I am really bother of Jejomar Binay for being obsessed to take the highest post in the land. The recent columns of Randy David and Sara Soliven de Guzman
in the major dailies give us a pretty good picture of what a Binay presidency
would be like -- it will be a disaster. The problem, however, is that the
average Filipino does not read or understand their analytical writings.
I excerpted from an article had been written by Nathaniel von Einsiedel his first-hand personal experiences during his companionship with Binay. He narrated some points that give us what kind of personality and brand of leadership Binay has. Take a look the following as I summarized and analysed his article.
1. He will befriend you if you can help him achieve his personal objectives, and will not hesitate to dump you when you're no longer useful to him. He is a master of charming people whom he can use to further his personal ambitions. But once they're of no use to him, or don't like to work with him anymore, he will readily get rid of them and fabricate a story on the reasons why.
I excerpted from an article had been written by Nathaniel von Einsiedel his first-hand personal experiences during his companionship with Binay. He narrated some points that give us what kind of personality and brand of leadership Binay has. Take a look the following as I summarized and analysed his article.
1. He will befriend you if you can help him achieve his personal objectives, and will not hesitate to dump you when you're no longer useful to him. He is a master of charming people whom he can use to further his personal ambitions. But once they're of no use to him, or don't like to work with him anymore, he will readily get rid of them and fabricate a story on the reasons why.
2. He is a congenital liar. He has perfected the practice of
looking you straight in the eye and lie without blinking an eyelash. His
political ads project a lie. By claiming that he will do to the country what he
did in Makati, he creates an expectation that is intended to mislead people.
Common public perception of Makati is that of a first world city -- high rise
offices and condos, glitzy malls, beautiful parks and myriad jobs. But that is
Ayala's Makati, covering only 6 of the city's total of 33 barangays. He makes
people believe that he can transform the whole country into Ayala Makati's
likeness. He knows that is not true. He had no hand in Ayala Makati's
development, and he knows he cannot replicate this anywhere.
3. He wants to perpetuate people's dependency on him,
especially the poor. He doesn't believe in genuine development that uplifts the
living and working conditions of the poor. This is reflected in Makati's
dole-out approach to urban management, for example, its education and health
programs. His political ads project the message that this dole-out system can
be replicated throughout the country. He knows that the only reason he can do
that in Makati is because the city has the biggest revenue among LGUs, all due
to the thousands of the biggest firms located in the Ayala part of the city.
4. He wants complete control over all programs and projects.
The programs and projects of Makati city's departments have to be approved by
him directly. Thus, in Makati's annual budget, most if not all programs and
projects are listed under the Office of the Mayor, and only he can authorize
budget releases. Binay also established a system that consolidates the incomes
of all of Makati's barangays and directly controls the approval of and budget
releases for all barangay projects. But look at the majority of the barangays
-- from Kasilawan, Tejeros, Sta. Cruz, Singkamas, Bangkal, Guadalupe Viejo,
Pitogo, Pinagkaisahan, Guadalupe Nuevo, all the EMBO barangays, and even his
own San Antonio. There is so much poverty in these areas that no amount of dole
outs throughout his as well as his wife and son's terms of office have been
able to diminish much less eradicate poverty. The incidence of poverty in the
premier and richest city in the country is appalling.
5. His pro-poor actions are all for show. He actually
loathes the poor. On a number of occasions when we were discussing in private
the housing projects for the poor, he used the term "salaula"
(Tagalog for "uncouth" or "uncivilized") to describe them.
He has perfected the act of conveying his "concern" for the poor by,
for example, setting aside time and a percentage of the city's budget for the
poor's "KBL" -- kasal (weddings), burol (wakes), and libing (burial).
When we were planning the MACDA housing project, he's approach to the issue of
relocating the informal settlers was to pay them off without caring where they
were to be resettled as long as they vacated the site.
When we proposed a massive workforce development program to
include the poor in the productive milieu and benefit from the jobs available
in the city, Binay turned it down, criticising it as "small-time."
But he did not offer any alternative. It was obvious that he did not want the
poor to improve their economic well-being and status. He wants them to be
perpetually beholden to and dependent on him, and therefore, under his complete
control.
7. His management style is 101% patronage politics. There is
absolutely nothing developmental in his system of management. He may have
introduced some innovations, but these have been mainly for his and his
family's benefit rather than for the good of the people. He criticizes the
Aquino administration as being inept, lazy, and slow. But what has he done, as
Chairman of the Housing & Urban Development Coordinating Council for the
past 5 years, to reduce the housing backlog? What has he done in the barangays
of Makati to address poverty? Are the living and working conditions in the
poorer barangays any better than before he first became mayor?
In
2004, its incidence of poverty was higher than the national average. Binay was
not alarmed by this and, in fact, seemed to be pleased with it. Perhaps because
it meant he could easily manipulate the poor. Today, after almost three decades
under the Binays, Makati's overall quality of life, especially in the 27 poorer
barangays, isn't much better.
Is this the kind of person who will be our next president? I
certainly don't think so.
