To the newly elected:

MANILA, Philippines - After months of grueling campaigning, sleepless nights, and no doubt, days of wanting to swallow all copies of your own campaign jingle, we are finally here. You’ve won. You’ve gotten this strange, honorable, powerful job; the only job where you’re expected to shell out thousands of pesos to be able to court millions of people just to tell them you are the perfect man or woman for the office. Now while some of you may be more than capable and obviously deserve this opportunity to serve, a few of you deserve a special formula of tough love and encouragement. And you know me, kids: I always lovingly oblige.

First of all, it seems more and more of you are local personalities or celebrities who have decided they have some hidden ability to be a good public servant. The schmoozing, the spin, the poker face when someone asks if you slept with this starlet or that up-and-comer — it seems like you have all the ingredients to shake up a lovely little politicocktail. But whether it’s acting, singing, sports, or making senseless comments on daytime TV under a massive tower of hair, that’s the kind of service our country deserves from you. The visible passion of someone doing what it is they love, the idea that success can be attained by being the best at what you choose to do, instead of following one path and then abruptly trying to gain some false sense of respectability by occupying an office they don’t necessarily understand. What you should understand is that you are loved by the public not because of what they think you can do for them in government, but because whatever gift you’ve proven to have through your existing career already brings people joy.

But you’re already here — congratulations, by the way — and it seems that the public has confused their love for your talent with trust in your leadership abilities. I only ask that as you occupy this office, you take your job seriously. There is a dignity to the office that must be preserved above time and tradition. Let me put it in words you might understand a little better: think of yourself as a soldier being drafted. On your own time, you are who you are deep inside — sensitive soul, a ladies’ man, an entrepreneur. But out on the battlefield, when you do your tour as a soldier, you are always a soldier first. Your tour is the duration of the term for which you are elected, and in this time, you will always be a senator/congressman/governor/mayor first.  

No billboards, please

We don’t need to see you on billboards endorsing malunggay tea or wristwatches or your latest MMFF entry. We don’t need to see updates on your squabbles with your present girlfriend’s family on every talk show. We need you in office doing the job you claimed to be able to do when you threw your hat in the ring and filed your certificate of candidacy. The life you knew is now on indefinite pause, if not altogether dead. Again, congratulations.

Now, to those of you who seem to believe that governing is a genetic trait. You were born into a succession of legislators and historical legends, many of whom began as self-made men. There is a big part of you that feels like this is destiny, because when people find out who your parents/grandparents are, people ask why you’re not following in the footsteps of the great men and women who’ve come before you. I understand the kind of pressure you’re under, because I’ve had to field that question myself, and whenever I say, “Because I don’t want to,” it just seems to yield more puzzled responses.

And having grown up around so many politicians’ kids, there are usually two kinds of kids who decide to go into the family “business.” There are the dreamers and the schemers. The dreamers are far more rare. They are idealistic, even well into old age. They’ve seen the kind of change that can come from a life lived in service to the Filipino people, they understand the differences between the three branches of government, they choose to run for a certain position because they understand what the office requires of them, and they believe they can make a difference. The dreamers are the unicorns of governance.

Then there are the schemers, of which there are far too many. These are kids who have seen how those before them have been able to turn a profit being in office, who have the stomach for all the wheeling and dealing that comes with being in politics, who Photoshop nicely but drip with sleaze behind closed doors. These kids aren’t as interested in service as much as making sure the family name continues to strike fear into hearts of men, because it comes with perks they can’t afford to lose.

Paying your dues

I can’t blame the public for questioning your credentials when so many of you just jump into the highest possible office you can run for without paying your dues. You are not your fathers or your mothers, and this goes for spouses of great political leaders as well. To have worked or been surrounded by someone else’s political acuity does not necessarily mean it is something you possess as well. And to run while your own relatives are also in power betrays a certain kind of greed, if not impatience at the very least. We elect members of Congress (that is, members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives) to represent the many different families in our great nation, and to have so many of you from the same family occupying the limited seats we provide to representatives is extremely unjust. Is it too much to ask to wait your turn? Do you not talk? Do you just surprise each other at COC filing? 

And yet, again, you’ve already won, proving that riding on Daddy’s coattails still gets a lot of mileage. But here’s the thing: there is still a country in need and you’re in a position to fill the void. What I can say is that, while I am no fan of dynasties or of anyone content to sail through life on the merit of a family name, the least you can do is prove yourself. Prove that you were made for this job, that you give an actual shit, and that you are more than another in a long list of this or that last name. Show us that you’re a dreamer, not a schemer, and there may be hope for us all.

The less-educated masses are often blamed because they supposedly choose those who are familiar, making our government look like a split between a Star Magic catalog and a select few families’ photo albums. But the masses aren’t idiots just because they haven’t been formally schooled (might I add that reading Proust doesn’t necessarily birth genius either). If you take the time to talk to people, you will find how many of the poor and downtrodden have real, viable opinions. It’s enough to make one consider that not everything is the fault of the unfortunate and the uneducated, but perhaps more the fault of those who take advantage of those who are lacking and who are determined to keep the societal gap as wide as it is.

What the public deserves

As those who decide to be leaders, the responsibility is on you to know what the public deserves and what is in your personal capacity to deliver. You should know that when you are running for office and asking for our trust, you are taking our lives and our future plans and all the hours in a day that we work towards our own goals in your hands. You are asking us to believe that the horizons we face will not shrink under your care, and that something better lies ahead. 

So if you find yourself at a loss, as you might, dynasty kids and celebrities alike, the simple rule is to ask for help. Recruit a small, lean staff of people who actually care about what your office is meant to do and make it their life’s mission to execute it. Surround yourself with advisers who have actually been in office before, who have heads for strategy, who have both the theory and the street cred down. Governance is not a freshman’s game (Juan Ponce Enrile, anyone?), and you will need every advantage you canto be able to do what you’re supposed to do.

 We can sit here all day and argue about whether or not it’s right that you’ve won, what you’ve done to deserve such an honor, and whether or not you even have the mental capacity for such a job. But the fact remains that you are here and we sit helplessly in your palms. So do us a favor: do your jobs, and do them well. Because whether we like it or not, we’re counting on you.

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