We should never elect arrogant politicians
For our year-end presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky,” we will talk about the political situation prevailing in the presidential race. Indeed up to this time, the majority of the Filipino people (except those who intend to sell their votes) have not yet decided whom they would be voting for president in the coming 2016 presidential elections. For the very first time in our country, a nation is seeking spiritual guidance to come up with who should be our next president. Where we are today is due to the fact that the EDSA Revolution failed to come up with the right political system for the country.
In the end, the EDSA 1 Revolution only removed the unlamented Marcos Dictatorship. EDSA 2 only prolonged the nation’s agony putting the same political names from decades past whose sons feel some kind of entitlement that certain elective positions rightfully belong to them like an inheritance. This is why people are already turned off by Manuel “Mar” Roxas as he not only represents the old political system of yesteryears, he promises nothing new for the Filipino people but more of the same stupidity called Daang Matuwid.
The political season already has begun and would undoubtedly escalate further in the coming months… so we asked former National Security Adviser and former National Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales to be our guest on our show so he could share with us his insights in the current national political situation today. So watch this interesting conversation with Sec. Norberto Gonzales on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00PM and on Wednesday and Saturday. We also have replays on MyTV Channel 30 at 9:00 tonight and at 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Wednesday and Friday.
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In this season of political campaigning, we are met by those seeking public office who intend to “press-the-flesh” of as many people as possible. We will see politicians showing you their widest smile trying to portray himself or herself as a wholesome, honest and trustworthy candidate. But what really lurks behind the Cheshire cat grin of a politician?
Just a few days before Christmas, I got a very nasty call on my cellphone from Councilor Nestor Archival and what a phone call it was! He was in a shouting mood, demanding why I wrote about him. For your understanding, let me reprint what I wrote about Councilor Archival last Dec.22nd.
“I also heard that because of the suspension of Mayor Rama, Councilor Nestor Archival and his friends in the Bando-Osmeña Pundok-Kauswagan demanded that acting Mayor Edgardo Labella immediately vacate the office of the Vice-Mayor so he can now sit as acting Vice-Mayor. If you ask me…Councilor Archival is just too trigger happy to demand that the Vice-Mayor vacate his office. This behavior is boorish to say the least. Why can’t he wait if the Cebuano voters would really vote him into that office? This my friends is the true reality with Cebu City politics today and it has only turned from bad to worse!”
The last time we talked over the phone was when Councilor Archival asked me to continue the crusade against the Traffic Command officers who were charged with the murder of his brother Atty. Noel Archival and we supported him on that case. But this was a different phone call and he sounded like a different person behind the phone, who shouted at me at the top of his voice, bawling me out as if he was scolding his servants in his eco-home!
My wife who was beside me in the car could hear how ugly this phone call turned out to be. After I turned off the phone, her comment was quite natural… “Why is Councilor Archival very onion-skinned?” Indeed, I have been writing columns for nearly 28 years now and indeed, we dish it out to politicians including the president of the Philippines and the Cebu governor who are elected by the people in order to serve the community and correct whatever impressions that they are trying to portray. While we do dish it out, we can also take in criticism. But it was the first time for me to be shouted on the phone by a so-called public servant!
But since it was Christmas time and since we didn’t have any newspapers for Christmas, it gave me enough time to cool down and ponder and yes forgive Council Archival for that ugly phone call. My message to him is, if you want to be the next vice-mayor, you should never be onion-skinned because whether you like it or not, the media especially here in Cebu will always hound you. Perhaps he should learn a thing or two from the Americans who have a saying, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!”
Again let me point out that we don’t need to elect arrogant politicians. Whether he believes it or not, this is why former Mayor Tomas Osmeña lost to Mayor Michael Rama in the last elections. But to his credit, the former mayor has already calmed down and hopefully he has changed for the better.
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
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