Babe's Eye View article

Everybody seems to be taking this Year of the Rat so seriously, it's turning out to be a rat race already with everyone scrambling for the 2010 presidential elections. This early, all roads seem to lead to Malacañang. There's Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party, Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party, Ping Lacson, Loren Legarda, Noli de Castro and other wannabes. And now—we hear that Joseph Estrada is also planning to run, with people suspecting his sorties in Metro Manila to be a dry-run of sorts.

Of course, in a recent radio interview, Erap denied he was going to run in 2010. But in this country, you never really know what's going to happen next, considering that it's also hard to tell what's true and what's just sound byte. The thing is, the Lakas camp reacted to the news about Erap's possible run in 2010—so now, FVR is also running! And if such is the case, Joseph Estrada is accepting FVR's challenge. Tabako's spokesman even had a lofty tag for the potential showdown—"the mother of all political battles in the country."

So is this what the presidency has boiled down to—a juvenile game of one-upmanship between two schoolboys, one not wanting to be overshadowed by the other? It's quite obvious the two former presidents dislike each other, and this is probably more personal than anything else. FVR never forgave Joseph Estrada for having the nerve to have him investigated regarding the Centennial Expo scam.

With everybody seemingly bent on joining the rat race to Malacañang, why don't we just change the Constitution so we can have Cory Aquino and GMA run, too? And while we're at it, let's make the children and grandchildren of former presidents become candidates as well. We can have Mar Roxas, Noynoy Aquino, Kris Aquino, Jinggoy Estrada, Mikey Arroyo, Jun Magsaysay, Sonny Osmeña, Serge Osmeña—and turn the whole elections into a family affair.

It's not funny anymore the way politics in this country is reduced to personalities and not issues or platform, with everyone wanting to outdo one another and putting their personal agenda first and not what's good for the country. Let's just forget about the plan of PCCI president Sammy Lim to get all the former presidents and GMA to sit down for a dialogue on their vision for the Philippines beyond 2010.

The plan was supposed to encourage these leaders to discard personal issues and pool their collective experiences and political wisdom to discuss what would be good for the nation. But with the way politics is going, I don't think there's any chance of getting the two former presidents—FVR and Joseph Estrada—together for a dialogue now that the political gauntlet has been thrown.

The sad part is, if Erap decides to run and if the Supreme Court allows him, he may just win. Between FVR and Joseph Estrada, the latter's huge masa base would clobber the voting strength of Lakas and Kampi combined. But I would like to believe, like many others, that Joseph Estrada is just testing the waters and positioning his son Jinggoy to follow the path he had taken—from senator to vice president and ultimately, president of this country.

During that said radio interview, Erap tried to put to rest all speculations about his presidential ambitions, saying there's no reason for the opposition to be concerned since he has no intention of running. As he had told us in his usual "Eraption"—"I have been convicted, and now I am a man of conviction." Let's just hope he has the conviction to do what is best for the country. Considering his huge following and his fairly organized machinery, he can in fact be a kingmaker.

I'm currently in Bangkok to take a break from so many Christmas happenings and all of the early politics in Manila. But the irony is, the hottest topic in Thailand is also politics, exactly what's happening in the Philippines, with speculations that deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra might make a comeback, especially now that his allies have won in the recent general elections. Just like Joseph Estrada, Thaksin still has a strong popular base.

While the Philippines has many similarities with Thailand, the big difference is Thailand has more tourists. What's the secret of their success in tourism? Part of it is attributed to their ability to turn their festivals and cultural events into tourist attractions, and the fact that they targeted "quality tourists." But most important of all, they have a revered king who continues to keep the country stabilized despite the political turmoil it has gone through. The only thing though is that the king is already frail and old, so Thais are worried about what will happen when he's gone.

We really have to start thinking about how we can stabilize our country. Perhaps it's time to go back to the two-party system. Since 1992, we have always had a minority president. In addition, older politicians should begin thinking like statesmen and allow the younger generation to take over. There are many capable young politicians who should be given a chance to make the Philippines become more progressive. The youth are more attuned to the growing changes in the global scene, which is critical for the Philippines to be at par with its neighbors.

But if we continue along the same path without any change, with the same old politicians running for president—expect many Filipinos to also run—away from the country.