Grace and Leni

They are on competing tickets, but what if we ended up with both women being elected to lead the country in next year’s election? It isn’t such a bad prospect. Indeed, it is just about the most encouraging development in recent weeks.

It really has nothing to do with gender because we ought to vote for the best candidate regardless of gender or gender preference. It is only coincidental that the bright spots in an otherwise dreary landscape happen to be two women.

Okay, we still don’t know if Grace can run, or even keep her Senate seat on account of questions on her citizenship. Assuming she gets the all clear from the Supreme Court, there is the question about her preparedness to assume the highest executive position in the country.

The way I look at it, after electing P-Noy or even Tita Cory for that matter, why wouldn’t Grace be qualified? Against Mar Roxas, I would still take my chances on Grace, if only because we already have experience with Mar’s lack of executive ability as DOTC, DILG Secretary, and in disaster relief management. Will a new title make Mar more effective?

But Grace aside, it is Leni who gives me a lot of hope. She is the one candidate among the top contenders for president and vice president who fits the bill as the servant-leader in the mold of her late husband Jesse Robredo.

I like it that she is humility personified, unlike most of our public officials. She regularly commutes to her district in Camarines Sur by overnight bus and all by herself. Even before she was elected, she was working quietly as a volunteer lawyer taking up cases from the poor who would otherwise fall by the wayside in our judicial system.

In other words, she is already a committed public servant before she became a public official. She is the only one among the top contenders who speaks of public service out of actual experience. In a world of plastic politicians, Leni is an authentic human being.

Leni has the right educational background, with a degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines, and a Law degree from the University of Nueva Caceres. She was about to accept an appointment as a judge in Camarines Sur when the need to carry on the good governance mission of her late husband convinced her to run for Congress instead.

As a first term member of Congress, she visits her projects to talk to her constituents every week, walking through streams in her Tsinelas. An epitome of transparency in public service, she takes the trouble of accounting for every centavo of public money spent on her projects.

I like her advocacies in Congress, including authorship of the Full Disclosure Bill that will require all elected officials and government agencies to fully disclose any transactions, documents, and budgets of public interest. Like Grace, Leni is a strong supporter of the Freedom of Information bill (FOI), that P-Noy lost interest in after being elected.

To put it bluntly, Leni deodorizes the Liberal Party from the stench of the last five years. There is something about having a woman like Leni in high office that assures me the “batang klub” mentality now prevailing in Malacanang will end. No more KKK and turning a blind eye on the corruption of officials close to the president.

I like it that Leni and her daughters live simply. I don’t see them deviating from that lifestyle if she is elected vice president. That means Leni cannot be bought the way most public officials can be bought by vested interests. I like it that they see public service as a personal commitment that is its own reward rather than as a career or a family business.

I take it that if the Robredos had their rathers, they would rather Leni run for re-election in her district because the people there are close to their hearts and need them. I hope P-Noy appreciates the fact that despite the shabby way he treated Jesse, there were rumors he was about to fire him, Leni didn’t keep grudges and did what the party expected of her.

Should a Grace and Leni tandem be elected next year, Grace should appoint her as her Executive Secretary. The country will be safer to have Leni within earshot of Grace rather than have Chiz acting out his Rasputin role.

I realize our experience with women presidents have not been that stellar. But genders aside, neither were the men any good. The men were somehow more prone to let friendships and convoluted relationships prevail over national interest. The men were also more easily tempted.

The best performing public officials over the last five years were women: Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, former COA chair Grace Pulido Tan, COA commissioner Heidi Mendoza, who was recently pirated by the United Nations, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima and BIR commissioner Kim Henares.

I think it was Margaret Thatcher who once said, if you want anything said in politics, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman. Enough with the bulls#it… let’s get things done!

Perhaps, two women running the country would be something we need to clean up the mess. Women are better in doing this sort of thing be it at home or at work. Women think differently. They can be more focused and less liable to be distracted in accomplishing their mission than men.

There is the attention to detail that any woman who runs a household cannot do without. They have their “to do” lists and they don’t rest until they are assured things are moving as they should.

What happened with MRT 3 and the world’s worst airport or NAIA happened because P-Noy allowed problems to deteriorate. Judging from how Grace handled her Senate hearings, she wouldn’t have allowed DOTC’s Abaya and NAIA’s Honrado to sleep on their jobs for so long.

And let us face it… we are a matriarchal society where the mothers make our worlds go round. The government entrusts CCT money to the mother, not the father. When I was working on a bank’s social credit program, we gave the money to the mother too. Experience showed the mothers would use the money wisely, while the men often used it to finance their vices.

And who among us can lie to our mothers? One sharp look from her and we know there is no choice but to confess. When we are in trouble, we run to our mothers and maybe sometimes to fathers with maternal instincts. A strict mother runs a good family and that’s what a Grace or Leni will do in government.

I know, you would ask… what about you know who… Ate Glue? Actually, from what I have gathered from those who worked with her, she has a strategic mind and very exacting of her Cabinet and aides. It was unfortunate that Hello Garci made her so insecure about her legitimacy she couldn’t focus on her mandate and did unfortunate things. She also had close ties that damaged her credibility and resulted in a downward spiral.

But from what I can see now, neither Grace nor Leni has that problem. I met the husband of Grace and he will redeem our image of a First Gentleman. I see no major or minor entanglements on the part of the two women that could compromise their watch.

Of course the best thing about having a Grace and Leni victory is that Chiz will go away. If Chiz loses, his influence over Grace will diminish, specially if Grace and Leni gain confidence with each other that approximates sisterhood. After all, they have the same public service philosophy. Leni also does not have to keep two dozen sets of wedding sponsors happy the way Chiz would feel obligated to.

Then again, I am just thinking aloud. I have been so frustrated with our political options that I may be clutching at straws. This possibility of Grace and Leni is the best development yet.

I am dreaming of a Filipino Margaret Thatcher or Angela Merkel. This seems to be it for now until we get better news.

More things can happen between now and Election Day and beyond. Grace could be disqualified. Jojo Binay could be jailed. Duterte could decide not to run. The VP we elect may end up being president, so choose carefully.

Or, it could happen Mar would end up virtually unopposed other than by a gaggle of nuisance candidates. We may end up with Mar and Leni, and maybe we can live with that too with a lot of prayers that Mar would surprise us that he has outgrown his teka teka.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco