The bust of Socrates- bald head, fat face and boxer nose – is far from being charismatic the Athenians of his time would adore like a rock star. But he was beloved just the same, the youths of Athens especially, because Socrates was simple, kind and honest. The modesty of this dateless thinker despite the greatness of his wisdom is actually founded on this philosophy: “One thing only I know and that is I know nothing.”
Nonoy Aquino appeared to have exhibited quite naturally the Socratic wisdom when following his awaited announcement (to run for president) yesterday a question was thrown at him about how to deal with the conflict in Mindanao differently than Erap and GMA. The exchange (courtesy of PinoyBuzz) proceeded thus:
Question: I am the national president of Aksyon Mindanao. What is your peace agenda for Mindanao, and what is the difference between you, Estrada and GMA?
Noynoy: Well, can I say what I hope to do if I am given that opportunity?
Number one, when I was studying, they said the first step to knowledge is to admit that you do not know and then you seek to know.
Then Noynoy, revealing more his pacifist approach, explained that the chasm between the contending parties is “too far apart” and went on to underscore “the need for more dialogue, the setting up of a (process?) whereby we can communicate better with each other.” Capping his answer, he has shown even more of his modesty: “And I will follow the advice of a man more learned than me . . . to not stop talking because if we stop talking it becomes war, war, (and) war.”
When asked about governance, his egalitarian bent came forth as spontaneously: “Governance? I think my political career is very, very clear. I want to make democracy work not just for the rich and well-connected but for everybody.”
On one occasion the youth of Athens milled around Socrates and debated eagerly of justice, he asked them: What is it?
Noynoy’s idea of justice seems non-definitional. In the same interview, Noynoy, as daring as Obama discoursing with unpredictable town folks, gave “two examples of my pet peeves” that somehow dealt with an expansive conception of injustice: ONE, the way we provide education to our children such as when bureaucrats “settle for substandard materials with which to educate our youths, year in and year out,” a tragedy that borders on tradition; that to persevere with it like the unbending Filipino love of “just-tiis” is actually injustice (“walang justice”). The implied promise is that the pwede na yan mentality (to echo the infamous line of FV’s benignO) will not be repeated and will end on his watch. The OTHER is the unfinished quest for the recovery of Marcos ill-gotten wealth. This unfortunate saga is at the very least testimony that our “judicial” justice is not swift at all, and Noynoy posed the possibility of exploring whether resort to the exercise of “political will” would be appropriate to speed up the process.
Now, how will President Noynoy handle our economic woes? He’s to the point as any empirical economist worth her title: “efficiency and maximization of resources” (surely, he expects to be probed more on what these entail on the campaign trail). But the punch line on this score was reminiscent not of the exact thinking of Socrates but the quick wit of his father: “Last night, I had a briefing of how unwise the utilization of resources of the state has been for the past nine years of this current dispensation. Unfortunately, this professor of mine seems to have forgotten the lessons she taught me. I kept my notes.”
The ghost of flamboyant Ninoy lingered a bit more: “I will be a president that will be missed by the time I step down.” The flashy finishing fatal blow: “I do look forward to the time that I will step down.”
Popularity: 2% [?]
It remains to be seen. We are still trying to know the guy.
We wish him luck.
Abe: I am glad for you that you have found an Aquino whose promise fills you with enthusiasm in the words that he was brandishing about.
Apparently, NoyNoy’s march to Malacanang will be challenged inch-by-inch, not only by the big-name politicos in Erap, Villar, and others but in the scores of Filipinos. A blogger on ellenT’s site had this comment :
grizzy – September 10, 2009 5:46 am
BTW, I came to know Balsy, the sister of Noynoy, in fact, when her name surfaced then as one of those involved in the sales of Philippine properties during the Aquino administration. She was the personal secretary of her mother then, so the mother could nnot be excused for not knowing about the shady deals in these sales especially the successful ones they did like the sale of the property in SFO.
Lawyer Leonard de Vera in fact revealed the involvement of Aquino’s relatives in sale of the Philippine property on Stockton St. in SFO. Sabi naman ng isang kakilala ko doon, kaya lang humirit si De Vera daw dahil di binalatuhan as promised.
Itong tipo nang kwentong barbero ay dapat maiwan sa mge barbero lang kagaya ni de Vera…
itong mga tipong kwento ay hindi lilipad.
The main issue as many lawyers out there know is will this guy make an admission against his own familial interest and act on it. We need revolutionary ideas of distributive justice to finally arrive in the country.
Kung hindi mabaho din siya kagaya nang lahat.. No amount of ABS-CBN makeovers will change that. No amount of broadcast Divas can help him remove the stench of being a rag…
We need a two or three systems one country type of policy to bridge the developmental process/gaps not with our neighbors but within the country itself primarily but not exclusively.
He must must correct the worst act that his late Mother did. She extended the life of their hacienda. She never regained that moral ascendancy ever. It weakened and put the country on this present road to perdition and has made it an even harder challenge to reverse.
Noynoy, Erap and the rest are simply different faces of the same coins. His task is almost herculean to his culture.
Will this empiricist now see though all the hoopla that it is time to correct the injustice done to the tenant farmers of his hacienda. Will he divest himself of ownership over his inheritance rights over those vast landholdings?
The country desperately needs bold actions to counter the already deep cynicism.. Move to revolutionize the agricultural base with a massive commitment to change the already vastly unfair distribution of factor endowments so as to destroy those constituencies defending it. Strike for a blow for distributive justice and this country will follow you and defend you. Get this country out of its debt prison… You cannot have social justice without that most important distributive justice to empower the multitudes. Take the first steps..
Otherwise the pied pipers like Erap and Noli are simply waiting to pounce. The deeply entrenched people like Villar, Teodoro and the rest waiting to foist their chance at multiplying their wealth.
J_ag,
I do hope, as you and many Filipinos do, that Noynoy will provide some answer to questions regarding the rights of Hacienda Luisita tenants under the law as well as how to modernize our agriculture by exploiting our comparative advantage and possibly examine your observation at mlq3’s where you pounced upon the “neo-classical technocrats” thus:
The way I see it, your preference is a labor-intensive agriculture rather than land-intensive one, rice land not being one of RP’s great factor endowment for instance.
Noynoy, being both an economist and a haciendero, has probably a better grasp of this problem than many of us. I’d hope too that Noynoy as president will pursue industrialization as a natural outcome of an overreaching development process and not for its own sake.
My own approach to RP’s debt crisis is debt moratorium rather than sovereign default (critics of Cory want to think she passed up on the opportunity to avail of this remedy when her goodwill was at its peak), unless of course Noynoy bring political pressure to bear upon the economic elites to take up the slack by aggressively producing more and providing the government more revenues for the purpose of accelerating debt repayments and allowing for the access of productivity enhancing technology.
Abe your post leaves me cold. Your post believes that there exists state institutions to implement laws. Most especially asset reform. This is not simply a policy reform. It is a revolutionary strategy to correct history. The entire economic dogma of hundreds of years will have to pulled up by its roots.
In the PRC they have delayed the introduction of the automatic robot welders in auto plants simply because it was not labor intensive.
In the countryside we have farmer families for the most part. Farmers do not produce cash crops until they have the means to survive with their production of grains. Their cash crops give them some measure if extra income. But all agriculture is about producing crude resources. Why did China go for one country two systems. Even in the Chinese domestic markets each province have their own provincial champions. Each province is made to be self reliant within the whole country. The Central government keeps strategic supplies of the surplus for emergencies.
The mechanization of agriculture in the U.S. hits its stride in the 20-30′s adding to the depression. Hence the public works projects irrigating more lands in the West. More land was made available. The U.S. had started their industrialization process in the 18th century. By the end of the 19th century the huge tidal waves of European immigration had its peak. By the 20′s restrictions started to appear.
Debt moratorium means simply delaying the debt payments. We now inflate our debts to increase taxes. The multilaterals know that sovereign debt restructuring is in the works. We should push the envelope.
The U.S. has already renounced unilaterally their debt in gold twice. Many countries in S. America have already defaulted on their debt countless times. The last two being Russia and Argentina just a few years ago. What was worse for Russia is the fact that they defaulted on their domestic debt. Yet these countries are part of the new realignments in the world as part of the G-20. They both restructured their debts. They are back in the financial markets.
There was never a natural industrialization process anywhere in the world.
What do you want our elites to produce more of.. Beer, Gin or cigarettes. My hope is more GRO’s for export.
For the love of God look at the per capita consumption of steel and the per capita production of steel in this country. It will make you cry…
Abe have you ever been in business or ever managed anything that produced a physical good?
Do you think the process of economic revolution can be done without sacrificing consumption in this country. I strongly suggest you read the contents of the First Inaugural address of FDR when he took office at the worst of the great depression.
It sounded more like a religious call to war against the economic wickedness of capitalism. Read it and understand how then FDR hit the nail on the head in his analysis of the great depression.
We have so used to poverty in this country that a perpetual state of mal-development (permanent depressed state) is now considered normal.
J_ag,
RP undeniably faces daunting challenges and our leaders could be in need of people like you to help them understand better the development process.
What I’m learning however is that development strategies, or policies to foster economic development, will probably be tailor-fitted to our own situation even as we learn lessons of both the failures and successes from other countries.
It looks that any model we’ll settle on will likely be pursued on a very experimental basis because there appears to have no cookie-cutter blueprint yet in place that fits all. This means that what’s proven successful in China for instance will not necessarily foretell of similar success if tried in RP.
And since what’s to be pursued, whether by revolutionary means or otherwise, will be basically experimental, what’s of the moment I believe is the flexibility or the capacity and/or willingness to change course along the developmental path when things aren’t working. By this I mean that to attain swift shift, “vested interest” or “special interest” (as well as power-tripping on the part of bureaucrats) should be checked at the door when conducting economic analysis or designing development plans (and I’m assuming that, at this juncture, the political leadership has either been able to persuade the representation of critical sectors of society to come together to plan for the future – where requirement for serious commitment to a “sense of country” comes into play – or has decided to go it alone come what may, if you sense my drift).
What we have seen at least as regards the “tiger economies” is that they have come too close to being fascist states to carry out their development programs (despite being market oriented). And when the “sleeping giant” finally had woken up, we found it having easier time doing the same because its economy is already state managed in the first place.
I can therefore understand why Noynoy needed Divine guidance before taking the plunge. He has probably realized six years are not enough to make things happen; but he could at least lay the foundation.
Being Socratic isn’t enough to make you a department chair. Thus obviously isn’t enough to make a President
blackshama, looks like the enumeration is a bit longer than Soc. Our benigs won’t probably be too happy about the omission.
Obamesque? Just because he is young like Obama. Ang poinoy talga ang hilig hilg manggayaa? I cant see Obama in Noy noy at all. First Obam won the election ny himself. He has no popular parents like Nonoy to help him win election. Obama did not coem froma rich family either.
And BTW, although it was great that Obama won the election despite the huge odds against him. It still remains to be seen if he will be a great president. So its to early to follow his footsetps.
rego,
My comparison of Noynoy with Obama is obviously based on narrower ground: they both are willing to give honest answers to questions from constituents at the risk of committing goofs.
On the other hand, I did state very clearly my comparison of Noynoy with Socrates: it is based on humility, simplicity, honesty and kindness.
I cannot reconcile the title of this article with Noynoy’s LACKLUSTER performance in Congress. Am I missing something?
Danny, maybe the content.
I think Noynoy is the best candidate out there. Noynoy is an honest man and an honest man is a friend of transparency and transparency is the first step towards good governance. Let us as a nation take that first step
Abe, thanks for the link.
One thing that cannot be contested is the Death of Cory Aquino has somehow awakened a desire among many to re-live the EDSA experience.
This is not a bad thing.
What is a bad thing is that we may be investing so much hope in a person who may not be capable of wielding the powers of the Office of the President.
A pure heart is great to have, but you have to match that with intellect and iron will as well as political intelligence in order to achieve what must be achieved.
What, in Noynoy’s past or present shows that, indeed, he has this?
When he is President, will he be — as his mother — rely on the competent advice of his Cabinet Secretaries? How decisive will he be during crisis?
Abe,
I like Socrates, pronounced So-crates by Bill and Ted in that intellectual masterpiece of a generation ago, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures”. So-crates made a good question go a long way.
I have not seen Mr. Aquino’s speech, as I am currently without boob tube and have a really slow internet connection. Smart’s line is rather, ummmm, . . . lacking in whiz. But my reaction to your extracted quotes is:
(1) His Mindanao answer lacked clear-eyed wisdom, as if in his entire term in the legislature he had never given it one iota of thought; this notion of lets just talk about it lacks direction, (2) his obsession with Marcos’ wealth is fine, but what about all the regular people who are now locked out of the courts and police offices because of filing fees, and what about those horrendous delays in so many courts nationwide; why is he interested in justice first and foremost for the “name” case?, and (3) his economic concern about efficiency and maximizing resources is so apple pie that I got a tooth ache.
Now, I give him a little wiggle room because this is all new to him. But how much better if instead of spending a quiet few days mulling over his courage, he had spent it working with experts to hammer out some positions.
My early sense – easily wrong – is that this is not a very productive or profound guy . . . He seems all character, no output. In other words, no hope for a dynamic Philippines . . .
I have not shut the door on him, but I hear a creaking noise . . . and it is not my knees.
Joe
JoeAm: Five dot-223′s would hurt!!! But no Purple Heart for NoyNoy.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20070821-83752/Noynoy_Aquino_also_rises
Joe Am, be patient. Noynoy declared his intention to seek the presidency just yesterday. I’ve seen this guy as a young man lost his voice in a marathon speech berating Marcos and the evils of martial law. Watch him expound on his plan to lift the country from its unfortunate state in the coming days. Meanwhile, keep on pondering on the LP platform. It bears both Noynoy’s and Mar’s name.
If you are impressed with Dinky Soliman, the brains of the black&White Movement, the economics of Cesar Purisima and the good guys of Hyatt 10, then Noynoy is your guy.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090910-224479/Whos-who-in-Aquinos-inner-circle
My postulate : Noynoy is someone who has just been relieved from his previous job, a job that was not of his choice but which was thrust upon him. The previous job — “man-of-the-house” protecting his mom Cory.
Noynoy is a mama’s boy, and what I mean by this is that I expect to see Cory’s use of KamagAnak Inc (e.g. deference to Hacienda Luisita) for Noynoy’s leadership style, microfinance (not industrialization) as Noynoy’s engine for jobs-jobs-jobs, and Reproductive Health to be an issue that Noynoy will NOT tackle.
I also suspect that Noynoy will tackle payback — “Marcos wealth” and how Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had disrespected Cory — which is of course, good, but also bad if Noynoy prioritizes low-probability items (“Marcos wealth”) over the urgencies of streamlining governance to reduce pork barrel graft corruption issues.
Noynoy is a simple man, not a visionary — trained to be respectful to elders, to be prayerful, deferential to priests, imbued with a sense of responsibility to duty as a big brother and of protecting family under siege, not to sprout wings and to soar into greatness. Lucky for him he was told that Malacanang is in his destiny. I disagree that Noynoy is Obamaesque nor Ninoyish. Noynoy is a simple man — a caretaker in the image of his mom — not a leader with vision.
[ My opinion... ]
UP n, this form of discourse borders on the irresponsible.
Abe: I am surprised you didn’t put as much effort responding to anti-Noy comments as you do against anti-Obama comments. Like if I were trying to sell NoyNoy and I see a similar blogentry in EllenT’s site, I would respond:
(i) by finding bills submitted by Noynoy contrary to the allegations of “Luisita”-hacendero bias;
(ii) finding speeches made by Noynoy where he may have offered a SouthKorea-style approach to Pinas econ development or anti-WTO comments similar to what Mar Roxas had done; in fact, any Noynoy speech on Pinas development is a good counter-argument;
(iii) Noynoy did mention “Marcos wealth” and history is that Cory and Noy had broken ranks with GMA, so I would say “YES” to the allegations; I’ll even point to the resolutions about NTN/broadband that Noy had submitted;
(iv) I will ignore the comments about deferential to elders and deferential to priests; it may actually be a net-plus for Noy given Pinas culture; and any Sunday sermons exhorting the faithful to look kindly on Noy will help, don’t you think?;
(v) I’ll ignore the women’s issue and Reproductive Health (again, CBCP’s endorsements outweighs any endorsements from Gabriela) unless, of course, you know of strongly pro-female statements and pro-Church/State separation that NoyNoy had said this year or in previous years;
(VI) I’ll let slide the not-an-Obama dig. Firstly, a few Pinoys are racists. Secondly, a few Pinoys delight in posturing an anti-USA stance.
UP n,
I must say, I find your thinking highly relevant. You have an open mind that I don’t see in others, an ability to “call it like it is”, not like you “want it to be”. Others call it the way they want it to be, ever locked in concepts detached from truth.
That said, I appreciate Abe’s perspectives, too.
Joe
UPn
Who do you want to see president?
ManuelB: I am fine with your choice of Noynoy because you see in him integrity and honesty, but I detest deQuiros endorsement of a “Walang Alam” to be janitor in Malacanang. Malacanang is too important a position and it is insulting for deQuiros to ask people to say “honest mediocrity” is enough criterion for who to put into that role.
Sure, let us all of us “be patient”.
In the meantime, here is Noynoy’s SPARSE record (the very top of the alphabetically-arranged list) staring us in the face while we all pray our rosaries asking the Lord to grant him the mojos to LEAD.
Feet tapping… :-D
You ask for platform, and you are given one. Don’t you have enough to chew on? Did you even try reading it?
Reading what exactly? Show me said platform, plez.
Same can be said about your fixation (and your encouragement that the rest of us Pinoys remain stuck on an old “laban” that is no longer relevant TODAY), Mr. Margallo — borderline IRRESPONSIBLE.
The call that needs to be made should be FORWARD LOOKING and not the kind of backward-looking romanticism that induces further primitivism. Being forward-thinking and having it clear in our minds WHAT IS NEXT, is an imperative that is more CRITICAL than it has ever been.
Noynoy simply does not EMBODY that ethic of forward-thinking.
I’d like to incorporate my own seconding of UPn’s opinion here by requoting it this time entirely in BOLD:
=======
Noynoy is a simple man, not a visionary — trained to be respectful to elders, to be prayerful, deferential to priests, imbued with a sense of responsibility to duty as a big brother and of protecting family under siege, not to sprout wings and to soar into greatness. Lucky for him he was told that Malacanang is in his destiny. I disagree that Noynoy is Obamaesque nor Ninoyish. Noynoy is a simple man — a caretaker in the image of his mom — not a leader with vision.
=======
That is, of course, until he is able to prove the above WRONG.
The challenge to ALL politicians is simple, really.
:-D
Benigs, if I agree with MB that you are (borderline) blind, will the assertion stand if you don’t prove us wrong? It’s simple, really.
Yes, po. The assertion (that I am “blind”) WILL stand as an assertion UNTIL proven to be an INVALID assertion.
The thing with me though is I’ve got my position on many matters publicly available, readily accessible, and articulated brilliantly.
And as you and MB probably know by now, I can whip out the BASES and RATIONALES supporting just about EVERY assertion I make IN A SNAP.
So you can make an assertion about MOI and it will stand as VALID for, lemme see, all of 10 seconds in most cases.
:-D
I can whip out the BASES and RATIONALES supporting just about EVERY assertion I make IN A SNAP.
I’m afraid you need to see your ophthalmologist now!
Really? Why do you think so, pops?
Ask MB.
As usual I am always five steps ahead of you, Mr. Abe, coz I already did.
Try to keep up, pops.
The rest of us are in 2009 looking towards 2010.
Apparently you’re still hung up on 1986.
:-D
Reply:
Come back when you already know – next election cycle.
Ok, then what are you gonna guys talk about? Where’s the beef? Even the talk is vacuous.
Uh guys, that is exactly the definition of democracy. However, given the ideological bent as shown in the experience of Kamaganak, Inc, Hacienda Luisita, and the bungled CARP – wanting to make it work is one question, at the very least when push came to shove – democracy took a hike all the way to Hacienda Tinang even.
It is ironic that the choice of Noynoy equates exactly to that – pwede na yan anyway my pedigree naman, relevant platforms be damned.
Yeah right, tell that to the oligarchs who perpetuate the rent-capture policies of the 1987 Constitution. What? Can’t count beyond nine?
Make it easy for yourself and do this nation a service., you can step down, now.
Erap, Teodoro and and NoyNoy apparently share at least one thing in common (to the discomfort of Cory and the CBCP).
Abe and Caffeine will probably both be pleased that NoyNoy has positioned himself against the CBCP with regards Reproductive Health (if a certain Virginia Moncrief can be believed).
To see positions for or against RH by Villar Fernando, Legarda, others (based on guess-timate by one Pinoy-in-Pinas doctor), click here.
http://manny-villar.politicalarena.com/presidential-elections/news/sec-teodoro-supports-reproductive-health-bill
Yep, Noynoy was among the first 12 who signed the committee report when other presidentiables Mar and Chiz did not.
Now that the religious is among his backers, do we expect him then to change his stand on the matter?