Our 2010 Choices

Don't get me wrong---we have a bevy of talents for the Chief Executive post come 2010. This country does not lack people who dream of someday sitting in that wicked mahogany chair inside Malacanang and commanding like a powerful Sultan and deciding on the fate of 90 million. The presidency is the most powerful post in this land. He is the penultimate governor, albeit, the "governor of all governors." And he scours a vast territory of 7,100 islands, rich in natural resources and prime real estate properties. Under his command, he can sell these lands to foreigners and take billions as commissions. He can decide the fate of 24 million impoverished people by just an executive order discontinuing job placements abroad. He can make a million public servants lose their shirts or take on another million as his pious addition to a humongous bureacracy.

The presidency is so powerful that it is the best interest of everybody to ensure that, come 2010, it'll not go to the wrong hands. Since we are so fearful of changing this system prior to the 2010 elections, we better put our acts together come May 11, 2010 and ensure that the person who'll get the top plum really deserves it.

Who are our choices for the top post in 2010? Let me write about them as precisely and concisely as possible.

1. Mar Roxas. Roxas belongs to one of the richest clans in the country. He's a scion of two great families---one eminent in politics, the other, in business. The Aranetas own vast tracts of land both in Luzon and other parts of the country. The Roxas clan, meanwhile, enjoys the distinction of being once in Malacanang, cut short with the sudden death of Manuel Roxas, the clan patriarch.

Roxas started as a brilliant banker who returned to the country after EDSA uno. He went out of his comfort zone and went head-first to politics after the death of another relative, Gerry Roxas. He first took government posts, positioning himself as a brilliant technocrat and with his sterling record as a public servant, got the highest number of votes as a senatoriable.

He's young, brilliant and possesses a strong, stubborn mien.

2. Chiz Escudero. Chiz inherited his political genes from his father, former Agriculture Minister Salvador Escudero. While his father failed to get the senatorial post, Chiz succeeded him. With his glib tongue, he served as the spokesperson of the opposition. He positioned himself as a fighter of lost causes. He was there when Fernando Poe Jr. died. And when the Big Man passed away, Chiz also passed away. He went under the succor of his party, the NPC, peopled with trapos. He used his affinity with FPJ and the opposition to get the second highest number of votes for senator. Despite his denials, Chiz is salivating for the presidency. That's why he now faces a very tough opponent in the person of Senator Loren Legarda who also wants to get the blessing of NPC financial giant, Danding Cojuangco.

Chiz is young, somewhat idealistic and a liar. He wants people to believe he came from the poor, when everybody knows how rich the Escuderos are. He has no executive post experience, possesses scant knowledge of how to hurdle the deleterious effects of transactional politics and only knows how to placate dissenting feelings through motherhood statements. He offers no agenda of governance except "Truth, Justice and Peace."

3. Gilbert Teodoro. Teodoro is a brilliant guy, finished his studies abroad and returned to serve. Like Mar Roxas, Gilbert belongs to a political clan with various business interests. His family is known all throughout as hacienderos. He was once a legislator and was appointed defense secretary by Arroyo, replacing former ally Avelino Cruz.

As defense secretary, he purportedly professionalize the ranks. Yes, professionalize it. He allowed General Jovito Palparan to arrest, detain and kill political opponents of this administration. He defended the human rights record of this administration by justifying these killings and desaperridos in the name of anti-insurgency. He also made sure that those generals under their protective wing are happy, contented and fully satisfied with all those deals in the defense department.

4. Loren Legarda. Legarda started her career as a journalist and ended up as a professional politician. She was reared in the ways of politics by former president Fidel V. Ramos who saw enormous promise in her. She took up Masters in Defense Administration and graduated with honors. She's a workaholic, a tireless worker who burn the midnight oil just to read and write laws. She nearly took the vice presidency from fellow broadcaster Noli de Castro only to fall victim to vicious dagdag bawas.

Legarda was once married to Batangas governor Tony Leviste, who now faces possible jail time due to his killing his closest associate. She came in first in the senatorial polls in 2007 and wants to take another dig at the presidency. She obviously enjoys the trust and confidence of the people but lack the necessary resources to push thru with her ambition. If she is patient enough to wait in 2016, she may yet see her ambition realized.

5. Noli de Castro. De Castro started as a journalist. He really came from the poorest families in the country. He arrived here in Manila without any decent money and worked as a production assistant in RPN 9. Some of my older colleagues in RPN 9 says he used to sleep in the driver's quarters. His break came when the late Inday Badiday hired him as voice announcer for her highly rated showbiz program.

His big break came when he was hired by ABS-CBN 2 to become the lead anchor in the revitalized TV Patrol. He was given his own show, Magandang Gabi Bayan, which became an instant hit. He ran as senator and won. He again ran for the vice presidency and took it under suspicious circumstances. He reportedly now enjoys the backing of PLDT head honcho Manny Pangilinan. He continues to top the surveys but his lack of political party is a liability. He may have to settle for a movement which PLDT/SMART is reportedly launching for him in the next few weeks.

6. Richard Gordon. Gordon was a staunch pro-American when calls for the abolition of the Military Bases Agreement (MBA) were the "in" thing. Gordon was mayor of Olongapo when the Aquino government, along with a purely nationalist Senate, abrogated the MBA. At first, Gordon did not believe that Olongapo and Bataan would survive a post-troop pullout. Yet, when Aquino gave him full rein as Subic administrator, Gordon backtracked and made a 180 degree turn. He immediately announced that yes, the Filipino can rise from this debacle. He turned Subic into a world-class port facility. During his term as SBMA administrator, he inspired many with his philosophy of voluntarism.

Gordon ran and won a senate seat. There, he excelled in a rather silent fashion. He speaks when necessary and gives his stand when the occasion needs it. He's a pragmatic nationalist. He offers nothing new and says nothing new. He, along with his supporters, want to project that he's the Filipino version of Obama; yet, the more he does it, the more people see his trapo side. Gordon is a weak shadow of Obama.

7. Ed Panlilio. Ed is a priest who rose from the sidelines and ran as Governor of Pampanga. He defeated a jueteng lord and a known collector of quarrying activities in the province. Many opposes him because he defeated the Pinedas, the decades-old jueteng overlords in the province. Yet, many are now slowly realizing that Ed is a poor administrator. Look at Pampanga. Nothing has changed. People remain poor. What Ed can offer to a change hungry Nation is just a sermon--good for the soul yet bad for the body.

8. Manny Villar. Villar, as his publicist says, started work as a fish vendor. After that, Villar's personal history is, at best, spotty. Nothing is known about how Villar started his way up to become a billionaire. He is widely known as the country's most eminent real estate magnate. Malicious tongues wag that he grabs lands, here and there, illegally and legally. He started giving homes to millions of Filipinos, scrimping on construction costs and making those houses in poorly allotted lots. Villar started the practice of transforming idle agricultural lands into paved subdivisions.

He ran as Congressman of Las Pinas and worked his way up as Speaker of the House. An ally of former president Joseph Estrada, Villar betrayed his friend by allowing the impeachment to go pass the lower house. Villar then went to the Arroyo side and the rest is history. Using his vast resources, Villar ran for the senate and won. He became Senate president under an agreement with former senator Frank Drilon and nothing substantial came out of his term.

He now faces a Senate ethics probe for his Daang Hari properties and some say risks the ignominy of being the first post-EDSA senator ousted from the august chamber due to unethical practices.

9. Bayani Fernando. A joker. A person who does not deserve attention nor to be taken seriously. Last night, he was so afraid to face the public. He chickened out. His only claim to fame are those steel bridges which his company benefits from and those U-TURN slots, dangerous construction works. He's the administration's tirador, just to confuse the 2010 elections. COMELEC should regard him as nuisance candidate.