The mayor and political will

Mayor Michael Rama should be commended for standing pat on his decision to demolish the houses of squatters along Mahiga creek. I know it’s a hard choice for him, aware as he is of course that he would antagonize these people, along with the hundreds or even thousands of illegal settlers along major rivers in the city. But to change his mind now would be a disaster for him leadership-wise.

 For the past 12 months since his assumption of office, he has created the impression of being a patient and obliging guy, so patient and obliging, in fact, that he remained seemingly unperturbed by the acid remarks thrown his way by his detractors. To characterize him then as spineless for such equanimity was of course unfair. But such was the impression he created in the early days of his watch.

 Lately, however, the mayor has shown signs of assertiveness. Befriending the Cebu governor is one; going strong on waste management is another; defying DILG’s seminar ban is still another. And now comes the Mahiga confrontation.

 Many observers see the mayor’s firm resolve to clear the city’s waterways of illegal dwellers as a form of political suicide. They could be right, considering the clout these people have come elections. At the same time, there are a good number of city residents who are quietly approving the mayor’s display of political will.

 Political will is a rarity these days both in the local and national scene. Normally, a politician takes refuge in compromises and non-action even at the expense of the law, if need be, in order to keep his political stock intact. Examples? Any right thinking Filipino knows a long litany of examples. Locally, those Mahiga dwellers, some of whom have been living there for 20 or more years, are themselves good examples. And in the national scene, the recent “live out” scandal involving a convicted local government mogul is another example. Moreover, have you ever wondered why no administration has ever attempted to collar a tax evading corporate CEO?

 Political will has been the crying need of the people in this hapless country for decades. Leaders have come and gone but the quality of leadership has not improved commensurate to the needs of the time. In fact, judging from the incidence of corruption and mismanagement one can observe a persistent deterioration of such quality. And look where this country now stands vis-à-vis its neighbors.

 Countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Korea used to be behind us in socio-economic status in the fifties and sixties. But now they are way ahead. Before Taiwan and Singapore became among the Asian Tigers, we were more advanced than they. But today. . . .

 The reason could be that most of those who occupied Malacañang were on the category of country club managers, promising prosperity and the good life, but never sounding out the bugle call for hardwork and sacrifice. Look at our foreign debts. Instead of demisting, it’s rising and rising to the tune of several trillions of pesos (now $60.1 billion, to be exact) every year, and we have to sell out about 35 percent of our annual expenditure to pay just the interest of such debt.

 Despite this, have you ever heard of a president declaring a moratorium on foreign borrowing? Foreign debts are necessary for economic development, experts say. But we have been borrowing and borrowing for decades now but our economy has remained moribund. What’s happening?

 The present honcho in Malacañang declared an all-out war against bureaucratic irregularities when he campaigned for office. But a year after getting the mandate nothing seems to be happening. He is reputedly a Mr. Clean. But where’s the will to go after the unclean? No wonder the people are beginning to align him with his predecessors, traditional politician most of them, whose obsession had been to strengthen their popular appeal and hold on to power and pelf.

 With this kind of leadership culture, political will is likely to be unpopular and even heckled. And if the targets of such will belong to the masa the opposition tends to be strong and relentless.

 This is happening now to Mayor Rama and it will happen again to whoever sits at the City Hall who have the guts to protect the interest of many against the concerns of the few.