The need for a gameplan.
September 7th, 2008 by JLast week, Isabela Governor Grace Padaca went to my school (where she graduated) and talked about good governance.
She spoke of her past uphill election battles with the powerful Dy Dynasty of her province, and how she is trying hard to bring about change in Isabela. She draws from her experience a profound optimism about the future of the country. Which is why she has joined the ranks of many reform-minded local government leaders, including Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio, in an effort to spread the trend of good governance throughout the country. She says her group plans to tap good leaders to run for the 2010 elections in localities throughout the Philippines.
Her optimism is good. But the question is, what’s the gameplan? I mean, we can all talk about hope, but without a concrete plan to bring about the kind of change this country needs, the talking would be useless. Like where would their group get the money to face the mighty machinery of the dynasties, for instance?
The elections of Padaca and Panlilio surprised the trapos. But I believe they know better now than to dismiss reformist candidates as mere nuisance. They have the resources. And they would use them to prevent the likes of Padaca and Panlilio from gaining power come election time.
2010 is just two years away. We who love this country should get our acts together and formulate a doable course of action to oust the bad and to elect the good. And we must start doing so now.
September 8, 2008 at 12:53 am
The ‘reformist’ credentials of the Philippine Middle Class is questionable because of its role in tolerating Hello Garci. The thing is, it shows its reformist side selectively and self-servingly.
September 8, 2008 at 5:21 am
Apart from us, J the likes of Padaca and Panlilos also meed a game plan. It is not enough for political novatos to get elected on the crest of anti-trapo popular will. They must be able to harness their own LGUs’ bureaucracy to take the refornist path of good, accountable and transparent governance without becoming co-opted themselves by ‘the system of SOPs and the ‘people in the woodwork. Take Among Ed, for instance he is grappling with the entrenched interests of thew jueting culture ibn Pampanga and his own inner circle of advisers are fighting among themselves and those he helped elect him into office are also impatient to ‘cash in their chips’ with moist eyes in the direction of the quarrying operations.
Even those from the AIM and the Ateneo are at a loss sometimes about how to handle the priest-turned-politician. No, Among Ed is not being eaten up by the system but political craft-work is such a complicated task of balancing competing interests and cobbling together productive consensus that Pampanga is not moving forward as well as it should.
September 8, 2008 at 8:32 am
J,
The story of GMA does not start with Garci in 2004. There is no need to get down on the “Middle Class” as CVJ does, because even in 2001 they were just props for a coup d’etat involving the supreme court chief justice, the csafp and the vice president colluding with the Church to overthrow the President. Thus Edsa Dos saw a Death Pact between GMA and the Supreme Court — which seems to be holding up pretty well.
Of course if you believe in or are deceived by the illusion that Erap fell because of “People Power” then of course you will be disappointed in the Middle Class’ “reformist credentials” since 2004 and the Garci Scandal.
Unfortunately, mob rule breeds MOB Rule.
Now, Chavit Singson, allegedly the lord of jueteng and smuggling in Ilokoslovakia, is Deputy National Security Advisor. GMA has no intentions of leaving in 2010. The old gang is intact, (except for the softy cry babies who really thought GMA represented a revolution then reform!). They cannot afford to let go of power. So they won’t. They have control of the Supreme Court and the MIlitary. There is severe turbulence in the economy. War in Mindanao. Food inflation, oil and energy crises, dogs sleeping with cats. What more could a budding dictator want, or need, to rule a nation that George Schultz once described as 75 million cowards and one sonofabitch?
So the question is: What’s GMA’s game plan?
September 8, 2008 at 9:17 am
There will always be the tendency for those in power to engage in backroom conspiracies. Let the politicians and powerbrokers do what they want to do since that is in their nature, but let that not be an excuse for us (the ordinary citizen) to compromise our principles. The objective of any ‘gameplan’ (whether it involves people power or participation in the electoral processes) is to make sure that such backroom conspiracies become irrelevant.
September 8, 2008 at 3:49 pm
cvj: I agree on your point that gameplan should make sure backroom horse trading would be irrelevane. But I don’t lose hope on the reformist officials. My take is they aren’t very vocal on the Garci issue because they are busy carrying out their crusades in their localities.
Ding, I agree. That’s why Panlilio should be really clever. If he fails, it will take ages before another of his kind emerges. Because if he fails, the people could lose hope in good governance.
And yes, DJB, I hold no illussions about Edsa II. It was a coup d’etat that raped the Constitutions.
Now why don’t we get to work and start thinking about ousting these trapos (and eventually the Oligarchs)? :D
September 8, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Gil Santos’ email response:
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Kilosbayan, Padaca, Panlilio, Rebredo and the real brains working on the reform movement AT THIS TIME will NOT REVEAL their game plans for 2010. It will be fatal to do that. That will give the trapos, specially those working with the current politicians in office (who are scared of losing their powers because that means income and lots and lots of money), the time and methodology to shoot these plans down.
This is now a case where tighter security is applied by the people who are really working for the reforns. This the time when secrecy are tightly guarded and information is given only to those who must know, and when.
This is the time for political intelligence to work and it must be presumed that all political analysts (of whichever camp or party) are doing exactly that. It is alright for ideas to be tossed around but do not expect the complete game plan will be made public at all.
To any critical thinker/writer there will always be questions to ask. You may not get the answers but expect the brains to give you only what they want you to know. This is precisely the reason you and every thinking voters should be asking questions. You must have your own set of data and information to base your decision. This is exactly what the honest media must do so the citizens are enlightened.
For this same reason, we must not just accept the printed or aired or blogged information served to us. Do your own analysis and make your own decision, because that will be your vote. Consult with friends and trusted analysists only. Then cross your fingers hard in the hope that you are not doublecrossed or fed with the misinformation.
Politics in DEMOCRATIC Philippines — particularly since 1946– is not a ideological tool whereby HONESTY is upheld supreme. We have warped and twisted politics and honesty to be “pragmatic” and something to be molded and used for personal convenience.
This does not mean I am preaching hopelessness or resignation to a corruption-anchored future for the country. Indeed, Padaca and Kilosbayan were here just to open the eyes of your generation that there is hope–and we must all take the first step forward.
The country has taken the first step backward when we became ideologically empty in the Cory Aquino regime. Now let us take the ten forward steps to go on.
September 13, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I cannot agree more with Sir Gil’s statement “Kilosbayan, Padaca, Panlilio, Rebredo and the real brains working on the reform movement AT THIS TIME will NOT REVEAL their game plans for 2010. It will be fatal to do that.” When I read your e-mail about this topic last week, I didn’t believe that they don’t have a definite gameplan. Well, this is really the case especially if your going up against the “trapos”. You cannot really profess on how you plan to win the elections, what you tell should be limited on the visions and the things you want to change for the greater good, or else they’ll eat you alive.