Le coeur d'un homme, le cerveau d'un cochon

Now that I have your attention, allow me to translate today’s heading:

“The heart of a man, the brains of a pig”.

I really don’t know how pigs would feel about being put in the same category as presidential candidates, but I do know that many reptiles are reportedly upset about being classified alongside traditional politicians or “TRAPOS”.

I have read several reports that pigs are considered to be highly intelligent animals so there may be a contradiction in my analogy. This article however is not about pigs but about presidential candidates who recently declared in unison that they would all go after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

This was a complete disappointment for me because many people were beginning to believe that this year’s candidates for President were more forward thinking and all about business. Their chorus of hate and retribution however was like a prophesy of further conflict and disunity.

It’s bad enough that the Presidential candidates are only beginning to talk about their plans this late and not really in concrete terms of programs and platforms. But when they manifest their petty, populist oath of vengeance, we suddenly realize that the candidates bring nothing new to the table.

Is this what voters really want to hear? Is going after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo really an election issue or a practical punching bag for PR purposes? Is prosecuting PGMA something that directly impacts any of the top ten serious problems of the Philippines? Will people even care after the first 100 days honeymoon of the next presidency with the electorate? Me thinks not.

After nine years of our political “internal conflicts”, what this country needs is a Presidency for all Filipinos and not one that will extend the “politics of hate”. The Presidency is about leadership, cooperation and productivity. Any man who declares war even before he builds up his army is a fool.

Let the aggrieved citizens or organizations file their cases and complaints against the corrupt and the wrong doer. Let the courts decide on such matters. Let the media feed and feast on whatever wrongdoing is unearthed because that is their job.

But anyone, aspiring to be the leader of this great nation of highly intelligent people must lead it towards greatness and not division. Any new President, fool enough to declare war even before being elected simply encourages his enemies to prepare for war.

* * *

My accidental lesson

A Pastor’s son asked me whom I was supporting or voting for in the next election? Like many, I am still studying between two candidates but could not really say this early.

The young man then took a different tack by asking me what I knew and what I thought about each candidate. It did not take very long for me to realize that I was soon on a “critical analysis” of each candidate! I started to criticize and started to talk about what I knew or learned about each candidate.

In short I had taken the usual route. I got busy discrediting and destroying the candidates I was not planning to support. Fortunately, we did not have much time to talk, but by the time I got to my car, I have to confess that I was shocked and embarrassed with what I had just done!

Instead of limiting my views and opinions on why I would support candidate A or B, I followed the traditional way of the crabs and the frogs. It was not enough for me to praise the guys I believed in, I made sure that my audience would have a bad impression of the candidates I disliked.

I could say: “I’m only human” but that does not excuse my conduct. I could say I was merely being truthful and passionate, but it would not justify destructive testimony.

I just want to share this realization with all of you, especially those in media, because what we share, however truthful can also be very damaging beyond the elections, beyond the position and the candidate. Somewhere along the way, it damages our character as well as our credibility.

* * *

Does lightning strike twice or is the LTO just experiencing a season of incompetence?

After getting a restraining order from the Supreme Court to put the RFID system on hold, there are now complaints about the LTO’s failure to issue registration stickers for car plates and complaints of even more Red Tape at the agency’s Central Office.

Car owners who recently registered their cars this January, got their receipt of payment but were not given the stickers for their car plates. Car owners were advised to come back at a later date to claim their stickers.

That may seem simple enough for LTO officials whose solution to the whole problem is a stamp pad and a “delay”, but for employees and parents who have to juggle their schedules between work, “school bus” duty and going to the LTO twice, such solutions are added costs and loss in productivity.

LTO Chief Art Lomibao should look into these complaints because it reflects poor planning, bad selection of suppliers etc. while motorists suffer such inconvenience and loss of productivity, what sort of penalties are meted on the LTO officials or suppliers who bungled the job?

Asec. Lomibao should also check into the centralization issue of RSU where transfer of vehicle ownership can only be done in the Central Office. What used to be a 2-hour wait at district offices has now become a two-week delay for car owners, not to mention the inconvenience of traveling to the Quezon City office.