Philippine President’s of my Generation

President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos
1965-1986

Since I was born in the 60’s I will start with President Ferdinand E. Marcos the 10^th President of the Philippines, His popularity started when he topped the Bar exam despite the fact that he was in jail and does not have time for a formal review, his score of almost 100% was questioned by the supreme court and was asked him for an oral reexamination which he passed convincingly, and his first legal appearance is by defending himself and got an acquittal for the Nalundasan case, afterwards he became the Senate President and was pitted against former President Diosdado Macapagal, after winning the Presidency, Marcos showed brilliance in his speeches by doing it impromptu (without a prepared Speech) and yet the substance of his speech continue to inspire Filipino’s even if it took more than an hour, I remember in one AFP day when he was the guest speaker his speech almost took two hours and some soldiers on the line are collapsing one by one since his speech took almost 2 hours, but everybody can digest his speech, inspiring everybody of his vision for the country, He showed leadership when he solve the looming drug crisis that are about to start by carrying out the stiffest penalties to the convicted Drug pusher, He declared Martial law in 1972 to control Social unrest, establish the OPSF (Oil Price Stabilization Fund) to cushion the impact of any abnormal Oil price in the world Market, in the advent of Nuclear Power he started the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in anticipation of the countries power requirement in the future, when faced by a food shortage, He started the Green Revolution to combat the world food shortage which is so successful because of our countries vast agricultural land, In addressing the Shelter Issue then First lady Imelda Marcos was designated Minister of Human settlements which created Bliss projects all over the country, the peso then is about 7.50-7.80 Php to $1 US dollar the economy is good that a family’s requirement to survive is at least one job for every household of 4, the Philippines was then second to Japan in Asia in terms of economy. But all of these started to disintegrate when he become sick despite their effort to hide this in the public, some of his cronies started to abuse their power that resulted to social unrest, and demand for him to step down was even supported by US, which forces him to call a snap election fitting him against Cory Aquino that resulted to more problems, when more Filipino’s refused to accept the outcome of the election, and decided to bring their cause to the street backed by the most influential Cardinal Sin of Manila, his appeal on the radio to go to the street and support the Coup d etat of then Defense Secretary Enrile and Constabulary Chief Fidel Ramos was crucial, because at the time it was a novelty for the people to hear a Cardinal appealing for support to a mutineer, when he was a former family friend of the Marcos, this event divide the Military and Police and put the Philippines in a very dangerous situation any wrong move from both side could result in a civil war and more Filipino death’s, but Marcos, despite very ill at the time exercise his usual foresight and decided to make a supreme sacrifice for the safety of his countryman and decided to yield power, that paved the way for the assumption of Corazon Aquino.

President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino
1986-1992

Corazon Aquino the beneficiary of the People Power 1 was the first woman President of the Philippines, while her assumption to power was widely accepted by most Filipino’s hoping for a change, was itself not a smooth sailing she faced a numerous Coup attempt that endanger her Presidency lucky for Her, then Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos stick by her and quelled all future attempt to grab power, the centerpiece of her administration was the CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program), as it name suggest almost all vast landholdings was distributed to the farmer tenants except the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac which everybody knows is the property of the Cojuangco and Aquino family, This placed her leadership under question, Her decision to decommission the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant only because this a Marcos Project was fatal to the economy as this resulted in a massive brownouts all over the country, her lack of experience to assume the presidency drag the country backwards, upon her assumption prices of commodities multiplied 400 times I remember a laundry soap which cost only 1 peso before immediately rose to 4-5 pesos, the dollar took his lowest dive then from 7.8 to $1 it became 25 to $1 overnight, despite standardizing the salaries of government employees apparently to gain their support, life became more difficult to ordinary citizen, Her effort to track Marcos Hidden wealth is also a failure, as all the sequestered properties end up useless and white elephant apparently because of lack of Idea on what to do about the properties. Luckily for the Filipino’s the Cory constitution stipulates that a fixed term of six years for a president and no reelection assured a smooth transition to the next President, Fidel V. Ramos.

President Fidel Valdez Ramos
1992-1998

President Fidel V. Ramos was the first President of a multi-party system, when he ran for the Presidency there are lot of candidate to choose, the First time in the Philippine history, that is why despite the fact that he only gain a fraction of the Filipino vote under protest by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, President Ramos became the 12^th President of the Philippines, his assumption to office was timely as he managed to solve the power crises left by the Cory administration, his strong foreign policy was widely accepted by the world, that the economy started to move upward and Philippines are starting to become a tiger economy, but he is not free from controversy. he was accused of some shady deal like accelerating power supply contracts without a bidding, the PEA Amari and others, but these charges are not proven to date, During his leadership he knows that his Vice President Joseph E. Estrada is a strong possibility as his successor, since he want to start a legacy of former Chief of Staff to become President just like him, apparently to gain influence in the next leadership, He tried to test the qualities of his Vice President by appointing him as PAOCTF (Presidential Anti Organized Crime Task Force), apparently anticipating failure from his VP, because then this Crime syndicate's is the menace to society, but this proved to be a blunder as Erap took the best Police officers that could help him in this task, their string of success against organized crime syndicates was noticed by the citizens and gave the credit to Erap, so when he ran for the Presidency in 1998 President Joseph E. Estrada won in landslide manner.

President Joseph Ejercito Estrada
1998-2001

President Joseph E. Estrada the 13^th President. If Marcos was the longest President to hold office Estrada is one of the shortest to hold the office of the President. His campaign promise of “walang kaibigan walang kamaganak, walang kumpare” was widely accepted by the Filipino’s, that resulted with the highest vote in the Philippine Election (11 Million). His no nonsense approach to insurgency resulted in the capture of Camp Abubakhar, for the first time in the Military history Philippine Soldiers was able to set foot to a well entrenched training camp of the MILF,  but his leadership took a dive when he stated his war over the media, with most media entity against his leadership, his leadership was in a precarious situation, this was aggravated when he started to investigate shady deals of his predecessors, instead of unearthing shady deals he himself was accused of a Jueteng scandal and Plunder, and a railroaded impeachment complaint that paved the way for the 2nd People Power which accelerated the Presidential ambition of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
2001-2010

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo the 14^th President of the Philippines, next to Marcos Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is the longest to serve as President of the Philippines with more than 10 years Her workaholic attitude was widely accepted not only in the Philippines but even in other countries her fiscal reforms and strong economic policies place the Philippines in the right track of Industrialized countries. She showed that she mean to hold on to power when he quelled a Labor day protest that almost oust her, this protest actions hurt a lot of people from both side when she ordered to break the protesters line apparently to avoid a much bigger crowd which started to grow every minute. Her no nonsense policies against government institutions ineffectiveness her surprise visit to this offices to show her commitment of a good governance earn accolade from the majority of the Filipino’s but power it seems became dangerous when the holder cling to it longer despite a promise of doing everything for the country and not interested in reelection, apparently to appease her growing detractors, but come 2004 she broke her announcement and ran for reelection which she won under protest from the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.  (To date was announced the real winner). Her second term was marred by controversies from the First Gentleman that affected the popularity of her leadership despite this controversies and accusations her workaholic attitude and strong Fiscal policies did wonders for the country, One of the good project of her leadership is the RORO (Roll on Roll Off) which ease the farmers burden of bringing their farm inputs to the market and literally linking all islands in the country together. Her leadership was put to the test with the Magdalo Group’s expose of corruption in the Military and in the Government and again when she declare the country under a state of emergency, under her leadership the most gruesome massacre of journalist in history happens the Ampatuan Massacre which killed a political convoy and hordes of journalist’s and in an attempt to cover up the crime, the perpetrators bury the dead by a backhoe. But to her credit she went on to automate the next election apparently to avoid cheating and later on protest that stalled and divide the country every election, which paved the way for President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III whose only credential is being a son of the former President and a last minute endorsement from Senator Mar Roxas after the death of former President Cory Aquino.

President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino
2010-Present

President Benigno C. Aquino III  the 15^th President of the Philippines and if her mother was the First woman President He also became the first Bachelor President of the Philippines His battle cry of Kapag Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap was bitted by the voters wanting a change from an overdue leadership of the past President during those time running against the administration is a sure way to win as on the contrary to run as administration candidate is a sure way to end your political career. This phenomena proved to be beneficial to Noynoy (the Presidents nickname) despite a lackluster accomplishment in the congress and later on in the Senate the voters voted blindly for him hoping for his “Tuwid na Daan” to date the present President is a subject of criticism in both the media and social media, lucky for him he has his own media ally, like the influential broadsheet and some of the TV  network who only aired friendly news for the administration, His leadership is now a subject of ridicule for being insensitive to his constituent for example in addressing the power crisis in Mindanao his solution is just to raise the electric bill in that area, under His administration the price of fuel in the Philippines went higher due to world oil crisis, despite appeals from the masses whom he termed “Kayo ang Boss ko!” he refused to lift the EVAT (Expanded Value Added Tax) on oil products that will probably ease the burden of most Filipinos, in the latest impeachment of Chief Justice Corona He was again accused of getting back at Corona for the court’s decision against Hacienda Luisita, barely two years in  power a growing demand for him to step down is increasing especially in the social media wherein post’s are more personal and unedited I hope our legislator’s can craft a law that will regulate even social media as this can ruin a person and if that person is the President then the country where he leads also get ruined.