For this week’s forum, we asked personalities which leaders – past and present, dea or alive – do they admire most?
Senator JUAN FLAVIER: Jose Rizal. Our national hero deserves admiration for his dedication to service and to the country, both as a physician, a writer, and as a Filipino. Above all, he showed what love for country really is and proved that not even the threat of death could extinguish the flame of nationalism inside him. By offering his life to the nation, he showed the world that he did not die in vain, and that his words are immortalized and will serve as a rallying cry for the Philippine revolution. One of his famous lines is also my favorite quote: "Ang buhay na hindi nakaalay sa isang layuning banal ay para bagang isang bato na nakatiwangwang lang sa parang na hindi man lamang naging bahagi ng isang bahay."
Former Health Secretary MANUEL M.DAYRIT: For me, great political leaders are those who personify the values of statesmanship and patriotism under extreme adversity. Through their personal lives, leadership and great wisdom, their countrymen are moved towards reconciliation and unity. They help build a greater humanity. I admire Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. While they were leaders in their own countries, their examples instructed the global community.
Presidential Management Staff Secretary RIGOBERTO TIGLAO: Past and present world political leaders I admire: Used to be Mao Zedong hands down, until incontrovertible reports of the real nature and features of his regime started coming out. Now, it’s Deng Xiaoping, as much a revolutionary as Mao was, but more intelligent to realize that communist dogma was leading China to national suicide. Instead, Deng forged Chinese nationalism to unify a nation of more than a billion people, and push China towards modernization. I also admire a lot the diminutive Deng’s persistence. He was condemned as a "capitalist roader" in the 1970s and vilified, yet he kept loyal to his party and country – and worked patiently for his views to become dominant.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, to whom the US owes much for bringing it to where it is now. FDR saw how capitalist dogma was leading America to disaster and his New Deal and Keynesian economics demonstrated the power of states to develop an economy.
Alexander the Great. This imperialist was a philosopher-king who absorbed and maintained, rather than obliterate, the cultures of the kingdoms he conquered, and he felt that rationalist and humanist Greek philosophies and culture should be offered to the world.
NORBERTO R. ONG, ONL Consultants Inc. president: I admire those who possess the courage of their convictions and who exhibit integrity in every facet of their lives. Leadership requires the ability to sacrifice private needs to the needs of those served. It requires a sense of vision and an understanding of one’s place in the global scheme of things. A keen intellect alone is not enough. It should, ideally, be accompanied by a generosity of spirit and the ability to feel compassion for others. Winston Churchill was a leader I have tremendous respect for.
NELIA SANCHO, founder and board member of Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, and founding member of Asian Women Human Rights Council: It’s difficult for me to answer this question because there is hardly any world leader that I admire. More often than not, I am critical of almost all world leaders because I believe they do not pass the test of good governance and working for world peace during their time of rule. Maybe what I can talk about instead is a world leader and his wife who have caught the imagination of people all over the world. I refer to John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. They were such a good-looking couple and I was always interested to look at their photos in newspapers. I would also be interested to follow news on women world leaders like Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto and Indonesia’s Megawati, the daughter of President Sukarno. I always wondered whether women leaders would make a difference, and I would always be disappointed. What I realized is that women can only make a difference if they would not behave like male leaders do.
MARIA RESSA, ABS CBN News and Current Affairs head: The best part of working for CNN was interviewing world leaders, and the two that stand out for me are Lee Kuan Yew and Bill Clinton.
Lee Kuan Yew took a chaotic backwater torn by race riots and – in 30 years – turned Singapore into a first-world nation. Although it’s small (less than four million people and only the size of Siquijor Island), you could argue that there really is no reason why his achievement couldn’t be replicated in every city globally. He proved what vision and a steadfast, principled approach to governance can do.
Bill Clinton fills the room. He answers questions head-on. Extremely smart, articulate, he is a visionary leader. Too bad about the cigar.
Atty. ROMULO MAKALINTAL: I consider Pope John Paul II the worlds’ best leader. He was able to connect and attain world peace and human dignity. He said, "Even the poorest of the poor and the handicapped have their own dignity, which we should respect. If only the super rich would reach out to the poor, then there will be no more poor."
MIKE ROMERO, Development Bank of the Philippines director: Admirable world leaders are Winston Churchill, his dynamism and sterling qualities steered England to its World War II victory; John F. Kennedy, his vision and youthful exuberance was an inspiration to all; Charles De Gaulle, whose steely character and firm determination brought France to where it is today; Deng Xiaoping for propelling China t become a world economic power today; and Lee Kuan Yew for converting an island state to an economic miracle.
MARIA LUISA MABILANGAN HALEY, senior director, Kissinger McLarty Associates (KMA) and former White House chief of staff of Thomas "Mack" McLarty: The leaders I admire most are Mahatma Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Bill Clinton. They all have certain values in common: they are peacemakers, full of compassion for those less fortunate, kind-hearted and charitable, yet strong and with a vision and determination to make the world a better place. Each one of them are agents of change for the benefit of humanity and our world.