What was the news at the Lakas-Kampi-CMD convention?

The party promised a show of force and it did. That to me was the news because it was not expected. Thousands of delegates from all the regions across the country packed the cavernous hall of PICC. One by one the regional leaders pledged to work for the party’s election in the presidential election in 2010.

My invitation from Francis Manglapus, the new secretary-general of the party said to be there at 10 a.m. and I was there at 10 a.m. I had taken my time thinking guests and delegates would come trickling and there would be plenty of room. By the time I reached the door in time for the proceedings, I was told it was just too full. I tried to reason that it took time to get an ID card at the registration desk. That was the first surprise of the morning.

The second was Gibo himself. I had seen him rarely and as his party mates have noticed, he seems too diffident, too bland and did not project himself as a candidate for president. He may be accomplished and intellectual, but he might not connect with the masses, the complaint went. So when he took the stage and spoke extemporaneously last Thursday, I was pleasantly surprised at his rhetoric. It seemed to me he was not just making a speech of acceptance but struggling with himself on what he must be. Intellectually he spoke on his program of government, acknowledged the work and successes of the Arroyo administration, and clearly defined the ideology of the party as Christian-Muslim democracy. He spoke Pilipino, English and Ilocano fluently. I did not understand a word of the Ilocano but it obviously clicked and loudly applauded.

Midway through his speech he stepped out of the rostrum, walked to the front of the stage and without the microphone continued to speak that this was the great challenge of his life but that he was not afraid to face it if the members of the party will be with him.

As I said many times in this column, my presidential candidate is the man or woman who understands that no matter how popular, how sincere or how talented a presidential candidate of this country is, he or she would be faced by a lopsided political structure that would sooner than later unravel any program of government before it could be rooted for stability and continuity.

I am willing to believe that given time, Gibo will see this difficulty and that the 2010 elections is seen by him and his party as the stepping stone to real change. That would mean constitutional reforms. There were hints in his speech but he never came around to say it explicitly and I can understand why.

Like all the presidential candidates of 2010 he is daunted by the bad name that has been successfully orchestrated against constitutional reform.

For that kind of bold leadership, Gibo will need more guts than stepping out of the rostrum. He will need to step out of his privileged life and class and see himself as a leader of the poor and rich alike – an entire nation – held back by vested interests through a moribund constitution for generations.

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Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Once in a while, when reading the news, you can chance on a nugget of wisdom more important than the news itself. From the many news reports that came out of the Apec-Asean summit in Singapore recently, the golden words for me came from President Barack Obama. He said: “Do not let the perfect be the enemy of good.”

He said it in relation to the coming 192-nation climate conference in Copenhagen. The organizers had lost hope that a legally binding agreement could be reached in time for the December meeting. He did not want the organizers to be discouraged so he immediately seized the occasion with a political philosophy not just on climate change but his guiding point on domestic governance and policies on foreign relations.

Having made his clarion call for the less perfect, Denmark’s Prime Minister who is also chairman of the Copenhagen meeting, responded with a more modest plan for a politically binding instead of legally binding treaty. That ensured that the momentum on climate change would be kept going. A fully binding legal agreement would have to wait next year in Mexico City.

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Obama’s brilliant aphorism on how to distinguish between what is “perfect” from what is “good” can be just as vital in local politics. Too often we discard a flawed program because it does not come up to our expectations. There are many issues in the Philippines that could benefit from that Obama perspective.

Seeking the perfect can be just as harmful and counterproductive in a human world. Indeed those who claim perfection, who condemn others as evil and themselves as good are prime examples of this flawed thinking. Those who know better should resist this “playing god” mentality.

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HRET confidentiality. It is good I was able to talk to Belle Cunanan of the Inquirer before writing on Rachel Arenas’s election as congresswoman in the 3rd district of Pangasinan.

Belle said she recently discussed Rachel’s election with Cong. Domogan of the HRET who told her: It was indeed Rachel who won that election. So that should end the rancor on Rachel’s side about Belle’s article. But one of the points, Rep. Arenas raised bears telling. HRET figures are confidential and are not available to contending parties. Even her colleagues in the House who are members of the HRET would not give her a hint of the resolution of the HRET concerning the protest filed against her.

Rep. Arenas said that during the hearings conducted by the HRET, she was able to prove that the election returns (ER’s) from several precincts in the Municipality of Mapandan, Pangasinan were spurious.

In their testimony before the HRET, the members of the Board of Election Inspectors who supposedly prepared the contested ERs categorically denied the authenticity of their supposed signatures appearing on the ERs, thus proving that those ERs were illegally manufactured. This resulted in an increase of Rep. Arenas’ lead over her opponents. On the other hand, her opponents were not able to present evidence to prove their allegations of fraud and other irregularities.