Trains and my President for 2010

I wrote this article for my Civil Law Review 2 class. Atty. Uribe asked us to write an article about who will we vote for President and why. This is my first time to finally declare who I will vote. 

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I was in a train going to downtown Toronto when I blurted out to a friend, “Sana ganito rin sa Pilipinas. Maayos ang transporation system. Malinis. Disiplinado.” (I hope the Philippines would be like this. We’d have good transport system. Clean. Disciplined.) With that comment, we started a long discussion of the reality of where the Philippines had gone, the evils of corruption, and the need for a strong leader. It was summer of 2002 and from then I always hoped for a President who has that genuine desire to improve the lives of the Filipino people and carry out this desire into actions.

Two years later, I find myself in Singapore on board the MRT to Chinatown. I was with a Singaporean friend and I asked her with curiosity and a bit of envy, “How come Singapore is so disciplined? Is this taught in school?” She paused for a second or two, and said, “I really do not know, but I just grew up in a society like this.” Then she went into the how Lee Kuan Yew transformed Singapore and envisioned it to rise above all the Southeast Asian Countries. Disciplined leadership.

 Among all the candidates vying for the Presidential seat, I feel that Richard Gordon possesses the strength of a great leader. As his name suggests, (Richard means, strong leader; brave one) he has proven himself in countless ways which includes development of Subic and Olongapo, resuscitating the moribund Philippines Tourism Industry while he was Tourism Secretary, enacting worthwhile laws such as Republic Act No. 9369, the New Automated Election System law while he was Senator, just to name a few.

Gordon may not possess the charm like those of the other candidates, in fact he is being accused of being snobbish and cocky, yet I believe that he is the only one with the political will to serve the function of the Chief Executive.  He may stay low on the surveys over the more popular candidates, but who ever said that good leadership is possessed by the popular? We need a leader who is willing to get his hand dirty with the true problems of society. We need a leader who works even without being noticed. We need a leader who would not be swayed by the criticisms of his detractors and will carry out his job even at the face of oppositions. We need a leader who has dignity and values our identity as Filipinos. As I’ve concluded in my train ride in Toronto and Singapore: the Philippines needs a leader with iron hands. Filipinos, we do not need a savior. We need a leader.

Most of the people I speak to say they would have wanted to vote for Gordon, but they feel he might not win. How will he ever win when everybody else thinks that way? Perhaps, people are afraid of casting a vote on an underdog. Electing a president is not a popularity contest nor is it a gambling feat. It is an investment for the next six years which fruits we will pass on to the next generation. We do not invest our hard earn money to just any business. Hence we should also not invest our votes to just any candidate. We have already inherited a gamut of debts and problems. Let this be our chance to redeem ourselves. I dare these people to step out of their fears and finally assert their choices.

Let us realize that this election is no longer about who looks better on TV advertisements, who sings the more novel jingles or gives out the sweetest, hopefully-not-empty promises. This is not the time to be sentimental. This is no time for the circus all over again. This is about a true show of patriotism to our motherland. This is about putting up someone whose authority we will respect and trust and will vow to hold that respect and trust with utmost dignity and ability.

With that until election day comes, I will keep on riding trains.