“Today, if historians and analysts examine his performance without a yellow eye, Marcos Sr. will easily emerge as possibly the greatest Philippine president”
Tonight, Wednesday, October 5, the Manila Overseas Press Club resumes its traditional MOPC President’s Night with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr. as guest of honor and speaker.
The MOPC brought together for the occasion more than 400 media professionals and leaders of the largest companies in the country to listen to the president.
Founded in 1945 by foreign correspondents who came to Manila with General Douglas MacArthur, the MOPC is the oldest press club in Asia and the most prestigious press club in the Philippines. I am the current President and CEO of MOPC with Eric Canoy of RMN as President.
In his speech, which will likely last around 30 minutes or more, BBM is expected to address recent developments and issues, declare or reaffirm policies, point to future directions and rally his audience behind his presidency in his quest for a better life for the mostly. Filipinos and its ultimate outcome – that no more Filipinos will go hungry by the end of their term in 2028.
The MOPC audience is the largest ever gathered locally to hear the country’s Chief Executive since his inaugural address on June 30, 2022 and his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25, 2022.
Many elite MOPC tycoons are partners or potential partners in its program to modernize the economy.
Infra is the cornerstone of this program. Over the next five years, BBM has allocated 10,780,000,000,000,000 pesos for Build, Build, Build, the largest infrastructure spending ever in the history of this country.
The president may also want to discuss recent changes at his dynamic cabinet, including two major departures — that of attorney Vic Rodriguez as executive secretary and attorney Trixie Angeles as press secretary.
The two represent two crucial aspects of the palace’s operation – policy formulation and execution, in the case of Rodriguez, and communications, messaging and advocacy in the case of Trixie Angeles. In this regard, the lawyer Jose Calida also resigned yesterday as President of the Audit Commission.
The MOPC President’s Night comes at the most difficult times ever for any sitting CEO. There is unrest everywhere – in the decision-making boardrooms, in the foreign exchange markets, in the stock markets and on a number of strategic battlefronts.
Admittedly, Bongbong came to the presidency with the longest front-seat experience.
Young Marcos was just nine years old when his father and namesake, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, began his 20-year presidency on December 30, 1965. He has met more popes, more royalty and more world leaders than ever before. any Filipino.
I think the main character flaw of BBM is that the guy is too nice, too decent and too sane to dominate the vicious tumult of Filipino politics.
Meanwhile, today, if historians and analysts examine his performance without a yellow eye, Marcos Sr. will easily emerge as possibly the greatest Philippine president.
Elder Marcos declared the country’s first real program, broadened the democratic base with the regular election of up to 500,000 local village-level leaders, neutralized Muslim separatists and prevented communists from taking control of the country.
Above all, FM has given Filipinos a vision of life and that there is greatness in their past and in their future.
Of course, Marcos was weakened by a seemingly incurable disease, several oil crises and peso devaluations, the worst political assassination of all time, the rise of the military (blamed for the murder of Ninoy Aquino), infighting in the within its once rock-solid KBL monolith. by one party, and by a succession of American governments which did not take kindly to his reduction of the useful life of military bases from 99 to 25 years and the collection of annual rents.
Thus, the complete greatness that Marcos Sr aspired to was not to be realized in his lifetime. In this void between Marcos Jr.
President BBM the most popular president in the country. Probably, with his visionary and practical leadership, a cabinet rich in expertise and experience, and the right execution, he will be an excellent president.
Marcos Jr., 65, will do wonders as a leader despite the unprecedented challenges of global food and energy shortages, spiraling global inflation, war in Ukraine and fears of war in other places.
And despite walking under the enormous shadow of his late father, Marcos Sr., who had a 20-year reign, from December 30, 1965 to February 25, 1986, the longest of any president.
BBM garnered 31.629 million votes in the May 2022 presidential elections, two to six times the votes of previous winners for the presidency and more than double the votes of its closest rival, the now-lame duck Leni Robredo.
Marcos Jr. got 59% of the 53.8 million votes cast for president; only Marcos Sr. had a larger share, 61% when he was re-elected in 1969.
BBM won in 64 of the country’s 80 main provinces, in 15 of the 17 regions, in the mainland of Luzon, the largest island; in almost all of the 100 largest cities, including the 15 cities and the two cities of Metro Manila, the national capital.
BBM’s victory unified the northern and southern Philippines and consolidated its hold on the central part of the archipelago. There is no precedent for such an impressive tenure in the last 124 years of the Republic.
Today, there are only three opposition members in the House of Representatives, which has 311 members, and three in the Senate, which has 24 members.
The judiciary, of course, is generally favorable to the incumbent president.
There are very few things President Marcos Jr. cannot do.
“The son has also risen,” BBM said at its inauguration on June 30, 2022.
“You will not be disappointed,” he assured the nation of 114 million Filipinos. “So don’t be afraid.”
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