Home run after May 2010 election
Everything seems to be on hold for prospective investors in the
Philippines because of the coming elections. But to me this election will probably be
the start of the most exciting years of my life as a Filipino.
I
must confess that the first President I ever supported was Ferdinand
Marcos. He was brilliant, an orator, a valiant defender of democracy,
military hero and was fighting graft and corruption as one of his
platforms when he ran against the incumbent President Diosdado
Macapagal. In that 1965 election, I was too young to vote.
At the time, the Philippines was the leading nation in the Far East. Our educational system was the best in Asia and our economy has never been as robust in its entire young life as an independent nation especially during the first term of President Marcos.
In
1971 a constitutional convention was held paving the way for a semi
parliamentary form of government giving the President 8 years with
unlimited term extension but by election.
At the time a year
before the end of Marcos term 1972-1973, communism appeared to become
very strong. It infiltrated most student and labor organizations and
with the necessary chaos by which communism normally earn its way to
power, classes were suspended almost every other week. Everything
seemed to be in disarray. Yeah it was fun for most of us but we were
going nowhere.
When Martial law was declared, congress was
dissolved and I was one of those who agreed that Martial law was the
right solution. And aha, Marcos my hero would still be President.
True
enough, peace and order finally reigned.
Far from my mind was
what would happen during the ensuing years. With his absolute power,
Marcos turned greedy to be polite about it. Everyone knows what
happened next. He created and lead his Kilusang Bagong Lipunan movement
trying to change society by subtle force and indoctrination. I remember
getting exempted from ROTC by going aboard an education tour by love
boat cruising all over the Visayas. "Whoowie, this is life!" I thought.
It
turned out to be a mind conditioning trip. We were asked to attend 8
hours of class a day for one week to convince us that Martial law was
the necessary foundation for economic progress.
Since Marcos was
not elected into power, his legitimacy was largely put in doubt not only
domestically but also elsewhere. So he called for a national election.
He won by a landslide against someone by the name of ... by the name
of ... what's his name again? Ah yes Alejo Santos (I had to google
search to find his name). I exercised my right to vote and went for
Marcos ...strike one.
Everything that was developing seemed to
point towards putting Marcos in power indefinitely. Naturally, there
was unrest with Senator Ninoy Aquino from the U.S. leading the pack of
his opponents. In 1983 he decided to return and was killed in the
airport.
Cory Aquino after series of protests
became President by people power in 1986 now known as EDSA I.
As penance for the wrong choice I made I suppose, I was lead with my wife to sleep inside our car that we parked at the EDSA gate of camp Aguinaldo on the first night that Cardinal Sin radioed for help. I remember that first night, the support was very thin and disorganized and kidding aside, I thought our car was the only one parked in front of the Camp Aguinaldo gate by around 4:00 AM. When we woke up at about 7:00AM, we were surprised by the sheer number of supporters that kept coming in between camps Aguinaldo and Crame. I thought our small car could not be able to leave EDSA for lack of space to drive on.
My wife and I were ecstatic with hope and so did most Filipinos.
The revolutionary government
of President Cory gave rise to the opportunity to put in place a
constitutional convention shielded from political influence as the
delegates were appointed by an independent commission based on expertise
and barely by connection. The result was an outstanding, though not perfect, constitution that we are sworn to follow up to this day.
A peaceful election in 1992 took place
and my new President Fidel Ramos took over. It was one of the most
progressive periods in my life time only to be messed up by a popular but
very incompetent President actor Joseph Estrada who won by a landslide
against my candidate Jose de Venecia in 1998.
President Joseph
did not last long as he was forced out of power by what is now known as
EDSA II out of allegations of corruption, stock manipulation, benefiting
from illegal gambling, etc.
Come GMA by succession. She was
very popular for so many years until she confessed that she tried to
influence the COMELEC officials in Mindanao which provided her crucial
votes to win the presidential election in 2004 against another popular
actor Fernando Poe Jr.
From then on her popularity deteriorated
and up to now never recovered not even after pardoning Joseph Estrada
who was convicted of plunder with the hope that Estrada supporters will
help improve her popularity. Her legacy was a government bereft of
dignity and clean governance. Oh, I voted for her ...strike two.
Now
I feel that I am on the home base once again aiming this time for a
home run because all indications are that my candidate is going to win
and he conveyed convincingly the image that he was substantially for
clean and no-nonsense governance. The economy is healthy thanks to the independent
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The world economy is on its way to
recovery. The timing of it all is perfect.
This is why I am
excited. For the first time since EDSA I, my hope has never been this high
that the Filipinos now have a better than average batting chance to turn
this great nation around and become a leading economy once again in this part of
the globe.
So what next after the May elections? I would say
more work for us Filipinos because we have a budget to balance in six
years time. Our economy has a good chance that it might do an India if
not a China. And if everything goes well, the next President in 2016
who I hope will win in this May election as Vice President of the land
will continue on this legacy of good governance.
At long last I
am going to witness this progress in my lifetime!!! If this isn't
exciting, I don't know what is. This time, it will probably be a home
run.