Why we will never have a good president

Most of my friends are going for Grace Poe as President simply because she's kind. I ask them what other things that convince you to root for her, and they tell me nothing. Others, well, simply told me that Grace Poe is the right choice because she is not corrupt. That statement is questionable. Are we really sure that Grace Poe is not corrupt, and she's clean as a whistle?

Okey, so if Grace Poe is as what you think she is--an incorruptible person, then, tell me, why is she running for president anyway? Destiny--Ping Lacson would say. Mr. Senator, who told you that it's Grace Poe's destiny to become the President of this country?

I would have believed you in the case of Erap. Yes, he was destined to become president. The basis is--Erap worked hard for it. He had a dream and he worked hard for that.

Now, you ask me--how about Cory Aquino? No one thought that Cory would actually become president. That is not historically accurate. The fact is--we, the People, willed her to become one. When we prodded her to run against Marcos, we told ourselves Cory was the best choice there was amongst many veteran oppositions at that time. We campaigned for her. We worked hard for that Cory win because we were utterly convinced of the banality of the Marcos regime and the purity of Cory. Of course, several years later we actually saw for ourselves how misinformed we were and how  fucked our country had become. Many of us actually blamed ourselves for treating History and the Office of the President as mundane as an eighties disco pub.

Time to wake up and face the brutal realities of our times! We are fast growing as a Tiger economy and we cannot risk the next six years under an administration of another neophyte. What we need are experienced people in government. Competence should be the measure, not popularity.

The only thing is---under this very system, we cannot and would not be able to elect the perfect president, oh no. We cannot even elect a good one.

When before our time, moneyed men support men of principle and risk their monies to invest for a better Philippines, today, our moneyed men invest on people who land at the top list of the most popular and the most trusted--qualities which, unfortunately, do not make a good president.

The simple reason is--what moneyed men need are dummies, yes, people whom they can manipulate so that they would be able to corner the juiciest contracts in government.

Imagine if we elect a principled man at the helm of the Office of the President, a thinking individual with the purest of heart and of intentions and is not corrupt. What would happen to these Big Businessmen who have interests in these developmental projects being funded by the people's monies? What would happen to those companies which are not exactly competent and their only claim to fame are their owners risk their monies to fund the campaign of the winning president? Better companies would win contracts. Surely, those companies who played the game so to speak, would actually see themselves picking up those crumbs at the sidelines.

The reality of Philippine politics is simply--the best funded and the most organised wins. Money is the key towards electoral victory. With money, you get the best primetime slot on TV for your ads. You get the best men to run your organisation. You get to populate the entire archipelago with your election paraphernalia and attend the best and the most well attended political rallies.

Without money, even if you have the most competent, the best principled candidate, it will all be for naught.

The culprit really is that political funders right now place their bets on candidates whom they can manipulate, with poor minds, and because of the uncertainty of politics here, hinge their investments on people who land in the top spots of surveys. Surveys measure popularity, not competence. You cannot blame financiers for putting their monies on popular people because who in his right mind would risk his millions supporting a candidate who has no chance of winning?

It is time to stop thinking like this and even just for 2016, our moneyed men should invest on a more stable future.

If we elect another lemon just because she's popular, what would happen to us?

We will still hear billions of pesos being stolen, peace and order practically destroyed and social ills at their worst.

Time to open our eyes people and time to think about where in the future this country should be.

Do not elect uncertainty or instability. We are always unstable because we always choose on the basis of emotions rather than logic.