How much is enough?

That is the title of an article from Zen Habits (http://zenhabits.net), a website that I came across during the Holy Week break. The article suggests asking the following questions to determine one’s concept of enough:

• What are the main things that make you happy?

• What do you need to thrive?

• What do you need to survive at a comfortable level?

• What do you have beyond those things needed for survival, comfort, happiness, and thriving?

With the elections less than forty days away, I could not help but apply these questions in reflecting on the candidates who we will be voting for in May. The concept of enough not only allows us to identify what too much is, it also allows us to determine the minimum requirements that are acceptable to us.

What kind of President will make us happy? Do we need a good-looking President? Does he have to be charismatic? Does he have to be witty? Does he have to be rich? Does he have to be born poor or experience being poor in order to understand how majority of Filipinos live? Do we need medals and certificates showing that he did well in school to show that he’ll do well as President?

Manny Villar thinks his “sipag at tiyaga” will solve our country’s problems. Gilbert Teodoro says his “galing at talino” will do it. Noynoy Aquino has not come up with a catchy enough slogan summarizing his qualities. While I admire how he tries to explain why corruption is related to poverty in his advertisements, none of them have given me symptoms similar to that from getting the last song syndrome that the ads of Villar and Teodoro have given me.

What do we need to let our country thrive? I have read several articles written by foreigners expressing puzzlement at how the Philippines has managed to stay poor despite all its natural resources and its hard-working people. I have read articles saying that the 10% of the population who control 90% of the country’s wealth want everyone to stay poor. I suppose there is some truth to this—those who are happy with the status quo would want it to stay that way. In any case, I am sure that there are several answers to this question and that there is no way of knowing if a proposed solution will actually work until it is applied.

 Corruption and overpopulation are the usual suspects in analyzing this problem. The televised debates have allowed voters to know how the candidates stand on these issues, albeit on a very superficial level. That these issues are now discussed is an improvement from the way things were in previous elections. I remember how candidates capitalized on their physical similarity to celebrities in past elections. President Gloria Arroyo channeled Nora Aunor in her campaign posters. Maybe we’re finally getting smarter.

What does our country need to survive at a comfortable level? It is painful to ask this question knowing that the most basic needs of majority of Filipinos are not met. We are barely surviving. I wonder if it will not be long before rage similar to that exhibited by those who participated in EDSA 3 will erupt. The students who burned desks and other school property to protest the 2000% tuition fee increase at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines seemed tame compared to the violent protesters of EDSA 3.

I have no illusions that picking the right President will be enough to get the Philippines from barely surviving to thriving. Electing the wrong one, however, will ensure that things will get worse than barely surviving.

* * *

Email: [email protected]