Democratic transitions: Ideas for ‘presidentiables’
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(FirstofTwoParts)
N the recent graduation ceremonies of our Philippine National Police Academy in Silang, Cavite and Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City, President Benigno S. Aquino III, as the Guest of Honor and Speaker at both occasions, stressed to the uniformed graduates the importance of their being “apolitical” in the performance of their duties as public servants.
THIS P.NOY ADMONITION RECALLED TO FVR HIS INTERVIEWS WITH YVES LETERME, SECRETARY- GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY AND ELECTORAL ASSISTANCE (INTERNATIONAL IDEA) BASED IN STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN WHICH IS RECORDED IN THE INSTITUTE’S BOOK, “DEMOCRATIC TRANSITIONS: CONVERSATIONS WITH WORLD LEADERS ( 2015).” EXTRACTS OF THE Q&A ON GOVERNANCE, BEST PRACTICES AND LEADERSHIP COULD BE HELPFUL TO OUR FIVE PRESIDENTIABLES (AND TO THE SIX VP WANNABES LIKEWISE), AS FOLLOWS:
The 1986 EDSA Experience
IDEA: EFFORTS TO BUILD DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN COUNTRIES WITH AUTHORITARIAN PAST SA REOCCURRING AROUND THE WORLD. WHAT CAN PEOPLE IN THESE COUNTRIES LEARN FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF PEACEFUL PEOPLE POWER IN THE PHILIPPINES( ED SA 1986)?
FVR: Are people in the Middle East and North Africa willing to listen? They have their own mind-sets and their own culture. If you look at Syria right now, and before that Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, they may not learn our “Philippine lessons” just like that. The Syrians are still fighting and killing each other after 4 years. Very bloody – 260,000 dead.
We did our regime change in February, 1986, in four days, peacefully. But that was just the beginning of our democratic restoration. Our leader-successors must always build from the lessons learned from the successes (and failures) of their predecessors. We took it upon ourselves to write about these as much as we could, and record them for the sake of the younger ones after us.
THAT IS THE KEY OBJECTIVE OF WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO IN THE RAMOS PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (RPDEV). OUR MAIN PRODUCT IS A BOOK PROGRAM WITH SUPPORTING EDUCATIONAL ROADSHOWS AND VIDEOS.
Leadership and governance
IDEA: How about leadership?
FVR: Good governance and enlightened leadership must be homegrown, because they cannot be outsourced. We won’t import Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia to run the Philippines. Neither would we import another icon like President Patricio Aylwin from Chile.
The general principles are good governance and enlightened or visionary leadership, which must show the way forward into the future 25 years, or one generation hence. The six-year term of a Philippine President is too short to accomplish what needs to be done. One has to visualize; be active and imaginative; follow a modest, exemplary lifestyle and have a plan for people’s basic needs like food, water, livelihood, energy, housing, infrastructure, education, etc. This is what it means to be a transformational leader – who can inspire people with his determination to undertake “bold, transformational change.”
On an individual level, simple buzzwords are used to encapsulate our approach to life’s problems – by CARING, SHARING, AND DARING FOR OTHERS. Caring and sharing are easy enough to do, but daring means to give more than to take, sacrifice for the common good, take concerted action to make a difference. Leaders must dare to make the tough decisions that the bureaucracy will not make. A leader must unite the people with him so that there is only one competitive national team. We must develop unity of purpose and solidarity in values – love of God, country, people, and the environment; love of honesty, time, hard work, etc.
A STRONG WORK ETHIC IS IMPORTANT FOR LEADERS. TO WORK 24 HOURS, 7 DAYS A WEEK IS NOT ENOUGH. HOW SHOULD YOU WORK MORE THAN 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK – OR 25/8? YOU HAVE TO JUGGLE THE “HOT POTATOES” ALL AT THE SAME TIME, AND NOT DROP ANY. SOME LEADERS ARE NOT DOING ENOUGH; THEY ARE NOT DEVOTING ENOUGH AT THEIR ASSIGNED DUTIES. SO, THEY FALL OFF THE HIGH WIRE BECAUSE OF THEIR LACK OF ENERGY, SKILL, DEDICATION AND COMPETENCE – AND THE WHOLE COUNTRY DROPS WITH THEM. IN THE PHILIPPINES, THAT HAS HAPPENED TWICE ALREADY.
Role of the Military
IDEA: You began your career as a West Point cad et at a young age; before becoming President, you spent your professional career in the Armed Forces and the National Police; and attained the highest rank of Chief of Staff, AF P. How did you maintain your independence?
FVR: Fortunately, that’s the way my career evolved. When I was in the rank of Major, the incoming President happened to be a second cousin of mine, Senator Ferdinand Marcos. But before that, and since then, I had gone up the ranks in the best professional manner – by commanding troops, topping all schoolings, and serving in the war zones of Korea and Vietnam. When I became Lieutenant General, it was already during the time of Mr. Marcos, but that was not because he favored me. Even if he was the Commander-in-Chief and my second cousin, I rebelled against him because many of us in the AFP did not like the direction he was pursuing, which was imposing martial law and abusing the rights of the people.
IDEA: You say ,“I rebel led ,” which raises the question: how can the military be made subject to civilian rule? In the Philippines there were many military plots during the presidencies of Coraz on Aquino and Gloria Arroyo. How did you manage the military? How did you produce changes in civilmilitary relations?
FVR: THE IMPORTANT THING WAS TO MAINTAIN PROFESSIONALISM IN THE MILITARY AND NOT ALLOW POLITICS TO ENTER INTO OUR DECISION-MAKING, EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE GREAT PRESSURES. AS WE WENT UP THE RANKS, THE PRESSURES FROM POLITICIANS INCREASED, PARTICULARLY FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT. BUT, HAVING BEEN TRAINED IN A VERY PROFESSIONAL WAY, WE MAINTAINED OUR COOL. AT THAT TIME THERE WERE FOUR MAJOR SERVICES IN THE ARMED FORCES – THE ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE, AND CONSTABULARY (NATIONAL POLICE). DURING THE TIME OF PRESIDENT CORY AQUINO, WE HAD TO SEPARATE THE NATIONAL POLICE AND PLACED IT UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
IDEA: How was MEN A different
from the Philippines?
FVR: What was lacking in the Middle East and North Africa is that the rebellious civilian movement – consisting mainly of students, nongovernment organizations (NGOs), academics, and workers – failed to bring a substantial component of the Armed Forces to their side. That happened in Libya; that is still going on in Syria. In the Philippine case, from the very beginning the rebellious military was very quickly joined by numerous civilian protesters and vice versa.
We were lucky in the sense that President Marcos in the beginning could have overcome us rebels easily. We were very inferior to the military power under his command. He had the tanks, helicopters, fighter planes, artillery, and Marines. We were just a bunch of officers who opposed the regime. Minister Enrile and I decided we should split the duties and management of the operations against Mr. Marcos. He would take care of the media, the political leaders, and civilian aspects of our withdrawal from Mr. Marcos. I would be responsible for running military operations. That’s how it happened.
So, how did we get the loyalty of the great majority of the 110,000 national policemen and another 120,000 from the Army, Navy, and Air Force? We are not a very big Armed Forces and National Police. We had learned to become good friends with most commanders from the time they were still junior officers. We got to know each other by first names, playing tennis and golf; doing scuba diving, road running, and other sports. And, of course, we performed military operations together. So, we developed strong camaraderie and esprit d’corps that was maintained and continued through the years.
Civilian authority over the AFP/PNP
OUR ARMED FORCES AND PNP HAD ALWAYS BEEN UNDER CIVILIAN AUTHORITY. DURING CORY AQUINO’S PRESIDENCY, WE INSTILLED VALUES OF THE “NEW ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES,” WHICH MEANT THAT THEY WOULD BE NON-POLITICAL AND NON-PARTISAN, AND WOULD PERFORM THEIR PROPER ROLE TO MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER, AND PROTECT PHILIPPINE SOVEREIGNTY. WE TRIED TO RECONCILE AND UNIFY ALL RANKS, NOT FOCUSING ON THE PAST BUT ON THE FUTURE, WITH THEIR LOYALTY GIVEN ONLY TO THE CONSTITUTION. ASSIGNMENTS WERE BASED ON MERIT AND COMPETENCE, NOT ON PERSONALITIES. WE DIDN’T DISTINGUISH BETWEEN WHO WERE PRO-MARCOS AND PRO-AQUINO IN THE AFP AND PNP. SAME WITH THE COAST GUARD LATER.
Among the “eminents” who provided insights, experiences and interviews for above-mentioned compendium on “Democracy” were:
•Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, President of Tunisia, 2011- 2014
•Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of Brazil, 1995-2003
• Ricardo Lagos, President of Chile, 2000-2006
• B.J. Habibie, President of Indonesia, 1998-1999
•Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico, 1994-2000
•Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland, 1995-2005
•Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, 1999-2008
•Felipe González, President of Spain, 1982-1996
Abangan nextweek–more about “Governance, Best Practices and Leadership.”
Please send any comments to fvr@rpdev.org.Copiesofarticlesareavailableatwww.rpdev.org.