Four presidential candidates in the May 9 elections identified what they believe are the greatest problems besetting the country today during a television interview hosted by broadcast journalist Jessica Soho that was aired Saturday evening.
For Vice President Leni Robredo, Filipinos not learning from the past and historical revisionism should be addressed.
“We don’t learn from our mistakes in the past. There are a lot of lessons from those mistakes, but we keep on repeating the same mistakes and it seems we are not learning anything from them. That is the number one problem,” she said.
“Our educational system should address this so that children will grow up understanding what is right and wrong, so we don’t repeat the same mistakes,” Robredo added.
Political dynasty, according to Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, must end to give Filipinos more choices for their future leaders.
“I hope that the passing of political powers to their relatives will really stop so that other people will have the opportunity to choose. It is like only two families are fighting,” he said.
For Senator Panfilo Lacson, the government is the country’s biggest problem, while the lack of hope for a better government is the Filipinos’ greatest mistake.
“One of the mistakes of the Filipinos is that we stopped dreaming. We have become dreamless, hopeless and helpless. What we need to change is the attitude of our countrymen towards our government. The ones who should lead the changing of the Filipinos’ attitude is the government itself,” Lacson said.
Senator Manny Pacquiao, on the other hand, said Filipinos should stop being hard-headed and learn to follow the government.
“Our number one problem is that Filipinos are also hard-headed and we do not follow the law. The solution here is to coordinate and cooperate with the government,” Pacquiao said.
The candidates were also asked questions depending on the numbers they randomly picked from a fishbowl.
Asked who she would vote for if she were not running for president, Robredo said she would choose Pacquiao.
“I will vote for Manny Pacquiao because I know him and I know he is a very sincere person,” Robredo said.
Lacson, for his part, was asked who is the president he admires the most.
“The past president that I admire the most is President PNoy. First of all, he led the ‘No Wang-Wang’ policy. It is very simple but very symbolic.
He has no entitlement. I admire him because he was not corrupt,” he said.
Domagoso said had he not entered show business or politics, he would have become a seaman.
Presidential aspirant and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno said he would have continued his acting career or become a seaman if he is not a politician at present.
“I would be an actor or a seaman because it was my dream to be a captain of the ship, I wanted to become rich when I was a child,” he said.
Pacquiao was asked if his view on same-sex marriage and LGBTs, who he once described as being “worse than animals,” has changed.
“I am not in favor of that [same-sex marriage]. It’s because of my faith in God, we should follow what God wants…But I have already apologized [to the LGBT community] and in fact many of my supporters are LGBTs,” the senator said.