What kind of President do we need in 2022?
Most people will probably say “someone like so-and-so”: someone like Duterte, strong-armed, tough on crime, no-nonsense; or someone like Manny Paquiao, who rose from poverty through hard work and discipline, someone who knows what it’s like to be poor (and very popular too); or Inday Sara, tough as nails like her father and experienced in the ways of local government; or someone like a Marcos (BBM or Imee), they of the solid North and the Marcos wealth.
Or some will say someone like Leni, widowed lawyer who has proven her worth as Vice President, the caring, competent and trustworthy “nanay ng bayan”. There are others in the list, of course: Ping Lacson, Cynthia Villar, Sonny Trillanes, corporate tycoon Ramon Ang and Justice Antonio Carpio.
If the country were a corporation, it would already be head hunting for a successor Chief Executive. It would have a clear idea about what kind of person is needed to run the show for the next six very crucial years. It would be looking for someone who can lead the country to recovery, equitable development and sustainable growth.
Defining the President’s job
When head hunting, you first describe the job, the so-called “Terms of Reference”, before you define what kind of person would fill the bill.
The Philippine President is Chief of State / Head of Government. He/She heads the national government’s Executive branch and is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. As such, the President is chief diplomat, the main architect of foreign policy, and charged with representing the country in the community of nations. He/She is the official symbol and face of the Filipino nation.
As chief executive, the President is sworn to uphold the rule of law and to execute all necessary actions mandated and authorized under the office of the President. As chief administrator, the President directs the entire executive branch of the national government, making sure all agencies perform as mandated and in synch with the President’s program of government.
The President also oversees and exercises authority over local government units and should prod them to be catalysts of genuine development in their areas of jurisdiction.
The President is commander in Chief of all the armed forces and the appointing authority for the Chief of Staff, the PNP Chief and key officers, and thus wields considerable power that can and has been misused and abused. With this authority comes great responsibility to ensure that the armed forces perform their duties to safeguard Philippine territory, secure the government from all external and internal threats, ensure public safety, promote peace and order and to respect the Constitution.
The President, as titular head of the party in power, can also direct the passage of key legislation in pursuit of his/her priorities.
On top of all that, the President is the No. 1 citizen, whose demeanor, values, language, competencies and actions set an example for the entire nation to emulate, aspire for and embody, for better or worse.
That is a broad and by no means exhaustive definition of what the Philippine President’s job entails. But that is only half the story.
In Search of a Nation Builder
The Office of the President is endowed with great power. That power is capable of employing the means to destroy or build a nation. In the wrong hands (whether abusive or incompetent), a nation can sink in a quagmire of partisan discord, bureaucratic corruption, misgovernance, abuse of authority, political repression, peasant unrest, inequitable development or simple backwardness.
In the hands of a competent and trustworthy administration anchored on the right values and vision, any nation can overcome adversity and will prosper. Good leadership is the first ingredient in a nation’s development.
But messiahs are not the answer
We should have learned by now that the search for human messiahs is a waste of time. No President, no matter how competent and honest, can move a country forward without educated, responsible and empowered citizens with the right values.
The characteristics common among peoples of developed nations were identified by a psychologist as follows: ethical behavior, integrity, responsibility, punctuality, respect for the rule of law and basic rights, love for work, effort to save and invest and the will to be productive. Let me add discipline, the spirit of self-reliance and intolerance of mediocrity and wrong-doing.
When you have a population imbued with these characteristics, you will most likely have a prosperous nation. That’s what a leader needs to work on to serve as a beacon of sorts, while addressing real and urgent concerns of the day.
A Lot of Fixing to Do
How do we develop an ‘educated, responsible and empowered citizenry when: 1) we can’t educate and feed our children well, 2) we can’t send crooks, drug lords, criminals and corrupt officials to jail, 3) the rich keep getting richer and the poor continue to depend on dole-outs and palliative measures, 4) candidates need to buy votes and the electorate keeps expecting the same, 5) ‘protectors of the people’ become the oppressors, 6) killings have become a matter-of-fact, almost daily occurrence that remain largely unsolved;
7) Government projects are known as pork barrel and the source of enrichment for corrupt officials, 8) human rights are regularly violated, 9) lumads and rural folks are caught in the conflict between government forces and insurgents, 10) indecent language and boorish behavior are regularly displayed by the country’s top leader, etc.? We could go on, but one thing is clear: the country is sorely in need of fixing.
So what kind of president do we need?
First, what will the new President have to be? In my view, he/she will need to be 1) a healing and unifying President (more on this in a later column), 2) a stickler for truth, justice and fair play, 3) a charismatic ambassador to the world, 4) a principled politician skilled in the art of negotiation, 5) an empowering, ethical and effective leader; 6) a strategic development manager driven by the right Vision and values;
7) A goal-driven taskmaster who can whip all government agencies into efficient service-delivery machines, 8) a caring, nurturing servant leader, 9) capable of assembling and leading competent government functionaries who will carry out the administration’s programs efficiently and well and 10) a good communicator.
So, what credentials do we look for in that kind of President? Given the above ‘job description’ and the challenges we face, what competencies and values would a President need to rise to the occasion? For lack of space, I leave this question open for now and invite the reader to comment. You may email me at citizenlito@yahoo.com
