AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE FILIPINO TO STEP UP AND LEAD

The Philippines’ Commission on Election has done a tremendous responsibility as been observed in today’s National and Local Election. It overcame the hexes cast upon by the shamans in the Philippine media and the parties they supported, and stepped up in the face of overwhelming disapproval. The COMELEC stands tall as a lone beacon of modernism in our backward society.

It is indeed very ironic that the COMELEC, for so long being the blacksheep institution of the Philippine public sector, has rocketed to the top of civil service excellence on the back of a feat of technology implementation, while the stalwart relics of 1980’s emo politics now stand under the stern gaze of a public that have all but caught on to the con operation they had subject Da Pinoy to for the last twenty five years.

If Cory Aquino brought pride to the Philippine nation in 1986 for leading the people power “revolution” of that year, Noynoy Aquino, her eldest now, now stands to the same twenty-four years later--- by standing aside the institution he sought to undermine stands tall and casts a gloating shadow on his ironic win in legitimate polls.

We see the dawn of a government headed by a person who cannot lead as an opportunity for the Filipino to lead the way they were meant as the most IMPORTANT elements in ay truly democratic society.

It is now the time that Filipinos should take accountability beyond being mere voters. Being constituents of a democratic government entails responsibility beyond the vote. Electing a president is not the end of our role. It is the beginning of it.

The measures of a president’s success are quite simple: a president must have:(1) A clear understanding of his country’s most pressing issues – the As-is State;(2) A lucid view of what he envisions his country to look like by the time he steps down six years later – the To-be State of the Philippines in 2016.; and, (3) A roadmap to get us there — The Plan.

Yes, Mr President, it becomes more real now — especially to the people you’ve made promises to. The countdown to 2016 is on. And we will be watching — and leading your government.

So what’s the plan, Mr. soon-to-be President?