I have argued in my posts that MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando’s bid for the Presidency has to be taken more seriously than we did in Celebrity Duets (where he bagged the plum prize and made Ricky Reyes burst into tears of joy). While in the Metro, his chances are not taken seriously but even with his  1%  SWS rating, the Palace has put him in the list of possible anointed ones.

The reason is that in the provinces he is increasingly seen as the Hero. Many people in the provinces are sick and fed up of the s_it that is dished out in Metro Manila every day. To a real extent, provincial people are disconnected with Manila but when they hear that Bayani has made things work even if only on EDSA, then they are impressed. Local executives who need to fly, ride or sail to Manila are often taken to Marikina and they come out impressed. Marikina has barely a pothole, no obstructions, no “tambay” on the streets and is PEACEFUL.  But beyond that slew of natural disasters have proven that Bayani can have things done. So everytime there is a typhoon, they are reminded of Bayani.

While Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has the nebulous and to some insensitive ”ramdam and kaunlaran”, Bayani has his “kaayusan” We can recast this as “ramdam ang kaayusan” which is truer than that of Gloria’s. The pedestrians and jaywalkers have felt the pink fences and the vendors have felt and heard the bullhorns,the demolitions and the prison bus.  Whichever your side is, Metro Manila citizens have felt what it is to be under Bayani Fernando. I have been ticketed for swerving and paid the fine. You and I can live with it.

This to a large extent is taken with pettiness by some Metro Manila mayors. We can see how different their turfs are from Marikina.

Those who like to read about political history may deduce that Bayani’s antics are so “fascist”. I would agree. But with a twist, Hitler and Mussolini never sang in public! Examples of Bayani’s “fascist” antics include his parade of dump trucks ala  Moscow’s May Day parade, the “Hitleresque” posters on EDSA, and his face everywhere and this one takes the cake since the other ones are typically dished out by politicians. If there is communist graffiti on the walls, he covers it with pink and blue MMDA “art”! Not even Ferdinand and Imelda were that imaginative! It is even better than anything done by Dr Joseph Goebbles!

(BTW my Marikenyo friends tell me if BF gets to the Palace, expect a political dynasty.  To which I replied: “So what else is new?”)

The kaayusan idea is really at the core of Bayani’s emerging ideology. The problem is that Gloria may use that as an extension of her “Strong Republic”. We need to see how his idea links or parallels with the Great Apo Ferdinand’s ideology. Despite what Coryists think of Mr Marcos, he is the only Philippine president to have left us a coherent record of his political ideology. It is about time that we revisit what Marcos envisioned.

Ferdinand Marcos had his chance at “fascist” glory but flopped. But Bayani has had his even before he could be president.The Left has grudgingly admitted this. Please take note that I have  the word fascist in quotes. This is because Bayani’s idea can easily be implemented even in a liberal democratic framework. And this is the challenge that the electorate has to consider. Do we need to have someone like BF to make our country work? Better yet, can we contain his antics and not put our democracy in peril?

The answers will be given by an increasingly urbanized Filipino nation. Because by 2010 a majority of Filipinos will be urbanites and this follows the global trend.  This is something missed out in comments about Bayani Fernando. His “Metro Philippines” is the butt of jokes among the Metro’s elite, but he is dead on target. The Philippines will turn out to be one gigantic Metro Manila and as an environmental scientist, I bet my last peso on that!

Fatal error: Call to undefined function p75HasVideo() in /homepages/39/d169067170/htdocs/voices/wp-content/themes/NewFV/single-default.php on line 57