It is the duty of every Filipino citizen, of all sexes and voting age to seek that person who will become president of the country. It is not enough that we stand on the sidelines and view the way every candidate puts up his or her face, say and promise on tv or radio that he/she will do this and that. More than all that bravado, we need to know the track record of every candidate from the time of birth through education and then through employment and service to the government. Some phases may not be rosy, but the last ten or twenty years of his/her life would be a good gauge of whether they have the mettle, the courage, the much-needed qualities of the highest leader.
Number 2 quality after incorruptibility, is courage to face all odds -- not shying away from any debate, dialogue, or even confrontation of enemies. Whenever I am drawn to political issues, I always see the painting of Delacroix in my mind, with a woman holding the flag and urging her compatriots to continue the fight. Then I also recall the images of the Filipino women during the American period, fighting the soldiers, holding the flags and then retrieving the bodies of their comrades who fallen in battle. Another is that of the Lakambini women during the Philippine-Spanish revolution, singing and dancing inside homes, as if revelling over something trivial but actually covering up the secret meetings of the Katipunan.
Are we anywhere near a revolutionary period? Under a democratic regime, we cannot claim revolution but reform for the laws have been set already on how changes in government have to be done -- according to laws and peacefully. Rather, we are entering a crucial stage in Philippine history where we are righting a wrong or wrongs that have taken place: one, we are doing away with that practice of old political parties determining for themselves who will become candidates; two, we are going to insure that the octopus hands of corrupt leaders shall not be on the peoples' coffers to use for the campaigns in 2010 elections; three, that the candidates to be chosen shall come from all sectors -- not necessarily political, but rather those whose intentions, motives and interests transcend classes; those who are sincere, honest, brave God-loving, peaceful and capable of orchestrating various tasks at hand in providing public service to the people.
Let us not complicate matters. (I wish I had written this in Pilipino, Folks.) But sometimes, the use of English makes the tasks at hand seem enormous when actually, our search for a true leader in the highest post of the land could be very easy, if we only know how to listen to that person next to us -- Because, after all that leader has to be accessible to everyone.
No longer shall we have a leader who has a coterie of guards around her or him, who is inaccessible because they are abroad hobnobbing all the time with the rich and all other officials, yet remain detached from the daily struggles for food, clothing, shelter and education of the people.
Yes, our search continues, and we know that we will soon have that leader-candidate.
WILHELMINA S. OROZCO
No comments:
Post a Comment