“Not gold but only man can make
A people great and strong
Men who for truth and honor sake
Stand fast and suffer long
Brave men who work while others sleep
Who dare while others fly
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.”
–A Nation’s Strength
By Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have written three letters to President BB or DD Marcos since July 31, 2022 – no answers. His probable reason of ignoring my letters are – that I am not his wife, his mother, his congressman son, his girl friend, his Vice-President, his first cousin Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate President, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, head of a foreign country like Xi Jin Ping of China, leader of a foreign economic group that holds court either in Brussels or Davos, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or a rumored foreign organization that made possible his election as President.
If any of these is his reason to ignore my letters – I mind.
Citizen is sovereign: Why do I mind that he does not answer my letters? I do because I am still a citizen of this country. And under section 1, Article II of our Constitution, this country is a “democratic and republican State…sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from the people.” I am one of the millions who compose the people. He is not my master. In the language of the street – President BB or DD Marcos is the servant of the people not their master.
But based on his behavior these past six months – he appears to think that he is our master like President Digong Duterte and the late President Noynoy Aquino or President Gloria Arroyo. It is about time he is reminded that he is not our king, emperor or dictator. He is our constitutional President with the duty “to preserve and defend the Constitution as section 5, Article VII provides and he“must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice”. under section 1, Article XI of the Constitution.
Test: Let us subject his words and actions in the past six months to test his competence as President.
The concluding statement in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) is that the condition of the country is sound. Was it sound when he assumed office? Examine the following – the prices of commodities and services were high and increased with every passing day and week; the unresolved killings of poor drug addicts exceeded twenty thousand, according to media reports, both local and international, not to speak of social media and human rights observers; the flood of illegal drugs in the country remained uncontrolled and continued to wreak havoc in the country; graft and corruption, according to President Duterte, continued to be rampant; poverty continued to be a numbing problem; minimum wage was not enough to support a family of five; insurgency had a threatening present; XiJin Ping’s China continued to dominate the West Philippine Sea bullying and preventing our fishermen from fishing in their normal fishing grounds and our Armed Forces unashamedly helpless to contain the China military inroads.
And you call these conditions sound? Anyone who can read his ABC will tell you this is unsound. Anyone who thinks these conditions are sound should have his head, eyes and ears examined. Something is dysfunctional there.
And now: These conditions have gone from bad to worse under the BBM or DDM presidency. The man keeps on gallivanting around the word – probably thinking that appearing handsome, reading prepared speeches, and pleasing the Western powers, he will solve our problems and please and satisfy our people.
You are wasting our money, Mr. President, by these travels. This is not responsible and efficient behavior for a President. It lacks loyalty and patriotism. Integrity and dedication are required of you under the Constitution. Thus far, you’ve failed in all these. You are not a fool or an idiot so you can learn. It is not too late. Just read these pages and the subsequent ones that will come regularly in this column and hopefully you and I will learn.