It’s all about Escudero: the future of the Philippines Posted by The Society of Honor on July 12, 2015 · 542 Comments

It has became strikingly clear to me how things fit together regarding the future of the Philippines. It’s all about Senator Escudero.

Now Senator Escudero inadvertently got us into this mess by supporting Jejomar Binay over Mar Roxas for the vice presidency in 2010. We know how that went. It fed the ambition of the most ambitious man in the country and put him one step from the position he is drooling to acquire. I say “inadvertently” because I give Senator Escudero the benefit of the doubt. I imagine he had no idea how pervasive and perverse was the corruption in Makati. He thought Binay’s “style” was just politicians doing what they do, influencing others.

Now we have the ambitious Binay aiming for the presidency by waging a powerful and wily campaign to rope in the votes from the laboring poor. He is positioning himself as their hero, as a “man who is like them”, against “those corrupt and incompetent people in government”. He is playing the sympathy card about as skillfully and maliciously as it can be played..

Well, we may want to turn our heads and be ill at all this, but that is the reality of the presidential run for 2016. It seems like the Philippines has no ethical or legal or even moral recourse to stop a crook and liar from ascending to the presidency. The stopping must be done at the ballot box.

Now let’s shift to President Aquino and the meeting he will apparently call soon involving Secretary Roxas and Senators Poe and Escudero.

There are two positions open for discussion, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. But there are three people in the room speaking with the President.

If we took Senator Escudero out of the picture, the solution is simple. Roxas for President and Poe for VP, where she can give Roxas a popular boost, gain experience and set herself up for the presidency in 2022.

That is easy. It is a relief. It solves the problem. The nation is in good hands for 12 more years.

But we are not talking about team players here.

So there is no relief. There is dysfunction and conflict and fighting. There is ego and greed and ambition. There is the all too traditional Filipino way . . .

Senator Escudero won’t take himself out of the picture. After all, he is a realist. He can’t make the presidency on his own. The polls show that with an exclamation point. So he needs some calculated stepping stones. One is to become Vice President under Poe, and then he can make the natural step into the presidency in 2022.

With that as our vision, we see how Poe is really just the vehicle for Escudero. Not a puppet, exactly, but she holds one of the stepping stones for Escudero. And it explains his presumptuous speaking on Poe’s behalf, giving the ever-panting lapdog journalists some nibbles to chew on.

Senator Poe appears unwilling to set Escudero aside because . . . well, frankly . . . she does not have the strength to do that. He is her friend and confidant. Her adviser and spokesman. Her path to the campaign money through Ongpin and other businessmen. She would be all alone. And she does not have the knowledge or the confidence to stand for herself. She is as green as green can be, toting about her Escudero security blanket.

Thus, ironically enough, she defines herself as not ready for the Presidency. The presidency is the loneliest job in the nation. It is the place where important decisions must be made. And they can be made only by one person. That person must have the strength to do what is right. Not popular.

Alone.

But we have Escudero in the Poe picture. Always Escudero.

Escudero, Escudero, Escudero.

He can’t encourage Poe to fly free, can’t give her the strength to stand for herself. That would be suicide for his own ambitions. He needs to keep himself in the picture. In Poe’s arms, as it were.

President Aquino understand the situation clearly, I am confident. He knows that Escudero is the problem here, but he is a friend of the family, too, so he will be treated well.

President Aquino knows that Secretary Roxas has earned his shot at the presidency. Through dedication and hard work and accomplishment and loyalty to the nation and its people . . . he has earned his shot. Poe on the Roxas ticket would take both Roxas and Poe to the win. For sure.

What is strange is that Senators Poe and Escudero can’t seem to see that. They don’t seem to care what Roxas has earned. He is just in the way.

The President also knows that a three-way race between Roxas, Poe and Binay opens the door to the worst case scenario, a split “good guy” ticket, and a Binay presidency. The straight path is ruined.

Alas, Roxas/Poe makes Escudero the odd man out, unless he is content with a major cabinet post and the presidency in . . . OMG . . . 2028.

Escudero . . . ego over nation . . . will not step aside.

This explains why he is making sure that Poe’s ambitions are pumped up, and her confidence in winning is sky-high, and they are on the front pages almost every day. It seems that Escudero is not a man who would concede for the best interest of the nation. Escudero is a political gamer.

So that is the predicament.

This is what will be discussed when the four meet.

Escudero (and Poe) will suggest that Roxas step aside and LP back Poe/Escudero.

The President will ask Escudero to step aside with LP supporting Roxas/Poe.

Could you ask Roxas to step aside, in favor of Escudero, essentially?

I could not, in good conscience.

I could not.

The decision for the nation is so very very simple. Roxas/Poe. You know it. I know it. Most of the neutral nation knows it.

If Escudero is not willing to step up for the Philippines by stepping out of the picture . . .

and if Poe does not have the strength of self to put Escudero into the background . . .

with the nation’s well-being at stake, a choice of going forward on the straight path or going backward in the worst way imaginable . . .

then that defines Poe and Escudero as unqualified for the presidency. It defines them as self-dealing opportunists, not committed to the most basic ideal of the straight path: that which is good for the nation is of highest importance.

Well we have integrity . . . going with the best man . . . and we have expediency . . . going with the most likely winner. Me, I choose integrity along with the determination to show the people why Roxas is the best, most capable, most experienced choice. If I were President facing the “Escudero predicament”, I’d opt for the three way race with the intention of beating both Poe and Binay with the only real patriot, real straight-path candidate, real competence among the three: Secretary Roxas. I’d not accept dismissing the earnest dedication and capability of Mar Roxas in favor of the expediency and self-dealing of Escudero. I’d not accept going with a weak, inexperienced novice like Poe as the only way to beat a crook.

And being highly competitive and willing to step outside the box, I’d run Leni Robredo for Vice President. She has talent and great popular appeal. Better than Poe’s perhaps, given some of the push-back we are starting to see against Poe for her indelicate speaking. Rep Robredo also dots the “i”s and crosses the “t”s for Roxas as a man of integrity, in a way no other person can.

Two things I know for sure.

Mr. Escudero is not the only game in town.

And Ms. Poe, in needing him so badly, is not yet ready.