i never really liked politics. with the present campaign circus, i can't help but get even more skeptic.
here's an excerpt sent to me by a friend. maybe its time to review your list.
Three young men
FROM THE STANDS By Domini M. Torrevillas
The Philippine Star 03/24/2007
After many brickbats over its lack of a platform, the Genuine
Opposition (GO) finally felt compelled to come up with one last week.
But it failed to excite.
It turns out that GO's 10-point agenda is nothing but a hazy version of
what the Arroyo administration has already put in place over the last
six years, bringing to the fore GO's inherent weakness: Its purported
platform has become irrelevant as an alternative for public service.
Which makes you wonder where, exactly, it is heading for.
It saddens me to say this because, in advancing progress, especially in
this country, the pivotal role has historically been assumed by the
opposition. But sadly, not the opposition represented by GO. This
probably explains why Sen. Kiko Pangilinan has captured the imagination
of the public, as manifested in his leap to No. 1 in a recent survey.
One look at John Osmena's TV ad depicting a most populist stance about
the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) is enough to ascertain GO's
ultimate goal: not to institutionalize political stability nor to
sustain the appreciable economic gains that the country has achieved,
but to power grab at all costs.
But here's something that is all the more regrettable. For all their
rabble rousing, did you know that Reps. Alan Peter Cayetano and Francis
Escudero did not initiate a single law in all the nine years they spent
as representatives of Taguig-Pateros and Sorsogon, respectively? All
they did, sources in the House say, was ride on the legislative agenda
of their fellow representatives by simply affixing their names as
co-authors of bills that their colleagues initiated, while they kept
the media busy projecting them as the next generation of leaders in the
country.
I was so disappointed about this discovery, for, I too, had started to
believe that these young gentlemen offered some hope for the country.
But, as it turns out, their political foray has nothing to do with
public service, but everything about ambition.
With their political pedigree, as it were, their careers are all about
keeping the clout for their respective families. And what they're
dishing out are empty words. Such are the troubling facts in the case
of Cayetano, Escudero and before I forget, the son of Sen. Aquilino
Pimentel, lawyer Koko Pimentel, another GO bet, who has no experience
of public service to speak of, just his political pedigree.
Koko Pimentel rabble rouses about him being the voice of Mindanaoans
and the youth. Where could he be coming from? His only other political
bid was a few years back when he ran as mayor of Cagayan de Oro. He was routed. So what, pray tell, Mindanaoan and youth representation does he carry?
These circumstances remind me of a witty quip from Team Unity bet
Chavit Singson, who is the governor of Ilocos Sur and estranged friend
of ousted Pres. Joseph Estrada.
During the Pampanga proclamation rally, he observed that the
opposition-dominate d Senate of the 13th Congress failed as an
institution because majority of its members transformed it into a
political persecution chamber with their penchant for endless debates
and investigations.
All they were concerned about, said Chavit, was their ambition to occupy Malacañang. He brought the point home.
For all his tough talk and misadventures, Chavit to me comes across as
a gentleman. Thus, Chavit says of his former friend's plight: "The
President can immediately pardon Estrada but only after the court case
has been decided. What is important is that the case should be allowed
to take its course because we have to show the public that there is
justice in this country."
Further, Chavit the man declares: "I could have run and won in 2001
even without campaigning. Who is Joker Arroyo? He won because of the
Erap impeachment. Who is Manny Villar? He won because of the Erap
impeachment. It's more difficult now but that's the challenge of life.
I'm running now because the governors want me to and I feel I can
contribute something to this country. I'm confident I can win as long
as they [governors] don't abandon me."
Many may argue about Chavit's point of view, but certainly there is
depth there. It's the sort of depth lacking in the younger generation
of leaders like Cayetano, Escudero and Pimentel.
But, for that matter, not on Migz Zubiri, another political scion and
Team Unity bet. Zubiri immersed himself in his job as congressman. In
fact, he earned the monicker Mr. Biofuels from Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
herself, as a tribute for his principal authorship of the Biofuels Act,
a landmark legislation that buttresses the Clean Air Act of 1999 by
promoting the use of cleaner fuels, which at the same time, revives the
country's age-old coconut industry.
The big difference between
the likes of Cayetano, Escudero and Pimentel, on the one hand, and
Zubiri, on the other, is that the latter immersed himself in public
service to feed his ambition, whereas the former just focused on their
ambition.
