Election results: Did we make the right choices?

Except for a few tweaks and isolated cases, the country’s first automated election was generally successful. Indeed, the people have spoken.   To most of us, however, the results were bit different. That is not surprising though, we have our own bets and we wanted them to win. Therefore, results that will never conform to our wishes will always be, in our biased views, - strange, surprising or suspiciously rigged. 

However, if we are in agreement (as it was before international observers) that it was generally successful, then, griping on concluded undertakings is totally misplaced. What we need to know now is, based on the results, where shall this nation head to. Or, should we try to be more specific, we have to look into our own island of Cebu and see if we can move on or languish.

First and foremost though, we need to look at the national results. The overwhelming victory of Noynoy Aquino straightforwardly sends a solitary but tough message – CREDIBILITY.   The people opted for credibility over capability. Certainly, Gibo Teodoro and Manny Villar are more capable. Circumspectly, however, most of us did what the Americans clearly fulfilled in their last presidential election. Choosing an administratively inadequate Obama over a managerially well trained and amply organized and experienced John McCain. In both instances, both peoples’ (Americans and Filipinos) messages are clear – capability is something a president can easily hire while credibility is a quality a president must possess. 

To those who may have doubts about what Noynoy can do, they may find some solace on the fact that both Obama and Aquino are legislators before they became presidents. Unlike Obama’s predecessors who were mostly state governors, he doesn’t have adequate administrative experiences. Prior to his election as President of the USA, he served as president of the Harvard Law Review and as the junior United States Senator from Illinois. Among others, he was a community organizer and civil rights attorney. While in the Senate, he held committees on Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans’ Affairs, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Nowhere in his biography will suggest that he is an astute businessman or a brilliant economist. Yet, he is about to turn around the biggest economy of the world with credibility as his best weapon.

Armed with credibility, Noynoy Aquino will be in the best position to minimize graft and corruption in the bureaucracy. However, even if it will spell a difference, just minimizing graft and corruption won’t be enough to propel the economy. To move on, he must have Obama’s skills in choosing the right people for his government. To recall, the Wall Street responded affirmatively on President Obama’s first appointment in his cabinet. Since the U.S. economy was cash-strapped, he made sure that he shall bring into his team a person who had the financial savvy to turn it around. The man was Timothy Geithner, the United States Secretary of the Treasury.    

Like President Obama, Noynoy Aquino must learn from him in making hires for critical positions. For instance, in appointing Timothy Geithner, he made sure that he will entrust the treasury to a man who can certainly carry the load.   He gave it to a man who used to be the president of the Federal Reserve of New York. With such appointment, President Obama got a man who used to work with Kissenger Associates in Washington and the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department. In Geithner he had a person who has international exposure (as he used to be an attaché at the Embassy of United States in Tokyo). In him, he was able to get a deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy and senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs and assistant secretary for international affairs. Also, he had with him an Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. Notably, in him, he had a Treasury official who helped manage multiple international crises of the 1990s in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand. 

From this appointment President Obama was able to slowly but surely turnaround the economy. Soon-to-be President Noynoy Aquino should, therefore, learn from the way President Obama took care of his appointments. He must emulate President Obama if he is to succeed. Furthermore, like President Obama, he should concentrate more on solving the problems brought about by the failures of the previous administration than spending most of his time blaming them. 

On the other hand, the results in the local elections do not seem to offer opportunities for change. The Prince of debt and the Queen of Darkness (as Mayor Tomas and Gov. Garcia fondly label each other) are still very much in control. 

For instance, with Gov. Garcia’s popularity plummeting (as the election result shows), we shall expect Suroy Suroy Sugbo to still be there and entirely the same, albeit, more frequently. We won’t be surprised if it hits the road in July to again promote faces, not places.   As usual, you shall see much not the island of Cebu or its tourist spots in the print ads, tarps and flyers but the face of Gov. Gwen Garcia in unequalled prominence. As it normally goes, it shall again be undertaken not to promote tourism in the island but her political interest. Unfortunately, it shall be again undertaken not as a tool to ameliorate fellow “probinsyanos” but for pure personal publicity stunt.  

Therefore, expect this scene to happen again. The group will just spend an hour (this time, maybe half an hour to cover more municipalities) in every locality. For all intents and purposes, she won’t be doing this again for tourism’s sake. She will again squander millions of taxpayers’ money with herself in person and in the center of all the hoopla for political purposes.

Gov. Garcia and his wards know exactly that in tourism, the focus is the place or its people. Therefore, tourists visit even the remotest areas that interest them. “Suroy-suroy Sugbo” is undertaken differently. Here, the tourists drop in one place, then, the locals gather around them. Therefore, the attractions are the tourists (including Gov. Gwen and other political figures), not the places and its people. Sadly, they call this tourism.

Frustratingly, this “Suroy Suroy Sugbo” will again require huge spending. Despite repeated demands in the past from concerned sectors, the provincial capitol never showed a detailed accounting of this undertaking. From the looks of it, there won’t be any change. Expectedly, in the next three years the provincial capitol won’t show us any accounting on this.

Moreover, some noble projects will again be on hold the next three (3) years. Due to our leaders’ misplaced pride and lust for power, these surefire projects will remain dormant. The Province of Cebu’s Ciudad will definitely gather dust. The dream of developing Camp Lapulapu into a bustling IT Park will certainly remain as that – a dream. 

It is not all doomed, however, as far as the City of Cebu is concerned. As it looks, the South Road Properties (SRP) will start moving. With the forces in the city well-aligned, there are no apparent or perceived hindrances that may derail its implementation.

All said, if some of these local economy-stimulating projects won’t move, we should blame ourselves. Probably, we had wrong choices.

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