Interesting that blogger Reyna Elena has recently decided to support a call for the venerable Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (JAZA) to run for President. I find it interesting because I see this as a real good case study — something that we can potentially follow from inception in a way not coloured by the muddlery of petty political intrigue that our society’s traditional cast of characters (the traditional politicians, “journalists”, and “experts”) tend to smear onto whatever they touch upon.

It is an audacious call, more so considering that I personally don’t see what’s in it for the guy. Why subject one’s self to the pain of being leader of a people who can’t even prosper their way out of a paper bag when you already lord it over a realm that collectively is probably worth more than the entire archipelago combined.

Yet how different can JAZA be from the dime-a-dozen politicos with mouthsful of mere slogans and platitudes to deliver us? I take a bit of license to join the venerable Reyna in her exploration:

[...] Indeed, wouldn’t it be nice to be led by a guy who is an esteemed alumna of the Harvard Business School and head of one of the most brilliantly-run business conglomerates in the land — a vast enterprise that has sunk in more piles supporting an infrastructure base of standards of quality unmatched by any Government-funded project?

Well then I’m sure even a graduate of Lola Basyang’s Business School in Valenzuela, much less that of the prestigious HBS, will be able to follow a four step process to show how serious he/she is about the business of running a country.

But as I have made quite clear many times in the past, we as constituents of a democracy the very nature of which lends reflection of the character of a people to its leaders need to embody the very traits we expect of our politicians, thus…

[...] So too, Reyna Elena and company, if you truly support this candidate and are serious about the job you’ve put your hand up for, then the challenge is quite simple. Help this candidate differentiate himself from all the rest and work towards coming up with a coherent platform you can propose he take up to demonstrate to him that you too take the whole Office of the President seriously. Considering that the man is an esteemed alumna of the Harvard Business School, that should not be too tall an order.

Compare that to the latest jologular speculation on the senatorial aspirations of Danny Lim, where The Queen makes the following “reflection”:

Ang kalimitan na tanong kay Brig. Gen. Danny Lim ay kung paano siya makakasilbi sa taumbayan kung siya ay maswerteng manalo sa pagka-senador sa eleksyon sa 2010 samantalang nakakulong siya.

[...Life is unfair indeed, but who knows, baka swertehin ...]

Ang sagot ni Lim, ang dahilan ng kanyang pagka-kulong ay pulitikal. Hindi siya nagnakaw o nandaya. Kaya nga siya nakulong dahil nilabanan niya ang lideratong mandaraya at magnanakaw.

[... Is it just me or were a few details left out in the above account? ...]

gusto nila makabuo ng reform-oriented na mga bloke sa Kongreso at sa pamahalaan para maisulong ang programang makabayan.

Kaya mahalaga na manalo muna sila.

[... kung baga, ma'am Win First Think Later, right?]

That bit of comedy relief (with apologies to non-Tajolog speakers) pretty much gives us an idea of the low bar that we typically set for ourselves when “supporting” or “endorsing” whatever bozo candidate we have in mind as our manok for whatever office of the moment is up for bids (often literally).

So we owe it to ourselves as a people who more than a few here think is “destined for greatness” to raise the bar to a level befitting a people worthy of being called “democratic”.

I don’t know if Reyna Elena and company, in jumping onto their new-found advocacy, have thought this through the way I have laid it out here. But then they are in that unique position of doing it right the first time. So the future is their oyster.

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