Happy birthday, Mr. President!
Yesterday, October 26, was Raul S. Roco’s birthday. He would have been 67 years old. For some of us who were fortunate enough to traverse the same orbit, no matter how momentary, he remains irreplaceable. As part of the communications team in Roco’s 2004 bid for the presidency, we saw his public and private face. His worst critics and detractors censured his alleged hubris. But in the end, with warts and all, they acknowledge that we lost “the best president this country never had,” and with him our bid for Camelot.
But let’s escape today’s bleak scenario for a while and indulge a daydream. Suppose RSR were president today? Can you even begin to imagine how different this country would be? I did, and was rewarded with a few euphoric moments. So I thought I’d share my musings and hope that it would have the same effect on you. I picked the Top 10 things Roco would do if he were president.
1. By now, his Agenda of H.O.P.E. would be transpiring. In both 1998 and 2004 he never wavered in his vision and mission for the country: Honest government; Opportunities for all, special privileges for none; Peace, productivity and prosperity; Education and environment for sustainable development. RSR always believed that the people are our wealth, and that the Filipino was intrinsically good. His aspiration was a society that’s more secure, more just and more prosperous. In the simplest terms, his anthem went, “Bawat bata’y nag-aaral, Bawat pamilya ay may bahay, Bawat bahay may hanapbuhay! (Every child is in school, every family has a roof over their head, every household has a livelihood.)”
Poverty alleviation was RSR’s consuming passion. As a gourmand, that famous temper would flare up at the report that over three million Filipinos go hungry every day. He disdained dole-outs as a politician’s quick fix. Instead, after conscientious consultations with his power think tank, he would have implemented a program from day one: long-term solutions that address not only meager income but also the overall dignity of life. He called it Kalawigan, Kalakal sa bawat Lalawigan. The goal was to build up the economy of every province to ensure a better distribution of wealth. He would have put a forceful stop to national funds leaching to corruption aggravating destitution. From several rooms away, we once heard how he dealt with a provincial campaign manager who dared to ask him for grease money. Let’s just say he skulked away, several feet shorter than when he came in.
2. No one holds a candle to Roco when it comes to his knowledge of the breadth and depth of the law. No one has earned the label “Warrior Lawyer” more than him. In his administration, any man who contravenes the rule of law should be petrified of the consequences. To many, he was “Raul of Law,” a convergence of brilliance and principle. It would be unthinkable for the unconstitutional, insidious and secretive MOA-AD to flourish till it was exposed when due for signing in a foreign country! There would be less need for intervention by the Supreme Court to beat back the executive branch’s zealous attempts to broaden its powers and overstep its boundaries. It would be highly improbable that convicted murderers, rapists and drug lords would be spirited out of jails in the still of the night.
3. In a Roco presidency, there would be no multi-million-peso obsolete vote-counting machines gathering dust in a warehouse. By now we would have had computerized, Garci-proofed elections. There would be no fertilizer funds being diverted from agri-based projects to finance election campaigns. There would be no NBN-ZTE scandal that would remain unresolved and hidden under executive privilege. Roco was a disciple of the Sunshine Principle. He favored electronic bidding because that would make contracts and procurement transparent and open to the public. And that would have permanently put “commissioners” out of commission.
4. The Roco Cabinet would be lean and mean. He would have scrupulously searched for only the best and the brightest. His standards of competence were extremely high, with zero tolerance for mediocrity. He would opt to remove the position rather than accommodate an under-qualified person for the job. In 2001, there were only about 80-plus Cabinet members. Today, there are more than 200 Cabinet-ranked positions.
5. Sipag, Aral at Dasal (Hard work, Diligence and Prayer) were Roco’s bedrock values. He detested the “kotong,” “patong” and “bukol” practices. One of his priorities was to clean up all venues for under-the-table deals, as he did when he took over the DepEd in 2002. He would review BIR and Customs processes immediately. He once joked that government uniforms should have no pockets, and desks should not have drawers, to lessen temptation.
6. Roco believed that to reassert the rule of law, the police and the military must retrain and modernize. Young, competent and idealistic officers must have a clear path for upward mobility. He frowned on adventurism and upheld civilian supremacy. He would have dismantled unholy alliances between the corrupt military and the jueteng lords, drug lords, kidnappers, gunrunners and smugglers. Retired ex-generals would not be made Executive Secretaries, given ambassadorships or awarded plum positions in the DPWH, LTO, Mindanao Peace Panel and DENR as quid pro quo for transactional loyalty.
7. We would have had Sonia Roco, the Inang Guro, as our highly capable First Lady. The First Family would choose to be low-profile, ordinary citizens, not inclined to promote dynastic politics.
8. NAIA 3 would have been opened within his first 100 days at the Palace.
9. Most of all, RSR’s communication would be impeccable. Roco would never allow himself to commit public blunders: no mistaken identity between the accused and the witness; no embarrassing announcements of bailouts that are repudiated by the source; no flip remarks about grave issues; no imagined economic successes in propaganda ads. Just the truth said with sincerity and respect for the intelligence of the Filipino. If Roco were president, kuryente would only refer to his electric personality.
I guess some hardened cynics will sneer at the utopian depiction and predict that all who taste power are corrupted sooner or later. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Raul Roco passed away before we could take bets. I would stake my last devalued and inflated peso that he would live by his credo that “Power can serve. The Filipino deserves better leaders. The Filipino is honorable. It’s the leaders who are not,” he often said with passion and sadness.
What are the odds that the next president will reinforce the skeptics’ premise or be the outlier that will walk the road less traveled? Maybe if we wish hard enough, the new leader in 2010 will actually become “the best president this country ever had.”
Okay, time to wake up! It’s 20 months to the 2010 presidential race. But there are fresh attempts to thwart the people’s will. Some political analysts are sounding the alarm that martial law might be declared. The Con-Ass has also been revived for Charter change that will extend the incumbents’ tenure, among others. We must be wide-awake and vigilant to prevent this from happening.
Roco always believed that the Filipino is good, but he left us with a nugget of wisdom, masterfully imparted with lyrical fluency. He said, “We can’t criticize the emperor for having no clothes if we ourselves are naked.”
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