Hindsight

The standard cliche’s are hindsight is 100% correct, buyer’s remorse and caveat emptor; let the buyer beware. There is also as is, where is, meaning that one buying a second hand motor vehicle shouldn’t expect it to be in a brand-new condition.

As far as the 2022 Presidential election goes, it was a simple case of the people choosing over who was Yellow and who was not. Continuity was embodied by the Marcos-Duterte ticket. This was what the public voted for. It was an ovewhelming mandate for both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate over their nearest rivals, the Leni-Kiko tandem.

Despite his overwhelming popularity, Rodrigo Duterte didn’t have the opportunity of designating his successor. He had the political machinery ready but an internal squabble between his trusted aide and his daughter, led to an untenable situation where the daughter told the father that she wouldn’t have any of his dictates upon her.

And so the run-up to the election during the filing of certificates of candidacy turned into a politika-serye of permutations for the President, his close aide and their political party. It was Go-Duterte, then Sara-Go, then Go going at it alone until finally, all bets were off an and the presidential daughter went off on her own with a deal brokered by GMA to have her join Lakas-CMD and become its Vice-Presidential candidate in tandem with Bongbong Marcos’ Partido Federal.

The joining of forces of the leaders of the Solid North and the Solid South had them leading from start to finish that their victory became a foregone conclusion. The opposition was left grasping at straws, trying every desperate trick in the book, to get the public to vote for their candidates. The result was a political massacre of epic proportions.

But whatever the Marcos loyalists and the DDS say, both Marcos and Duterte aren’t really prepared for their respective offices. Both are neither here nor there in terms of leadership and vision. Marcos’ oratorical skills are good enough but don’t come anywhere near that of his father.

Inday is as humble as her father but she’s not as sharp as he is when it comes to public speaking. She is great at campaigning but she’s wisely letting spokespersons do the talking when it comes to the Department of Education.

It’s for this reason that she has two Chief’s of Staff, one at the Office of the Vice-President and another at the DepEd. The bureaucracy at the latter is more challenging. The job of education reform is the same. It remains to be seen what she can do in six years, given the present situation where the government is hard-pressed for revenues and debt service.

She has chosen a townmate to be her primary Undersecretary and Chief of Staff, Epimaco Densing. Unfortunately, Densing doesn’t have any education background. It remains to be seen how he will contend with the complex issues before him and his principal.

The President faces a more serious problem on his turf. This early the Cabinet department he has chosen to lead is mired in controversy, along with his Executive Secretary, who has become equally controversial with certain appointments, particularly that of his brother, the chairmanship of the PPA and the Senior Undersecretary and Chief of Staff at the Department of Agriculture over the sugar import mess.

The economic managers, while respected and qualified in their own right, lack actual experience in business. Finance Secretary Ben Diokno is reported to be staying at his post for a year after which he is eyeing a return to the BSP where the pay is higher and retirement benefits are better. Diokno was supposed to be very reluctant in accepting the DOF post and only acceded to the strong request made by the President since no one else was willing to take on managing the fiscal policy of the country amidst a very challenging economic environment.

There is this lingering fear that they are sugarcoating their forecasts instead of being realistic given that both internal and external factors point to a slowing global economic recovery and the continuing impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Here at home, the mess that is the agriculture sector is in because of thirty years of misguided policies isn’t the fault of the Marcos administration but the burden of resuscitating the same falls on them and there is still no clear strategy as to what is to be done. Equally disturbing is the rhetoric on agrarian reform is the same and doesn’t address the lingering problem of economies of scale for maximum productivity and efficiency in farming. What is with repeating the same policy of giving out land to individuals which doesn’t solve the problem of optimal production for the country’s growing population?

One of the reasons why we haven’t made much progress since 1946 is due to our penchant for being political fanatics. It’s a devotion to personalities not qualifications which has always been the cause of our failure to move forward as a nation united behind a common goal. If the Spaniards hadn’t colonized us then what is known as the Philippines now might have become at least three independent states or more.

There is an emerging divide between the Marcos loyalists and Duterte loyalists who claim that Marcos doesn’t seem to have the direction that the former President had when he was in office.

The claim bears some weight because of the class difference between the two. Duterte was an outlier. He wasn’t seen as part of the ruling class, except for his domain in Davao City. During his term, he wasn’t invited to any of the gatherings of Manila’s elite but he didn’t care to attend these either, or become part of their social set because he didn’t need their validation.

While Ferdinand and Imelda came from humble origins, they made sure to be accepted by the elite and become a part of their circle, one way or the other. Marcos Sr. still retained the realities of his roots as evidenced by the speech he delivered at his daughter Irene’s wedding to Gregorio Araneta. He expressed disbelief that his daughter was now going to be part of the de buena familia that is the Araneta clan.

He didn’t live to see his namesake marry but Bongong would do the same with his marriage to another Araneta scion. With his being educated abroad and growing up among the scions of other elite families, it’s safe to say that Marcos Jr. is not in the same league as the former President.

But like most Filipinos who voted for him, there is the expectation that the namesake has learned from the mistakes of his father and the humbling experiences they had to go through before making it back again to Malacanan.

The hope is there that Marcos Jr. would do what is needed in order to institutionalize structural reforms for future generations of Filipinos and the country finally makes it to the ranks of its more affluent and progressive ASEAN neighbors.

There was much hope after Marcos delivered his first SONA that he would unveil his economic recovery plan as formulated by his economic team. But a lot were disappointed by the lack of information during the economic briefing in Singapore. It was only testimonials from the economic managers and select businessmen who accompanied the Presidential delegation.

Marcos doesn’t seem to realize that he has to address the root cause of the problem in order to address it. It’s the budget season now and those who watch the budget hearings on livestream and have an understanding of how government works are surprised that the key officials of the Marcos administration are just mouthing the same rhetoric.

Long story short, the standard that has been associated with Marcos Sr. has been found wanting in Marcos Jr.

The operative question is, Marcos has the people’s mandate so why isn’t he pushing forth with bold initiatives instead of going through the traditional approach of employing the same solutions to the perennial problems which have been identified several times over?

Isn’t it about time that an innovative, out-of-the-box and disruptive approach be adopted to solving the fundamental root cause of the country’s problems in order to end the vicious cycle we have been in since time immemorial?

Only time will tell if Marcos can deliver. What he should realize this early is he isn’t in a position to waste the second chance he’s been given at redemption and vindication.