Indeed, leaders are made, not born!

I was supposed to write this article last Wednesday, but we had to write about that declaration of martial law in Maguindanao. Anyway, last Saturday morning, former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. was in Cebu to meet with friends from the Cebu business groups, like the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (CCCI), the Cebu Business Club and the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, including student leaders, the fisherfolk association in Region 7 and Muslim groups, and all I can say is that he impressed the crowd with his wit and candor, answering even the toughest questions from the floor. Here are just a few of the issues that he answered directly.

First question was asked by Mr. Sakiran Hajan, the head of the Muslim Affairs in Region 7 who asked about the solution to the Muslim question in Mindanao. This is the reply of Gibo, “There you go again, calling the problem in Mindanao a Muslim question. It is not a Muslim question; it is a State problem where the state cannot enforce the laws of the land. We have Christian kidnappers, murderers and thieves and there are those who also belong to the Muslim groups. For me, they are nothing but criminals and they should all be tried for their crimes. The solution in Mindanao is to disarm all the armed groups roaming around brandishing high-powered firearms. When the State has done that, then we can have peace.”

We already wrote that the previous Presidents only worsened the situation in Mindanao by arming groups to fight the separatist insurgents and Erap even made it worse when he declared an all-out war against the Muslims. But with martial law being enforced in Maguindanao, it is the first time that we will see government finally disarm the armed groups that have only helped prolong the decades old conflict in Mindanao.

On his being linked to Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), Gibo replied, “I’m sorry, but I am not a person who turns his back on the President who gave me at the age of 43 the opportunity to serve in the Defense Department where she never interfered with my duties. It is very convenient for politicians now seeking your votes to dump the President like many now who are running for positions who once where with GMA. I’m not forcing you to vote for me, but consider this… are you willing to choose a 3rd rate President for our country because you will not vote for the best person who can ran this country better than the other Presidentiables?”

On the question of Land Reform: Gibo said, “We should never be in a perpetual state of land reform… it has to end sometime. What happened here is that, we merely extended the land reform without even looking at the problems why the lands were given to the wrong people?” I fully concur with this because Congress merely extended CARP despite reports of massive corruption in the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

No doubt, Gibo made a good impression with Cebuanos from various persuasions as a good future leader, which means that the other Presidentiables have to catch up in Cebu. As former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca once quipped, “Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself.”

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Did you know that the Philippines recently won “The Best Offshoring Destination of the Year Award” in the United Kingdom? This was won at the 6th Annual National Outsourcing Association Awards held at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in Central London last Oct. 15th. Actually, this is the second time that the Philippines bagged this award as we also won it way back in 2007 where we bested countries like Egypt, Russia, Malaysia and Sri-Lanka.

This shows that despite all the negative reports we are getting from the international media, there are still several advantages about the Philippines which is very appealing to UK based companies on the information technology sector. Last July we printed the story from Tholons that Cebu had maintained our position as the top “Emerging BPO Destination” in the world. With news like this, it brings hope that the Philippines is still on the right track with regards our IT industry and we should do more to attract more foreign investors to our shores, like improving on our English proficiency!

What we need to do is make sure that our schools and the academe continue to churn out quality graduates that need less re-training when they enter the job market. Call this our niche market, but when it comes to the IT industry, at least the whole world has taken notice that the Philippines is a destination for foreign investors and when they come to our shores, it means jobs right here at home for our people who won’t have to find these jobs abroad and away from their families.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.