EDITORIAL - Gut issues

It’s just a week before the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2004 elections, and voters still don’t have the foggiest notion of what the aspirants intend to do if they win. Although no certificate has been filed by any presidential aspirant, the nation knows those who have their sights set on Malacañang. And aside from the usual motherhood statements about bringing peace, jobs and prosperity to this land, you can hardly tell one candidate from the other. One aspirant has not even bothered to mouth motherhood statements; in fact he has said nothing at all about what he intends to do if ever he becomes president.

The aspirants can say that they are simply carrying on the Philippine political tradition of promising voters the moon. Getting down to specifics could bog down a campaign. But in the nation’s first general elections after the tumult of EDSA II, the first in the Third Millennium and the new century, it would be a welcome change if voters got more than motherhood statements from those aspiring for high office. Through the Christmas break the politicians did not rest. Realignments continued; political butterflies flitted from one party to the other. Yet it’s unlikely that anyone discussed gut issues.

Where do the candidates stand, for example, on population control? What do they intend to do with Joseph Estrada and his co-accused in an unprecedented plunder case? How do they intend to use the multimillion-dollar Marcos deposits, now held in escrow, once the government gets its hands on the money? Will they pursue peace with the double-dealing Moro Islamic Liberation Front? How do they intend to stop the rapid deterioration of the nation’s education system? How do they intend to make the nation more attractive to foreign investments, considering the competition posed by neighbors such as China?

The president wields immense power that must be used judiciously. Whatever perks go with the job are meant to ease the difficulty of performing the duties required of this high office. This early, those aspiring for the job must give Filipinos a blueprint of how they intend to make the nation a better place. Instead every aspirant is playing it safe: no talk, no mistake.