Mr Comelec, What You Want As The Next President Is A Wo/Man With A Voice, Not Vision; A Wo/Man With A Mouth, Not Mission. Our PH Needs A Servant Leader Running It, Not Ruining It!

As a retired teacher but daily practitioner of critical & creative thinking, I see that Mr Comelec wants our next President to be Quite Argumentative, Not Quite Administrative. Pity my beloved country, my Philippines!
(Images: Debate, from iStock, istockphoto.com, Leadership, from PA Times, patimes.org)

I am reading Danica Fernandez’ news report “Poll Exec To Congress: Pass Law Requiring Presidential Debate, Penalizing Skippers” (31 March 2022, Inquirer, Inquirer.net):

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia appealed to Congress on Thursday to come up with a new law mandating presidential debates and penalizing those who will refuse to attend the event.

With Mr Garcia wanting a “Comelec Debates Law,” the Comelec effectively declares that the most outstanding qualification of a Presidentiable is a debating prowess, the fellow being a critical thinker who is good at discerning the pros and cons of any proposed national policy, program or project.

Thereby, the Comelec is looking for a President who can knock down any opposition to any presidential policy at any time. Quite dangerous! The thing is, the President is supposed to serve the interests of the people, not his own.

The Comelec should be but is not looking for a President who can see the future in terms of a National Vision, Mission & Strategy that s/he masterminds and helps create a Roadmap for. Horrors! The Comelec is looking for a Dignified Debater as President, not a Visionary Vanguard!

I am not a manager myself; I have not attended a single seminar held by the Asian Institute of Management, but I have been observing since 2007 a Filipino who has proven himself to be a Servant Leader – whom I believe the Philippine President should be.

He is Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. No, he is not running for any elective office. No, he does not know I’m doing this; I am citing him as a Visionary Leader.

Mr Dar was Director General (DG) of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) based in India for 15 years. As Servant Leader DG, he successfully managed ICRISAT to rise from dead last to #1 among the 15 international agricultural research centers under the CGIAR, which include Los Baños-based IRRI!

His Vision for ICRISAT was: “Science with a human face.” You cannot lead an institution, much less a country, successfully, without Vision. How can your people follow your leadership without proclaiming where you want your country to go?

Considering the Climate Crisis, the Vision for the Philippines by the President should be: “Science with a Filipino face.” Science must serve the interests of Filipinos, and the best President should already have expressed those interests when s/he was still a presidentiable.

Instead of a “Comelec Debates Law,” the Comelec should be sponsoring “Vision Seminars,” each Presidentiable presenting his/her Program of Government, from Vision to Mission to Strategies, including the necessary people participation. To Good be the glory!@517