On the Issue of the Caretaker Government: My Answer to Ronin

A colleague in the blogger community commented on my proposition on the caretaker government. He says that this proposition poses more questions than answers. How will this caretaker government come about? If the forces at work conduct an extra-constitutional exercise, will the people accept it? If its through peaceful means, will it bring the expected results, that of meaningful change?

Legitimate questions demand legitimate answers.

Why Caretaker Government?

First, the damage wrought by the Arroyo administration on government institutions will require years of repair. The people's trust and confidence in the state's vital institutions has been destroyed. Surveys upon surveys reflect the people's collective disdain and mistrust on their leaders. This "virus" of distrust has infected the entire political machinery, from the barangay level to the highest post of the land.

For the State to survive a growing movement towards its abolition, the status quo needs a fresh set of faces to replace the old idiots. No one among our present set of civilian leaders show capability of leading the changes needed in our present times. Arroyo's time has come. She bungled the golden opportunity to be our shining hope. Instead of providing us guidance and vision, she led us to perdition. Obviously, we need her replacement immediately before our country turn from worse to worst.

Arroyo's replacement

Why a council instead of going to the constitutional route of succession? The reasons are obvious: no one is willing to take the reins of governance. The constitutional successor, Vice President de Castro risks a coup d'etat if he takes on the role of president. The elite disdain him despite having endeared himself to the masses. He has a big, booming voice but no vision to offer the people. His record as a corrupt mediaman still resonates among the people, despite years of being in the civil service.

Senate President Manny Villar is perceived by many as a compromiser and big businessman with obvious corporate goals than governance. Speaker Joe de Venecia's image as a compromiser and traditional politician still rings true, what with his public pronouncements of loyalty to the people's enemy Gloria.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno just rejected calls for him to lead the caretaker government. So, obviously, there is no other constitutional leader than can succeed Arroyo in the event of an ouster campaign. This leads us to answer the second question posed by Ronin.

Extra-Constitutional means

Since there is no other option left, those who thirst for changes in governance should accept the possibility of an extra-constitutional means for change. Why? Because given the circumstances and the present state of affairs, this option is clearly justified. Should these forces fail in their mission again of ousting Arroyo, we see the prospect of a prolonged conjugal dictatorship that would paralyze government for another three to five years. I will not mention anymore the effects of this in terms of national security, business and the like since I wrote about these things in this blog some weeks ago.

Composition of the Caretaker government

Political reality shows that no civilian leader is willing to take the enormous task of nation-building. This is a tacit admission by the civilian sector of failure to govern. Hence, this leads us to presume that the most logical set of leaders must come from the idealistic sector of the military. There must be a group of idealistic officers who will stand up and fight. They must be led by a charismatic leader who will manage the affairs of the state while the government is in its formative stage.

A senior council of national elders must be formed to provide direction to this set of military leaders. This council must be composed of previous presidents, like FVR. FVR, despite what people think of him, is the most fitting leader to lead this country again. Joe de Venecia is wrong when he said that Arroyo must do a Lee Kuan Yew and lead the cleansing of government. Arroyo does not have the competency nor the political mettle to lead a moral revolt. Among our set of leaders and elders, only FVR has the vision, the experience and the knowledge to lead this country with the idealistic military.

Another important component of this government must come from the academic community. The Philippines has hundreds of experts, specialists and technical people to lead this country to greatness. These technocrats and academics must bond together and assume responsible posts in government. The first mission of these academics should be the creation of a national ideology that would govern the country in the next decades.

The next important component of a caretaker government must emanate from legitimate civil society leaders and non-government organisations. These people must provide the government of their knowledge about the people's real needs so that policies are tempered and suits the masses. They provide the needed mass base for a caretaker government to survive any attempts by counter-revolutionaries.

Time frame

The caretaker government should lead this country for three years. Its mission should be the repair of the state's damaged institutions. Should forces fail again in their mission of ousting Arroyo, the ruling clique will again be emboldened and strengthened to think that they can rule this nation into infinitum, to the detriment of all.