#Election2022: Who Will You Hire?

#WhoWillUHire (photos courtesy of rappler.com and cnnphilippines.com)

So last weekend, around the same time that I published my article entitled “#Election2022: Hiring The Next Philippine Managers” (where I talked about choosing political candidates is like hiring managers in the corporate world, by looking at the country as a corporation and us registered Filipino voters as shareholders that should only hire the best management team), three (3) candidates for the presidency held a presscon that ended up backfiring, not only because it took time away from the families of the media people who attended the same on an Easter Sunday (without any new pronouncements), but because people who watched and listened got more confused (in not so many words, they talked about the pre-election survey where they said that the No.2 should slide down and give way to them who are trailing because they have the best chance to beat the No.1, to the point that one candidate even called on the No.2 to withdraw and later another candidate in the same presscon criticized the same survey as something that should be taken with a grain of salt). I was like, “Huh?” The logic goes beyond me that at the back of my mind, I was like “Which alternate universe do these candidates come from?” One candidate (let’s call him survey No.3) even referred the candidates as basketball players who can “sub” (substitute) a player on the court, where he wants to sub No.2. I’m not an avid basketball fan, but if you ask any basketball coach, would you substitute your No. 2 player on the court with say benchwarmers at crunch time? In the corporate world, it’s like one contractual employee asking another contractual employee who is performing better to slide down or be substituted because the former believes that he has the best chance at getting a permanent position. So the presscon ended up with 3 candidates ganging up on one candidate (survey No.2 instead of No.1) and later went their separate ways, even blaming the media for the fiasco. To me it was like kwentong barbero (barbershop talk that should have been confined within the four corners of the barbershop) that was brought and elevated in a posh Makati City hotel (which expense should have been spent instead on the victims of the recent typhoon that hit the country). The upside of this is that now I can exclude 3 candidates from my shortlist of potential managers to hire. With the way they demonstrated and represented themselves in the same event, I wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole. Take note readers that the “interview” process in selecting and hiring the next managers for the Philippines does not only cover how they perform during formal televised interviews and debates, but also how they behave (including their pronouncements) in events such as rallies and presscons. Surely these 3 candidates do not fit within our “corporate” values.

You may be wondering who I will hire among the current crop of candidates. I will share my own personal choice (and I hope people will respect that) with notes on why I’m hiring these candidates. This is based on the information presented by the candidates (similar to a CV that a candidate submits in the corporate world which is screened and shortlisted) such as those found in votepilipinas.com, the “interview” process ie televised interviews and debates, how they behave in public, thought process/logic (or the lack thereof) and words/language during ambush interviews, etc. and what I already know about the candidates from credible sources (not from the rampant misinformation and disinformation particularly in social media where constant exposure would surely result to being brainwashed by the same).

For the position of President, I will hire Leni Robredo. The current Vice President is already an understudy, and as a senior manager in the corporate world who has years of experience selecting and hiring people, I would normally go with promoting people within the team (even if the internal candidate wasn’t the best during interviews) because I would rely on what I already know about the candidate (working with the internal candidate for years would already give me an insight whether the same is ready for a bigger role or if not ready now, how can I help get the candidate ready in the next few months). Leni didn’t only perform well in all her “interviews” but her track record comes with “receipts.” She is also competing as an underdog (I have a conscious bias and soft heart for underdogs) given that she is the most vilified among the candidates in social media (also in that presscon where she’s the one being referred to as survey No.2), the candidate who is the subject of most of the negative misinformation and disinformation in the last 6 years. I remember during the wake of my Mom last September, where an aunt asked me who is my choice for President and I told her that if Leni runs, I will vote for her. Then she asked “Tuod bala nga ma-ngo kuno sya?” (How true that she is apparently dumb?). I responded confidently “No, she’s not.” That’s the time I realized how deep the negative misinformation and disinformation have settled into the consciousness of the Filipino people (similar to how the Big Lie was perpetuated and brainwashed the American subconscious). A rebuttal from me may have decimated whatever negative attribution to Leni, particularly coming from a smart and accomplished nephew (modesty aside) who can’t be easily swayed by just any information (I always check whether the information is credible or not, whether it makes sense or not). Then the conversation drifted to meeting Leni in a wedding (where she is a friend of a relative) but that’s not the reason why I’m hiring her. Just to give you readers a balanced view, the current survey No.1 joined us in the church service during the interment of a cousin (which should count for something given that it was by and large a private family affair and with him being there speaks volumes, particularly when I saw his Mom stayed inside the church and stood and waited beside the casket when everyone else already went out of the church, waiting for it to be carried out and into the service car), where I caught him staring at me from the other side of the aisle, maybe wondering whether I’m one of those relatives of the beloved departed living abroad whom he should approach and extend his condolences.

But what made Leni my choice is more on character. As I mentioned in my previous article, character matters. I see in her a genuine love for the country and for its people, and the fear of God. She is not someone who would oversell herself, much more misrepresent herself. That’s her comparative advantage over the other candidates. I put premium on humility and honesty, and I believe she is the most truthful and trustworthy among the candidates. As I also mentioned in my previous article, we need to unmask any Tinder Swindler (the number 1 Netflix documentary show worldwide right now that presented an incorrigible liar who created this web of lies and passed it on as the truth, lure the unsuspecting victims into the trap and eventually defrauding them with their money) or what I will call Twindlers lurking among our candidates. I’m definitely sure Leni is not a Twindler.

For Vice-President, I will hire Kiko Pangilinan. If I have to hire an understudy for Leni, then it’s no brainer that I have to choose as well her VP choice. This is similar in the corporate world’s succession planning. I have to hire someone who can work well with his/her direct manager and the same principle applies when choosing among political candidates for this position. I want someone who can be groomed to fill in the Presidency in case of “attrition”. That’s essentially what the Vice-President position is all about.

Kiko also had me when during the Pampanga rally, the farmers in the audience went up the stage and raised his hands. This is a far cry from political traditions where incumbent politicians endorse candidates by raising their hands. It was a shining moment rarely seen in this day and age that actually brought tears to my eyes. Like Leni, Kiko is a compassionate candidate, full of heart and a genuine love for God and country and its people, particularly the farmers (he is one of them). Again, character matters and I haven’t seen Kiko either oversell or misrepresent himself. I don’t see him as a Twindler either.

For the Senate, just like how I built my current and past teams, I would get a good mix of backgrounds to have a balanced team. Just because I am in Finance doesn’t mean that I will only hire Finance candidates. Having a gaggle of accountants would be boring, right? So I would normally mix it up with various backgrounds such as management engineering, applied math, and computer science, among others. Like this one candidate (a fresh graduate), during the interview I asked him how well verse he is with accounting (given that he is not an accounting graduate), he said he is just ok. So I gave him a sample transaction and how he will book the same (debit/credit). He failed miserably but I still ended up hiring him. There’s something in him that I thought would enhance my team mix and true to form, he ended up one of my team’s high potentials.

Similarly, to have a good and balanced mix in the Senate, I would group candidates that I will hire into three (3) categories: The Experienced Ones, The New But Not So New Ones, and The Wild Cards. The Experienced Ones are either current or former Senators who have proven themselves either as good legislators or fiscalizers (and to some degree investigators). The New But Not So New Ones are candidates that may not have Senate experience but have done related functions, have good to excellent backgrounds that once hired, they can bring something fresh to the table, a new set of eyes that could bring back the glory days of Senate of yore. The Wild Cards are those who come from other fields of expertise that would complement the legislative, fiscal, as well as investigative function of the Senate. These candidates are similar to the one I mentioned earlier, where even without much accounting background, I still hired him as a wild card where he ended up doing very well in my team.

I have selected six (6) for The Experienced Ones, three (3) for The New But Not So New Ones, and three (3) for The Wild Cards.

The Experienced Ones

Candidate 18 Leila De Lima

Candidate 25 Chiz Escudero

Candidate 31 Dick Gordon

Candidate 34 Risa Hontiveros

Candidate 58 Antonio Trillanes

Candidate 64 Migz Zubiri

The New But Not So New Ones

Candidate 4 Teddy Baguilat

Candidate 16 Neri Colmenares

Candidate 57 Gibo Teodoro

The Wild Cards

Candidate 21 Chel Diokno

Candidate 26 Luke Espiritu

Candidate 38 Alex Lacson

The Experienced Ones (photo courtesy of votepilipinas.com)

I won’t elaborate more on each candidate as it will take up more space but have some few notes. De Lima is one of the best legal minds of her generation while Escudero is one of the best speakers I’ve seen in a while (which is an important skill when you’re on the Senate floor). I have this admiration for Gordon when he was still the mayor of Olongapo City (at that time, I was hoping he would run for President, he later did but it was long after when such admiration has dissipated) and would hire him as fiscalizer along with Trillanes. Hontiveros exposes have thresh out evils in our society, such as the pastillas scheme where our country’s dignity (and safety during the pandemic) was being sold for a measly 10,000 pesos (about $200) to facilitate illegal entry of foreigners, some with shady backgrounds. Zubiri claims to be a student of Manang Miriam in the Senate, so I’ll give him that and will hire him. I don’t think anyone is a Twindler, so this partial list of hires is good to me.

Baguilat is an Igorot (a local tribesman) and hiring him would be good for diversity and inclusivity. Colmenares is an advocate for human rights and plight of the poor and had fought abuses of past and present governments, so he will be a good equalizer. Teodoro is a statesman (Manang Miriam admires him) and he is applying for Senator to revive Miriam’s legacy in the Senate. He is one candidate I’m so looking forward to hire and see how he can bring back the glory days of Senate of yore.

The New But Not So New Ones (photo courtesy of votepilipinas.com)

For the wild cards, Diokno is a human rights and justice advocate just like his father (who is known as the “Father of Human Rights Advocacy in the Philippines” and founder of Free Legal Assistance Group where the son is currently the chairman). Espiritu had me at #WagKangBastos (Don’t Be Rude) during one of the televised debates that went viral where he put a rude and brutish candidate in his place (again, these are the types of candidate that you shouldn’t even consider shortlisting). It would be interesting to see how he will do as a Senator. Lacson (not the incumbent) is an advocate for radical reforms, so he could stir up some intellectual debates in the Senate which we have been longing for since the passing of Manang Miriam. For both the new ones and the wild cards, I believe none of them are Twindlers.

The Wild Cards (photo courtesy of votepilipinas.com)

So who will you hire, dear readers? Whoever you’ll be shortlisting and hire, always remember that you are hiring for a corporation called the Philippines, where the potential managers should work hard to achieve every corporation’s purpose of “maximizing shareholders wealth.” As shareholders, it is our obligation to hire smartly, to make these potential managers accountable for meeting the goals set for them (ie what they pledged to deliver if we hire them) and to do the honorable thing when they don’t meet those goals. It’s time that we collectively change how we view elections, that each one is an opportunity to change and improve for the better, an opportunity to choose better managers (and let go of bad ones and bad choices), and a very serious exercise that will determine the fate of our country and our people. We may not agree on our choices on whom to hire, but we should all agree to vote smartly.

For the love of God and country, please go out and vote and beware of Twindlers among the candidates. Seek guidance and enlightenment for this very important decision that you’ll be making when you go out and vote on May 9.

Beware of Tinder Swindler (or Twindlers) among the candidates (photos courtesy of netflix.com)

Note: If you have registered as a voter, you can now confirm your precinct thru voterverifier.comelec.gov.ph. It will show your status (active or not) and your assigned polling place and precinct number. Once you have your own list of hires, you’re all set to vote.

#Election2022: Hiring The Next Philippine Managers

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)