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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Trifling with the presidency

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Trifling with the presidency"So enjoyable, so fulfilling, so enchanting is the life of a president that some want to occupy the position forever."

 

It is sad that the race for the presidency is turning out to be a big circus. Instead of enlightening the people on the issues and importance of the coming general elections in May next year,  the candidates are playing hide and seek and prancing around to lull the people from the economic and health crisis. gripping the country today.     

Leaders of the administration party are quarrelling on whether their candidate should be an outsider or one of their own. They are even toying with the idea of making a daughter-father tandem,  something like an incestuous political marriage.

The PDP-Laban is rocked with bitter differences between its top officials. Its titular head, President Rodrigo Duterte, is helpless in settling the dispute because his own daughter and himself are involved. Senator Manny Pacquiao is training for his next fight while he continues shadowboxing with the president on corruption charges.  

Meanwhile, the various opposition parties and critics of the administration are observing some sort of political distancing protocols when they should unite to topple the administration candidate.

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Moving around, doing their best to get noticed, are a bunch of presidential aspirants who could not also join each other because they are not on good terms with the administration or with the LP, the 1Sambayan, and other opposition groups.  

What is going on in the country is a political circus with our highest officials playing as clowns while the people are in deep anxiety over the future of their own and their country.  

The presidential aspirants are trifling with the significance and importance of the presidency.  

They are pursuing their individual agendas rather than defining the high stakes involved.

Are the candidates aware of the awesome problems they will have to confront if they win the position?

How will they address the severe economic ruin the country suffered from the pandemic?  Are they deeply worried about how to pay the over P3 trillion loan obligations?  Are they conscious of the millions of jobless Filipinos?  Are they prepared to deal with Xi Jinping and China on the territorial dispute?

If they are not, they should not run for the highest office or other high positions.

It is now easy to enter politics because education is no longer a necessity. But the rewards are enormous.    

The presidency is the most powerful government position. The president can make his political enemies and critics so miserable and in hell-holes. He is looked up to like a king or a queen, distant and untouchable. When a president gets drunk with power, he is bound to abuse it,  convinced that he can use the same power to save himself.  Some former presidents became so enamored with power that they even thought of staying longer or being retained after their terms expired.    

The presidency is so prestigious that the occupant becomes an instant celebrity,  more glittering and splendid than entertainment personalities. Even if he is or she is not good-looking, his physical imperfections are ignored and left unnoticed.   A male president is attractive to women because making love to him is a privilege and can be rewarding.  Many men wanted to court and even marry a widowed president.  But she did not want to compete with her daughter who became a celebrity even before she became president.  

The presidency is so lucrative when employed as an instrument for making money.  He can make himself a billionaire, control vital arteries of the national economy, or demand tributes from wealthy families.  Some presidents amassed so much wealth that future generations of their families live in splendour and luxury.  

The perks and privileges of the president enable him to enjoy life which only royal families are accustomed to live. The president rides in a bullet-proof limousine has a jet plane for himself and a yacht for leisure hours at sea. No one calls him by his first or last name only.   Sir if a man;  madam if a lady.  So enjoyable, so fulfilling, so enchanting is the life of a president that some want to occupy the position forever.  

But like anything else in life, there is always an end, a period, an unavoidable exit. And there are dangers, anxieties, hardships, trials, scary moments, and lonely hours that visit the president every now and then.  But all these risks and distractive incidents are all part of the life of a president.  He can evade or avoid them.  He can get an insurance to prevent them from happening. He has many options in any crisis situation he encounters.

If the president is brilliant, sagacious, and gifted, he can enjoy his presidential life with ease and contentment.  

But the most important issue in being president is whether or not he or she has fulfilled his or her obligations and responsibilities.  What will constantly bother the mind of the president is where and what will be his place in his country’s history.  

Some of the most brilliant presidents are now in the dustbins of history.  Some are sometimes remembered but hardly honoured or celebrated on their death or birth anniversaries.  Some have been corrupt, incompetent, and abusive that they are loathed, discredited, and viewed in shame and infamy.   

Why did they lose the moral high ground and their proper place in history?  

The most plausible explanation is that they got drunk with power, enjoyed too much their perks and privileges, and got so greedy in making money.

The gravest mistake a president can make is ignoring and forgetting his oath of office.  

What every president swears to when he takes his oath of office is  so simple and clear: “preserve and defend the constitution, execute the laws, do justice to every man and consecrate myself to the service of the nation.”

Perhaps Congress should pass a law requiring candidates for all elective positions to sign and file a written manifesto of allegiance to the constitution aside from the mandatory statement of assets and liabilities.   

Instead of having their ugly photos at their offices, they should have their oaths of office, in bold and big letters, hanging prominently at the back of their desks. 

The president does not need to have a high IQ or intelligence quotient to run the country efficiently. He can enlist the services of the best and brightest minds in the country. All he needs is common sense. He just has to work harder than anybody. With all the powers vested in the presidency,  the president can’t blame anyone but himself if he ends up in the dark pages of our country’s history.  

In essence, what the people should vote for on May 9, 2022, is a candidate who is honest to himself and his country.  

Mr. Ernesto G. Banawis is a student of politics, government, and history.  His email address is egbanawis@gmail.com

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