Clueless

ACTOR Fernando Poe Jr. seems to have quickly found out that politics can be bad for one's health. Just a few days after he declared that he would run for president in next year's elections, Poe got an invitation to lay bare his program of government before a gathering of top business executives. He accepted the invitation, but at the last minute he either got cold feet or developed a fever. He failed to show up at the forum for presidential aspirants organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Poe sent Senator Vicente Sotto III, who had worked hard to convince Poe to stand for election, as his stand-in. The businessmen were not interested in what the former comedian had to say. Not even Sotto's assurance that Poe himself had put the speech together could perk up their curiosity. By the time Sotto started to speak, half of the audience had left.

Everyone should have stayed and listened. Poe's five-page statement may be the longest spiel they will hear from the most laconic presidential wannabe the country has ever seen. And it speaks volumes of how little thought and preparation he will be bringing to the most difficult job this side of the world, if ever he gets elected.

Poe said he had one simple goal and plan: to help uplift the nation and run the government in consultation with all sectors of society. "I believe that a nation cannot be run by just one man but can be led by one," he said. But before that, he added, he had to know what he could do for the various sectors of Philippine society:

"I need you to tell me, the Filipino, whom I'm here to serve, what I can do for you. I need the business sector to tell me how we can improve and strengthen the business climate. I need the political sector to tell me how we can make the rules of governance work for the people. I need labor to tell me what needs they have. I need the Armed Forces and the police to tell me what our country needs to preserve peace and order in our ranks and in our streets. I need our foreign friends to tell me how we, as a Filipino nation, can be worthy allies of world peace and prosperity."

Earlier when he was asked what qualifications he would be bringing to the highest office, Poe replied that he was beholden to no one, that he was not corrupt and that he was sincere. Now we can add candor to his short list of recommendations. His very first speech was an honest admission that he was clueless about the many big problems facing the nation and had therefore no solutions to propose.

Poe can ask the first man he meets on the street what he needs and he will be presented with a very long list: a job, food on the table, a roof over his head, education for his children, security in his home and safety in the streets, health care, and so on and so forth. If he has not heard about them, businessmen have come up with many suggestions on how to improve the business climate, ranging from improved peace and order, more honest and effective governance to consistency in policy, less red tape, better infrastructure, and so on and so forth. If he wants to know what labor needs, he should go to any rally organized by labor groups.

Indeed, anyone who wants to know what needs fixing in this country doesn't have to go through any consultations. A week of reading the newspapers would give him a fairly good idea of the many, varied, urgent and almost insurmountable problems facing the nation and the Filipino people. To ask what people need is to invite being asked in turn: Where have you been?

Everyone, except Poe, would have an idea of what needs to be done. What anyone who aspires for the presidency must tell the people is how he is going to solve those problems or achieve those goals. Poe is asking the Filipino people to give him the chance to lead them. But he has not given even a hint as to where he plans to take them.

~ Inquirer Editorial, 3 December 2003