Candidates for President (photos courtesy of votepilipinas.com website)
During this Holy Week, I was able to reflect on the present and the future and for reasons I can’t explain, this sense of patriotism came rushing in where it made me ask myself how can I help my fellow Filipinos elect the right national and local leaders now that the election is just around the corner (or in 3 weeks time). It would be presumptuous of me to think that Filipinos need help, but based on the last mid-term elections alone, there is no doubt in my mind that a lot of Filipino voters still need all the help that they can get particularly at this crucial time when choosing the right leaders is the right thing to do. Though I don’t often write of themes that are political or religious in this blog, I thought that since I have this platform where I can share my thoughts to my audience, why not use the same to help my countrymen, especially the new voters and the undecided, to vote smart in this coming Philippine election.
Just as what the title suggests, electing leaders is nothing different than hiring managers. Some may say that electing national and local officials in the executive and legislative branches of government is different than hiring managers in the corporate world, but it’s actually not that different. Shareholders elect the board of directors where the latter hire the executive and management staff of the corporation. Start thinking of the Philippines as a corporation, where each Filipino registered voter is a shareholder who can elect the board of directors and who eventually will hire people who will run the company. Every Filipino who is either employed (permanent or contractual) or self-employed can relate to this, not only from a taxpayer perspective (where you effectively pay the salaries of these public servants that you’ll be electing) but also from a selection and hiring standpoint where you will probably want to hire only the best for your team.
I’ve been a manager (who select and hire people) for so long that I already acquired the knack for getting the best person for the job, for building the best team for the project. That’s why the best way for me to choose and vote for the right candidates is to tap on my experience as a manager, which is what I want to share in this article. I know that not all of you are managers or have experienced hiring people, but it is during these rare occasions where you can actually play the role of a manager who select and hire people. You can look at it as reversal of roles, where now the tables have been turned where politicians, new and old, will come to you applying for various roles in the company called the Philippines (from as high as the presidency down to the town councilor level). Isn’t it fun that for a change, their fate is in your own hands, where you will be able to participate in a process of selecting and hiring the next managers for the Philippines?
So how do you go about the selection and hiring process? Let me start with what my Finance professors have taught me both in my undergraduate and graduate studies: the main purpose of any corporation is to “maximize shareholders’ wealth.” If Philippines is a corporation, each Filipino is the shareholder. Hiring managers for the Philippines means that we select managers that will have to work hard in maximizing our wealth. You can look at wealth literally and figuratively. Wealth here can be literally viewed as GDP per capita, or can be figuratively viewed as satisfaction index, where each Filipino is satisfied with managers (government) ability to respect his/her rights, provide adequate social security, basic services (ie health services) that can be considered world class, justice system that is equal to those who have and have not, and overall well-being in a safe and fair environment, among others. Just like any corporation, managers will have to abide with code of conduct and be held accountable not only in meeting the goals that we have set for them but also for any policy breach and misconduct (where the concept of impunity does not exist) that in any instance of a scandal, they will do the most honorable thing to do, commit harakiri (kidding, that may be too much, resigning will do).
Candidates for Vice-President (photos courtesy of votepilipinas.com website)
Quite a tall order, right? But this is the beauty of role play, you can actually make it happen and it’s made possible by a democratic exercise where you can actually participate if you go out and vote. You can actually hire the next managers of the Philippines. But before that, you have to screen the candidates and schedule them for an interview or two. Screening candidates is an important step coz this is the part where you look at information that the candidates present to you in different shape or form thru different platforms. In the corporate world, this is when candidates submit their CVs/resume. Some may gloss over their CVs and make it appear more than what it is. This is true also for political candidates, particularly in this day and age where misinformation and disinformation are so rampant where social media is the media of choice for the same. How I wish candidates are required to submit their official CVs (though there is some semblance of the candidates CVs in votepilipinas.com website, not sure though if these are submitted by the candidates themselves) not only as the voters main source of information about the candidates but also to make it easier for fact-checkers to validate the information presented on behalf of the voters. In the absence of a main source of candidate information, voters are now overwhelmed with mostly unverified information, either half-truths (leaving out important details that will negate the narrative presented), hybrid (fact and fake woven together and presented as the “truth”), or purely and absolutely BS (pardon my French), where all have made troll farming a lucrative industry.
The best way to screen the candidates is to check the source of the information. If your information are mainly coming from social media (Facebook and Youtube particularly), then expect that most of that are likely candidates’ propaganda. I suspect you’re probably brainwashed by now by certain candidates, but I would encourage you to take a second look at these candidates and look for their information from credible sources. Personally, I would rely on either standard journalism such as national broadsheet, where there’s an editorial team that maintains the journalistic integrity of the information presented, or investigative journalism, which takes an investigative turn to thresh out the truth and add more color to issues and personalities involved (such as the candidates themselves). Some would say that national broadsheet can be biased, which can be true, but then again, being biased doesn’t mean not being truthful. It just mean that the presentation of information is not balanced. But between broadsheet and Facebook/Youtube, it’s a no brainer, right?
After you have gathered information on the candidates, it’s time now to interview them. But you can’t directly interview them, so what do you do? This is where journalistic interviews and COMELEC debates come in. These are done on behalf of the voters, knowing fully well each of us cannot interview the candidates directly, so questions are raised on our behalf (either by the host/interviewer or by the candidates themselves during debates) thru these fora. Thru these interviews and debates, we gain more insights on the candidates, same as when we interview candidates in the corporate world where we get to know the candidates better, where they expound further on what they have presented in their CVs. This is where you’ll know whether the candidate has oversold himself/herself, where he/she only looks good in paper but leave much to be desired for, for the role that you are trying to fill in. Similarly for political candidates, this is their opportunity to expound on their experience (or lack thereof) and background, their stand on certain issues, and more importantly, their vision and platform of governance (I consciously used “governance” instead of “government”), and how they can “maximize shareholders’ wealth.”
Same with screening candidate information, you also have to be cognizant of the interviews being conducted with the candidates. Take note that not all interviews are the same. Some are done independently without the candidate controlling the narrative (ie journalistic interviews of award-winning journalist Jessica Soho) and the rest are either controlled by the candidates or set up by the candidates themselves. These are the interviews that you need to be wary about, as these are effectively candidates propaganda where they will try to (and successfully at that) oversell themselves, where at the end of the day they only look good in paper but leave much to be desired for, for the role that we Filipinos are trying to fill in. That’s why being present in these independent interviews and COMELEC debates is a given, coz would you hire someone who didn’t show up in his/her interview?
Total number of registered Filipino “shareholders” (photo courtesy of votepilipinas.com website)
Remember also that character matters. That’s why in our CVs, we would either put some character references or indicate that the same will be provided upon request. This is the candidate’s willingness to vet his character, that it is beyond reproach. I know most of you would prepare for this cringe-worthy interview question “Why did you leave your previous job?.” That is mostly to get insight on what motivates or demotivates you, which is partly a reflection of your character. If we have put so much importance even on reasons why we left our old jobs, shouldn’t we also put our political candidates at the same or higher moral and character standards, knowing now that hiring the next managers of Philippines is a matter of life and death (so many lives lost due to mismanagement)? It’s paramount to see and hear how political candidates address moral and character related questions and concerns, to complete our informed choice and decision. We need to be aware of any moral and character red flags, whether our potential managers will lie to us (don’t you hate it when management lies to you?) based on their past and present behaviors, if we are hiring an incorrigible liar who doesn’t have the concept of the truth anymore coz he/she believes in his/her own web of lies as the truth (have you seen The Tinder Swindler on Netflix?), which is the most vile among the negatives in a candidate.
It seems to be a daunting task (to screen and “interview” candidates) that sometimes it would be easy to just go with what you knew already. That’s fine too, as long as what you know are actual facts and not because you have been bombarded with information that you don’t know now how to distinguish which ones are actual truths and which ones are not. It’s uber important to discern which candidate is misrepresenting his or her self, and which one is true to oneself and others. It’s imperative that you only hire the next managers of Philippines that are good fit (not perfect, but good fit) as this will determine our and our children’s future, so you’re not only doing this (selection and hiring) for yourself but for the generations to come. Your action (or inaction) will seal the fate of this corporation, whether we all crash and burn or we finally realized our much deserved “wealth”.
Happy Easter everyone. A perfect occasion to celebrate our rebirth as people. We will know whether this celebration will bear fruit (or eggs) based on how we vote in this coming election.
Happy Hunting! (photo courtesy of papercitymag.com website)
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