The continuing need for balance in decision-making
If you are a leader, you would not look at one side and neglect the other. The crucial task of decision-making at the highest level is very challenging, especially if you are the president of a nation as diverse and multi-sectoral as the Philippines, and more so in the context of a global socio-economic and geo-political milieu. It is easy for people like Senator Trillanes to criticize because he has no direct responsibility to execute hard decisions. It is easy to attack like what the Makabayan bloc in the House is always prone to do, because it is easier to destroy what the president is finding very difficult to build.
This is a complex nation with too many conflicting interests to consider before making decisions that affect millions. If you abolish contractualization, immediately, five million casuals, contractuals, and project-based workers are going to lose their jobs. If they each have five dependents, then 25 million will not have food to eat, or tuition for school, it shall be an economic disaster. It is easy to promise abolition of contractualization when you are a candidate wooing the working class. But when you are the president, you have to consider the far-reaching implications of your decisions. Abolishing contractualization drives investors away, and exacerbates unemployment and underemployment.
If you ban OFWs going to Kuwait, Saudi, and the UAE you shall deprive at least two million families of their sources of income. If you close Boracay what shall you do with 27,000 workers who rely on tourism for their livelihood? But you cannot just leave Boracay and our other tourist destinations to be desecrated and ravished by greed. And if you continue with the relentless drive against drugs, you will face the international and domestic community of human rights advocates, who mind the welfare of drug addicts but don't care about the victims of drug-related crimes. It is not easy to be president, especially if you are a 72-year-old provinciano who is being snubbed by Manila's creme de la creme.
But it is a blessing that we have a president who is not onion-skinned and ambivalent like PNoy. We have a leader who is focused, determined, uncompromising, and brave. He does not care about the hatred of some and the threats of others. He is not afraid of America. He stands up to the European Union, and refuses to be treated as if the Philippines is still a colony. He is not afraid of taipans, moguls, tycoons, and magnates. They have to pay taxes and the correct wages to their workers or face his fury. It is difficult to balance the many conflicting forces and powers, but we have a president who is not afraid to tilt the balance to the side that he thinks has long been neglected. No matter if the gods are going to be angry, he is prepared to die, or be kicked out of a job he did not want in the first place.
It is indeed difficult to maintain balance among the many conflicting forces. But we have a president who does not fear imbalance if that is the right thing to do.
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