Why him?

I got this note through a friend who is for Gilbert "GIBO" Teodoro. Actually He was the one who convinced me to switch a candidate. Apparently, I was before for Benigno "noynoy" Aquino for quite sometimes form the time that noynoy announced his candidacy up until last month. I was so firm that I am for NOYNOY'S candidacy. Well until now I admit Im still on the process of deciding who truly deserve my vote. I consider GIBO and NOYNOY. These two guys are cousins and I am deciding which is which. While opening my FACEBOOK account, a very close friend send me a note about why should I vote for GIBO. Apparently, I read this long yet very touching blog from http://travelifemagazine.blogspot.com. Its entitled "TALKING TRAVEL WITH GILBERT TEODORO" In that entry the author are trying to tell us the experienced she had while interviewing GIBO despites its busy schedule for his campaign. One thing i learned form reading that blog. GIBO is the best candidate. well wanna share this also to you. so read and try to reflect.

credits to : travelifemagazine.blogspot.com

enjoy reading and think...

("He's really the best candidate," so many people said repeatedly to me that day, after GIBO had talked solidly and sensibly about what he would do if he were president. I'd bumped into some senior multinational executives at the Pen lobby that afternoon while waiting for GIBO to arrive and they'd said this again and again. "He's really the best candidate. It's just too bad he won't win. Wrong time."

This was a phrase I would hear over and over in the weeks after that. It's often hard to open up about politics and this election to friends and acquaintances because people have become so polarized that it's almost shocking to discover that friends you thought were on the same page with you are on completely different continents regarding presidential candidates. Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and it's really not for others to judge these -- including us.

But when the topic did creep up, and still does creep up, it was equally shocking that almost everyone I spoke to thought GIBO was the best. I knew people liked him, but I didn't think almost everyone did. Whether it was over lunch with travel companions from Manila and Cebu at a seafood restaurant in Mumbai, at drinks with competitors at the Fort, or at a trade show meeting clients for the first time, the refrain was the same that it was starting to ring in my head like a jingle without a tune: "GIBO's the best candidate. It's too bad he won't win."

A tragedy for us, not for him

Then I realized: too bad for whom? Of course if GIBO doesn't make it, I'm sure he (and his supporters) will be extremely disappointed. But he's young, talented and energetic. Whether he becomes president of a country or just president of a family company, or even if he ends up a regular lawyer instead of Philippine president, I'm almost sure he will land on his feet and still lead a good, successful and purposeful life. His family may even be happier that they will have him all to themselves instead of having to share him with 90 (last count?) million other Filipinos for six years.

The real tragedy lies with us Filipinos: if so many of us truly believe GIBO is the best candidate to navigate the Philippines through these very tough times and we don't do what we can to make him president. If we believe he'll make the best president and yet we don't elect him because other candidates have more money, more machinery, more pedigree or a couple of very powerful media behind them, we've basically slammed the door on an opportunity that doesn't come very often in the history of a country. Truly great presidential material is rare anywhere, but it's perhaps rarer in countries like ours where real skills and capabilities take the backseat to sentimentalism, showbiz and media perceptions. Don't we deserve and need the best qualified person as president, especially at this very crucial time for ourselves and the world?

We don't need popularity or pedigree, but capability

Face it. We don't need popularity (although that makes the job easier) or pedigree for a president, we need someone who really wants to finally get this country out of the mess we're in; and who can make sensible and rational decisions for the good of the majority, who has enough foresight to plan for the future of a population, and who can effectively manage the meager resources of the population for maximum results. Please tell me -- popularity aside, which of the candidates is best equipped to do this very difficult job? Winning the elections is the easiest part of the process. It's the after part that counts.

Now if I was going around the country or the world -- I'm typing this out in a hotel room in Kobe, having just arrived from Hong Kong, where I did meet many Filipino professionals -- and Filipinos I'm meeting are not saying GIBO is the best qualified, then that's another story. In fact, there's no story at all.

Mediocrity can't be an option for poor countries

But having so many people believing GIBO is the best but that he won't get elected is a tragedy of almost comic proportions -- and it's really a tragedy not for him, but for us: a poor country that could really use a darn good and capable president with honest intentions and sincere motives. It's not enough right now for us to elect an honest president (who can't run a country) or a very capable president (with questionable motives) -- or worse, a person with neither capability nor good motives, but just popularity.

This is GIBO's time -- not because he should be president or because he wants to be president, but because we need someone capable like him to run this country and finally get us out of our rat hole. A candidate with the right pedigree or enough popularity can easily win an election, but after the posters and banners have been taken down, the serious business begins. And the Philippines can't be run on the legacy of parents or the shine of showbiz alone. I can't stress enough how we need a truly capable person as president, and how damaging six years with a lousy president will be.")