There are still many who believe today that it was really Miriam Defensor-Santiago who won in 1992 and not President FVR. Well, FVR turned out to be a better-than average president, and I learned to like him. He was an action man, true to his military background, and he was very hard-working and focused on his job. He had an excellent grasp of both foreign affairs and national defense. He was, after all a son of a distinguished Forein Affairs Secretary and Ambassador, Narciso Ramos, one of the founding fathers of ASEAN, and brother to Ambassador and Senator Letty R. Shanani. A graduate of West Point, FVR had excellent credentials.
But had Miriam become president, she could have made some radical changes that could either push the nation to tremendous development, or bring the whole country to the brink of disaster. She has the tendency to make out-of-the box decisions because of her creative ideas of how to run the nation. I'm just wondering if her health and disposition could still give some measure of seriousness and credibility to her threat to run for president again. I could imagine the many exciting things that could unfold under her leadership.
And if we really exacerbate the theory by proposing a Miriam-Duterte Team, would such a wild idea fly? Can the nation stand a tandem composed of both unorthodox candidates, one a woman of lofty words, and a man of some rather unconventional actions. President Miriam would do all the talking, and Vice President Egong Duterte would do all the taking. Taking away all the drug lords, all the gambling lords, all the war lords, and all the political dynasty lords. Well, of course, taking them away within the framework of the law.
Everybody knows that Lady Miriam is a lawyer, and not just any lawyer. She is an outstanding graduate of the UP College of Law which prides itself as teaching law in a grandiose manner. She was the more promising classmate of Frank Drilon, all the way back to Dumangas, Iloilo and then to UP Visayas (Iloilo) and UP Diliman. Although she did not top the Bar, while Drilon was number three, Miriam was seen as the more intellectually gifted, as former editor of the UP COLLEGIAN, and a graduate of Yale with both a Masters Degree and a doctorate in international law.
A former RTC judge and DAR secretary, she might have been the best President that we failed to have in 1992. But there is still 2016, and with a little prodding, she might make a go at it again. If we can get Duterte to run as her vice president, we will have a very exciting campaign next year. The people are sick and tired of politicians from Luzon who just make a lot of promises to Visayas and Mindanao and then pour all the blessings to the north. It is high time to have a president from the Visayas and a vice president from Mindanao, the region that shall play a very crucial role in the next decade.
I am exasperated at the way the South is being treated by politicians from the North. A Miriam-Duterte tandem can revive a lot of hopes to the Cebuanos, Ilonggos, Warays, and the Muslims and lumads in the land of broken promises. The time has come to reverse the tides of history. Let us all think of this wild card to add fun and, perhaps real good to the nation. I am very excited at the possibilities. What do you think about it?