By TONY LOPEZ
Who is the ideal president in 2028?
At a fireside chat-cum-forum with ASEAN editors and businessmen Feb. 24 in Makati, replying to a question by moderator Rico Hizon, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. enumerated some of the next president’s “must have” qualifications:
Somebody who: 1) understands economics, understands how to create jobs, understands how to keep the inflation rate down, understands how to make food supply a given; 2) understands productivity; 3) is competent; and 4) a nation builder.
Here is PBBM explaining:
“Somebody who understands economics. That’s the first thing. That’s the life of the person who understands how to create jobs, who understands how to keep the inflation rate down, who understands how to make food supply a given, something that you can assume. So – and somebody who thinks about productivity, because growth is about productivity.
“How do you make your working population more productive? How do you support them so they work better? How do you fix the education system so that they’re better trained? How do you make sure that they’re healthier? How do you make sure that they don’t worry about food? Those are the kind of people that you need — that we need — are the people who actually are thinking about not politics, but how to make the country better.
Building a nation
“I’ve always said very early on again, even before I became president, I always was watching and I said when I was walking around and being around my father, all I – all we would hear is we are building a nation. We are about nation-building. I didn’t hear that anymore.
“So, we need to have nation builders, people who want to make the Philippines better. People who actually love the Philippines and love Filipinos and want to make things better.
“And that’s – it boils down to – it might sound a little sentimental or emotional, but that’s what you need.
Competency
“And of course, there has to be the element of competency. You know, love is not – it goes a long way, but it’s not enough. You also have to know how to do it. You have to have some training. Or at the very least, you have to listen to people who have that training. And I’m proud to say we have in government, we have a thing called the Private Sector Advisory Council.
“And the Private Sector Advisory Council, we meet more or less once a week. And the businessmen who are here know that because we see each other fairly often. And they sit down, and we divide it up into different elements: to education, to health care, jobs, technology, et cetera, et cetera.
“And they – we get the best of them, and they sit down, and we basically, the government sits there and listens and asks them, what is it you need from us? That’s how it started.”
Not Sara Duterte
BBM sounded like the next president should NOT be Vice President Sara Duterte. Does she know economics and how to make workers productive? Is she competent? Is she a nation builder?
In December 2024, VP Sara was impeached by the House. Among her alleged crimes: Stealing P612.5 million of intelligence and confidential funds.
To make the plunder confidential, Duterte and her staff showed receipts sporting names of restaurants and snacks as recipients (like Mary Grace Piattos, Tempura, Mango) and surnames of celebrities, including senators (Beth Revilla, Janice Marie Revilla, Diane Maple Lapid, John A. Lapid Jr., Clarisse Hontiveros, Kristine Applegate Estrada).
Of 1,992 alleged recipients of the money, 1,322 were not born yet, without birth records, nor death records, but they still pocketed at least P254.98 million.
Tax money
Aside from waylaying P612.5 million of our tax money, Sara is accused of six other crimes: plotting to kill President Marcos Jr., the First Lady and the Speaker; graft and corruption (she has hidden wealth of P2 billion); murder; political destabilization, sedition and insurrection; and conduct constituting betrayal of public trust, culpable violations of the Constitution and graft and corruption.
At the Feb. 24 forum, Rico Hizon asked BBM: “With the characteristics that you’ve mentioned on who should be the next president in 2028, have you already narrowed it down to about two or three?”
THE PRESIDENT: “You’re going to get me into trouble. [laughter]
Well, we have some people that we are talking to in mind. Many of them actually… Some of them… No, I’m not…”
“You know, when people are working, you cannot limit yourself to government,” said the President, as if asking for other nominees. “But of course, it’s much harder to bring to a presidential level someone who has not been involved in politics ever. It happens, but it’s not that easy, especially in the highly political atmosphere that we have here in the Philippines. Kung…It’s not that they don’t like the person, they just know who – they don’t know who they are. And to build that up to a presidential level is quite difficult. So, you look at people in government and you see who is doing well, who is doing – who is exceptional. And we have, I’m glad to say, exceptional people in government.”
“And you will endorse this person very soon? Not soon?” Rico clarified.
THE PRESIDENT: “Not soon. [laughter] Not soon. The timing is everything.”
Economic stability
During the 50-min interview billed as a speech on the Philippines’ dynamic growth story, Marcos Jr. claimed he had provided economic stability by providing political stability and easing the conduct of business.
He has achieved 70% digitalization of frontline services.
“It has certainly been an exciting time for the Philippines in many senses because we have really approached the entire system of governance, especially as it pertains to the economy, by making serious structural changes in the way that we do business,” he gushed during what is the best media interview of his presidency so far.
Marcos Jr. looked healthy, ebullient, and self-confident as he had never been before midway into his six-year term.