MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago made a pitch yesterday for businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan as a possible presidential candidate in the 2016 elections.
Speaking before students at the Maynilad Leadership Talk at GT-Toyota Center in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, Santiago said that if they want to see change in the country, they should consider candidates who are honest and known for professional and academic excellence instead of popular personalities such as celebrities.
Santiago said that the electorate should consider Pangilinan for president of the country in next year’s elections.
Asked during a press briefing after her speech if she was endorsing Pangilinan for president, Santiago said that she was.
“People who are like him should be in the position of leadership. It should not be people from highly publicized careers, because the careers where they are, the leading celebrities, might blind them to think that their qualifications are inspirations for the job,” Santiago said.
“I’m particularly talking about people from mass media, films and television. My qualifications are, number one, the person should be honest, but that is the most difficult qualification to determine, because there is no guaranteed test for honesty in public service. The second is professional excellence, and the third is academic excellence,” she added.
Santiago reiterated her proposal to amend the Constitution so that one of the qualifications for running for public office is that a person should at least have a college degree.
“Because right now, a person can run for president without graduating even from high school, but you cannot be a policeman unless you have a college degree. So, we have to reconcile these contrarieties in our society,” she said.
“Nocomment.” MikeToledo, head of MVP Media Bureau, told The STAR on the unsolicited endorsement by Santiago of Pan- gilinan as a presidential candidate in the 2016 election.