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| President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos 1965-1986 |
Since I was born in the 60’s I will start with President
Ferdinand E. Marcos the 10th President of the Philippines, His
popularity started when he topped the Bar exam despite the fact that he was in
jail and does not have time for a formal review, his score of almost 100% was
questioned by the supreme court and was asked him for an oral reexamination
which he passed convincingly, and his first legal appearance is by defending
himself and got an acquittal for the Nalundasan case, afterwards he became the
Senate President and was pitted against former President Diosdado Macapagal,
after winning the Presidency, Marcos showed brilliance in his speeches by doing
it impromptu (without a prepared Speech) and yet the substance of his speech
continue to inspire Filipino’s even if it took more than an hour, I remember in
one AFP day when he was the guest speaker his speech almost took two hours and
some soldiers on the line are collapsing one by one since his speech took
almost 2 hours, but everybody can digest his speech, inspiring everybody of his
vision for the country, He showed leadership when he solve the looming drug
crisis that are about to start by carrying out the stiffest penalties to the
convicted Drug pusher, He declared Martial law in 1972 to control Social unrest,
establish the OPSF (Oil Price Stabilization Fund) to cushion the impact of any
abnormal Oil price in the world Market, in the advent of Nuclear Power he
started the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in anticipation of the countries power
requirement in the future, when faced by a food shortage, He started the Green
Revolution to combat the world food shortage which is so successful because of
our countries vast agricultural land, In addressing the Shelter Issue then
First lady Imelda Marcos was designated Minister of Human settlements which
created Bliss projects all over the country, the peso then is about 7.50-7.80 Php
to $1 US dollar the economy is good that a family’s requirement to survive is
at least one job for every household of 4, the Philippines was then second to
Japan in Asia in terms of economy. But all of these started to disintegrate
when he become sick despite their effort to hide this in the public, some of his
cronies started to abuse their power that resulted to social unrest, and demand
for him to step down was even supported by US, which forces him to call a snap
election fitting him against Cory Aquino that resulted to more problems, when
more Filipino’s refused to accept the outcome of the election, and decided to
bring their cause to the street backed by the most influential Cardinal Sin of
Manila, his appeal on the radio to go to the street and support the Coup d etat
of then Defense Secretary Enrile and Constabulary Chief Fidel Ramos was crucial,
because at the time it was a novelty for the people to hear a Cardinal
appealing for support to a mutineer, when he was a former family friend of the
Marcos, this event divide the Military and Police and put the Philippines in a
very dangerous situation any wrong move from both side could result in a civil
war and more Filipino death’s, but Marcos, despite very ill at the time exercise
his usual foresight and decided to make a supreme sacrifice for the safety of
his countryman and decided to yield power, that paved the way for the
assumption of Corazon Aquino.
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| President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino 1986-1992 |
Corazon Aquino the beneficiary of the People Power 1 was the
first woman President of the Philippines, while her assumption to power was
widely accepted by most Filipino’s hoping for a change, was itself not a smooth
sailing she faced a numerous Coup attempt that endanger her Presidency lucky
for Her, then Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos stick by her and quelled all future
attempt to grab power, the centerpiece of her administration was the CARP
(Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program), as it name suggest almost all vast
landholdings was distributed to the farmer tenants except the Hacienda Luisita
in Tarlac which everybody knows is the property of the Cojuangco and Aquino
family, This placed her leadership under question, Her decision to decommission
the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant only because this a Marcos Project was fatal to
the economy as this resulted in a massive brownouts all over the country, her
lack of experience to assume the presidency drag the country backwards, upon
her assumption prices of commodities multiplied 400 times I remember a laundry
soap which cost only 1 peso before immediately rose to 4-5 pesos, the dollar
took his lowest dive then from 7.8 to $1 it became 25 to $1 overnight, despite
standardizing the salaries of government employees apparently to gain their
support, life became more difficult to ordinary citizen, Her effort to track
Marcos Hidden wealth is also a failure, as all the sequestered properties end up
useless and white elephant apparently because of lack of Idea on what to do
about the properties. Luckily for the Filipino’s the Cory constitution stipulates
that a fixed term of six years for a president and no reelection assured a
smooth transition to the next President, Fidel V. Ramos.
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| President Fidel Valdez Ramos 1992-1998 |
President Fidel V. Ramos was the first President of a
multi-party system, when he ran for the Presidency there are lot of candidate to
choose, the First time in the Philippine history, that is why despite the fact
that he only gain a fraction of the Filipino vote under protest by Senator
Miriam Defensor Santiago, President Ramos became the 12th President
of the Philippines, his assumption to office was timely as he managed to solve
the power crises left by the Cory administration, his strong foreign policy was
widely accepted by the world, that the economy started to move upward and
Philippines are starting to become a tiger economy, but he is not free from
controversy. he was accused of some shady deal like accelerating power supply
contracts without a bidding, the PEA Amari and others, but these charges are
not proven to date, During his leadership he knows that his Vice President
Joseph E. Estrada is a strong possibility as his successor, since he want to
start a legacy of former Chief of Staff to become President just like him,
apparently to gain influence in the next leadership, He tried to test the
qualities of his Vice President by appointing him as PAOCTF (Presidential Anti
Organized Crime Task Force), apparently anticipating failure from his VP, because
then this Crime syndicate's is the menace to society, but this proved to be a
blunder as Erap took the best Police officers that could help him in this task,
their string of success against organized crime syndicates was noticed by the citizens
and gave the credit to Erap, so when he ran for the Presidency in 1998 President
Joseph E. Estrada won in landslide manner.
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| President Joseph Ejercito Estrada 1998-2001 |
President Joseph E. Estrada the 13th President. If Marcos was the longest President to hold office Estrada is one of the shortest to hold the office of the President. His
campaign promise of “walang kaibigan walang kamaganak, walang kumpare” was
widely accepted by the Filipino’s, that resulted with the highest vote in the Philippine Election (11 Million). His no nonsense approach to insurgency
resulted in the capture of Camp Abubakhar, for the first time in the Military
history Philippine Soldiers was able to set foot to a well entrenched training
camp of the MILF, but his leadership
took a dive when he stated his war over the media, with most media entity
against his leadership, his leadership was in a precarious situation, this was
aggravated when he started to investigate shady deals of his predecessors,
instead of unearthing shady deals he himself was accused of a Jueteng scandal
and Plunder, and a railroaded impeachment complaint that paved the way for the
2nd People Power which accelerated the Presidential ambition of President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
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| President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo 2001-2010 |
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo the 14th
President of the Philippines, next to Marcos Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is the
longest to serve as President of the Philippines with more than 10 years Her
workaholic attitude was widely accepted not only in the Philippines but even in
other countries her fiscal reforms and strong economic policies place the
Philippines in the right track of Industrialized countries. She showed that she
mean to hold on to power when he quelled a Labor day protest that almost oust
her, this protest actions hurt a lot of people from both side when she ordered
to break the protesters line apparently to avoid a much bigger crowd which
started to grow every minute. Her no nonsense policies against government
institutions ineffectiveness her surprise visit to this offices to show her
commitment of a good governance earn accolade from the majority of the
Filipino’s but power it seems became dangerous when the holder cling to it
longer despite a promise of doing everything for the country and not interested
in reelection, apparently to appease her growing detractors, but come 2004 she
broke her announcement and ran for reelection which she won under protest from
the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. (To date
was announced the real winner). Her second term was marred by controversies
from the First Gentleman that affected the popularity of her leadership despite
this controversies and accusations her workaholic attitude and strong Fiscal
policies did wonders for the country, One of the good project of her leadership is the RORO (Roll on Roll Off) which ease the farmers burden of bringing their farm inputs to the market and literally linking all islands in the country together. Her leadership was put to the test with
the Magdalo Group’s expose of corruption in the Military and in the Government
and again when she declare the country under a state of emergency, under her
leadership the most gruesome massacre of journalist in history happens the
Ampatuan Massacre which killed a political convoy and hordes of journalist’s
and in an attempt to cover up the crime, the perpetrators bury the dead by a
backhoe. But to her credit she went on to automate the next election apparently
to avoid cheating and later on protest that stalled and divide the country
every election, which paved the way for President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III
whose only credential is being a son of the former President and a last minute
endorsement from Senator Mar Roxas after the death of former President Cory
Aquino.
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| President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino 2010-Present |
President Benigno C. Aquino III the 15th President of the
Philippines and if her mother was the First woman President He also became the
first Bachelor President of the Philippines His battle cry of Kapag Walang
Corrupt, Walang Mahirap was bitted by the voters wanting a change from an overdue
leadership of the past President during those time running against the
administration is a sure way to win as on the contrary to run as administration
candidate is a sure way to end your political career. This phenomena proved to
be beneficial to Noynoy (the Presidents nickname) despite a lackluster
accomplishment in the congress and later on in the Senate the voters voted
blindly for him hoping for his “Tuwid na Daan” to date the present President is
a subject of criticism in both the media and social media, lucky for him he has
his own media ally, like the influential broadsheet and some of the TV network who only aired friendly news for the
administration, His leadership is now a subject of ridicule for being
insensitive to his constituent for example in addressing the power crisis in
Mindanao his solution is just to raise the electric bill in that area, under
His administration the price of fuel in the Philippines went higher due to
world oil crisis, despite appeals from the masses whom he termed “Kayo ang Boss
ko!” he refused to lift the EVAT (Expanded Value Added Tax) on oil products
that will probably ease the burden of most Filipinos, in the latest impeachment
of Chief Justice Corona He was again accused of getting back at Corona for the
court’s decision against Hacienda Luisita, barely two years in power a growing demand for him to step down
is increasing especially in the social media wherein post’s are more personal
and unedited I hope our legislator’s can craft a law that will regulate even
social media as this can ruin a person and if that person is the President then
the country where he leads also get ruined.
