separate entry but then I feel it deserves a paragraph or two here.

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What ails this country?

The question, if I remember correctly was what do you think ails the country right now (or something in that context). Estrada quipped in an unusually serious and passionate tone — the lost sense of love of country. Short but sweet. That would have sounded like another one of those so-called “motherhood statements” formerly-presidential-aspirant-now-partyless-possibly-VP-bet-who-has-lost-his-clout-who-may-just-slide-back-to-senatoriable Senator Chiz Escudero is known for.

But Erap adds a little story of sorts or nostalgia, if you will, to support this statement which everyone might have missed. He says, in the old days, kids in school are taught three basic things which become the very essence of their existence and consequently, their being in school — it was Deus, Patria, Familia — love of God, love of country and love of family. Now, this has been lost in translation to love of God and love of family — love of country is no more. Obviously, Erap is not the best ambassador for any of those, but his argument is clearly relevant and timeless.

And in a time where nothing seems right, when no one seems upright and when no one seems alright, we get treated to a trip down memory lane. Yes, nostalgia at best.

I mention this in part merely because I want to bore you, and also partly because I just want to, but specially because a few months before the 2010 presidential elections, I find myself without  a candidate to support and with very limited choices.

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Gibo as a viable option

Prompted by an online advertisement on my Yahoo email this morning, I decided to take a long, hard look at current Department of National Defense Secretary and National Disaster Coordinating Council Chief Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro‘s website as advertised.

It was a perfect excuse to criticize and diagnose another early campaign syndrome disguised as an onlie online infomercial anyway so what the heck.  And so what if it totally distracted me from reading my email entirely? — and at 6 in the morning at that?

For those unfortunate eyes who haven’t chanced upon the advert, here’s what it looks like..

Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro online advert -- for Philippine president 2010

When you hover on the “Volunteer” button, this pops-out.

Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro online advert -- for Philippine president 2010

Naturally, I got curious and went on to visit his site. This is a snapshot.

Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro online advert -- for Philippine president 2010

Again, out of curiosity, I clicked to find out what sort of “information” they require..

Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro online advert -- for Philippine president 2010

But hey, you know me — I don’t stop there. If I am to criticize, I sure would want to  find out more…

Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro online advert -- for Philippine president 2010

While I’m there, I knew I had to do some reading. It’s too early, besides, I have a lot of time on my hands.. so I digged in for more information..

Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro online advert -- for Philippine president 2010

I sure as hell wanted to know his stand on very critical issues and his site does offer someone like me with a glimpse to his thoughts but hell, someone from his office may not have been meticulous enough so they mistook “for an” for “foreign”. While it sounds the same and the error is understandable, it has to be corrected the moment it’s caught, so people running gibo.ph, please edit. Oh wait, I could be wrong. :)

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Here’s where I dissect Gibo’s views

On Charter Change: Gibo is pro-Charter Change via Constitutional Convention. He also shares my view on federalism as an effective means towards sustainable development but limited to those regions that are economically sufficient like say, NCR. The obvious drawback of federalism in a country like ours is the fear that the rich regions would go richer and the already poor ones would go poorer. The idea of a mixed setup is not a bad idea. In fact, if we are looking for a viable alternative to the paralyzing presidential form of government that has taken us nowhere, this sort of setup just might do it for us. Imagine this, the high-earning regions (or municipalities) will be given considerable authority to “take care” of themselves — making more resources and attention available to the more desperate and needy regions like say, Bicol. These self-sufficient regions would be captive mini-governments like the states in the US.

On Disaster Risk Management: Gibo suggests (and have pending bills re National Disaster Act) and believes in “giving LGUs the freedom and the leeway to use more funds for capacity building in so far as disaster risk management is concerned”.  Again, we share the same idea in terms of disaster management and empowering the LGUs financially and administratively. The government structure matched with yes, our topography is the recipe that resulted in the slow emergency response during the recent devastating typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng (and to a certain extent, Santi) . The LGUs may have swiftly and better served those needing help had resources and “power” been available to them. People may think you do not need those to act swiftly but really, this is a matter of reality that a bureaucratic government imposes on its people. Efficiency is actually a product of many elements put together — without one of which, the system is doomed to fail.

On Economy: This is where Gibo needs much support from somebody really well-versed on economics because the short motherhood statement on his website which says “To avoid a state of progress plateau, the country needs more innovative ideas to fuel the industry and the economy. The country has exhausted the era of copying and remodeling trends, it is time for something new in order for the country to become more globally competitive. The country needs to generate more ideas. The talents and minds of our countrymen is our greatest resource.” shows that while he may be open to more “out-of-the-box” solutions, it looks like he is yet to come up with his own. However, like I said, given a good economic adviser (GMA, why not? Admit it, she may be unpopular and all but no other president before her has effectively implemented sound economic policies, so let’s give her that. Just that.).

• On Debt: Here, Gibo cited the reduction of foreign debt and attributes it to higher GDP-GNP which he claims have risen to 37% from a previous 7% something. He tries to justify foreign borrowing by saying that (I suppose to a certain extent) every country has a debt and further adds that it’s better to borrow than impose higher taxes on citizens. He drops terms like “financial management” and “treasury management” but again, actual plans are absent. He says we cannot just repudiate our debt without sufficient basis because it will only damage relations with our creditors. However, I think considering the overall economic damage due to previous calamities, maybe we use that to ask for debt condonation — to cut us some slack as we rebuild post-Ondoy.

On Education: To make education available to more people, Gibo proposes a loan system, thus: “One specific example for this is a loan system for the less fortunate, but deserving students in the tertiary level. When a student applies for a loan, he will be given a Social Security System (SSS) number. Immediately after he gets his first paycheck, it will register that he is getting a salary and subsequent deductions could be made.” This seems feasible.

On Governance:

• On Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) – On being asked if he’s amenable to a 50-50 share on IRA from current 60 (national) – 40 (LGU) sharing,  Gibo says “As soon as possible we want  to devolve all the basic services to local government units because there is no strong state in the world where basic  services are done by the national  government.  But in certain areas, particularly in undeveloped or under developed areas, in areas within a state of conflict there is no other choice but for the national government to do it. And this needs a lot of resources.” Amen to that. This is where a person who has worked on a national level thinks compared to somebody whose main exposure and experience has been purely local. Gibo sees the big picture. So while he is amenable to increasing funds available for the LGUs, he cannot commit to a 50-50 share proposal as of this time and begs that he be given time to further study it. I believe there are other possible sources of funds. And that yes, he should research on that.
• On Pork Barrel: He thinks the Country Development Fund aka “pork barrel” is not evil in itself and therefore believes in continuing it so long as it is used properly.

• On Corruption: This is a very important and sensitive topic as it effects us all to the core. How a presidential candidate plans to attack this problem and how early this will happen remains one of the toughest challenges the new president will have to contend with, specially after strings of corruption issues thrown at outgoing president Gloria Arroyo. On corruption, Gibo says: “You have to improve the standard of living also of government officials. You have to make rules more reasonable, you have to have transparency. And then probably, you can deal very strongly with the corruption.” Transparency has been an often abused word in this campaign and campaigns before this. It is so easy to say there will be transparency but actual implementation is another story altogether. Raising the standard of living of rank and file public servants is of course, good. But the problem is that most of the high-priced corruption happen up in the org chart — those public officials already living way up the so-called “decent” standard of living. But yes, transparency will indeed reduce corruption. Question is, how transparent is transparent? Wire-tapped calls? Publicly available bank transaction records?  How far can it go without encroaching on the right to privacy?
• On Autonomy: Most probably referring to the BJE-MOA issue, Gibo says “But I oppose in giving autonomy to regions which are not prepared, because merely of a military conflict.” I would assume then that he is anti-BJE MOA. Hmmm.

On National Leadership: Gibo Teodoro thinks that “A good leader must be of strong character and integrity.” I think on this count, the nation has decided that his cousin Senator and survey-leading presidentiable Noynoy Aquino lives and breathes “character and integrity” — which leaves the rest of the presidential candidates pretty much less nothing else but secondary roles.

On Why We Should Vote for Gibo: He says, because he “provides balance”. “Kasi po, ako’y nagtataglay ng balanse ng pagsulong sa reporma at pagsulong ng kinakailangang programa.” Now, Gibo should have been better prepared for questions like this which is a usual question to whose aspiring for the highest office. The initial premise is not that convincing, so consequently, the supporting statements will simply weaken as it progresses. I will not cite them all here because it bores me. Just go over to his website and read it there instead.

The point however that he’s trying to make in saying that we here in Luzon, being in a generally peaceful climate, do not understand first-hand how peace gets in the way with progress is a point well made.

On Peace and Order: I am naturally inclined to expect a really good answer or personal/political stand regarding peace and order (in Mindanao specially) from Gilbert Teodoro — after all, he’s been Department of National Defense Secretary for two years or so. However, the message posted on his website is neither inspiring nor impressive. But what he seems to be saying is that the proliferation of firearms is whats causing too much violence in the area (Mindanao) and adds that infrastructure projects like building of roads will reduce violence (where’s the connection? don’t ask me. Ask him.) Maybe he subscribes to the idea that “idle minds (or hands) are the devil’s workshop” hence, keeping people busy building roads will take their minds off fighting amongst themselves and the government troops.

On Political Dynasty Bill: For obvious reasons, Gibo makes sure he treads carefully on the issue of political dynasty and suggests that “the best way to beat that dynasty, if that dynasty, is not deserving is to capacitate political parties to enable to adequately finance through realistic campaign finance reforms an able candidate and beat the dynasty. That is the best way because there will be no question whatsoever as to the will and the judgment of people… But an election should not perpetuate the dynasty if such is not deserving…That is the best way to settle a dynasty problem. Not through artificial laws which people can skirt left and right around.” Notice how frequently he stresses on the prerequisite “if that dynasty is not deserving”. So he is saying that there actually exists a “deserving dynasty”? If a political dynasty is not to exist in the first place, then there is no such thing as a “deserving dynasty”. No to political dynasties. Period. No double standards. No “accommodating” laws.

On Population: Gibo is pro-reproductive health minus other punitive provisions¹. He also stresses that he is anti-abortion, 100%. The Reproductive Health Bill is essentially a good bill. If there are flaws, then let these flaws be fixed, but to throw this bill altogether and dismiss it as “anti-life”  is clearly a misinformed choice and must therefore be given more consideration.

*****

The Verdict

Based on the information available to me, Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro seems to be a good presidential candidate. Minus his affiliation with the stinking ruling merger Lakas-Kampi CMD, we may have a promising president in Gibo.

And if only to show the people how sincere he is and make the coming 2010  elections more interesting, I still think he should bolt out of PaLaKa even after Gloria resigned as party chair. Disclaimer: Lest I irk another soul, let me reiterate that this is not a suggestion. :)

Suggested Further Reading:

• Gibo should bolt out too
• Gibo is on a roll. But is he getting anywhere?
• How much is your vote?
• Let’s Behave, Shall We?
• Arroyo is resigning from Lakas-Kampi

1. Update: Gibo and Nikki has recently announced their new stance on the controversial Reproductive Health Bill and now claims to say the RH Bill is anti-life and so consequently, they don’t/won’t support it. This comes after Gibo and other presidential aspirants who are pro-RH went under fire from Roman Catholic Church leaders. It seems then that the couple chose to be crowd-pleasers instead. Tsk, what a turn-off! [↩]