We are talking here of heroes in the field and on paper, both Ilocanos like me – Ferdinand Edralin Marcos (FM) from Ilocos Norte was a Hero on Paper and Fidel Valdez Ramos (FVR) from Pangasinan was a Hero in the Field. Now, FM was a good President, but ambition got the better of him; FVR was a good President too, but ambition failed him. (image from YouTube.com)
FM held on to his
ambition of power;
FVR could have en-Visioned a New Philippines: like Nasyon nga Naraniag ken Umili nga Naragsak (Bright Country and Happy People).
FM had the first in his plan; he stopped short of the second. He may have been thinking
outside himself and his family, but not thinking of Filipinos achieving for
themselves.
And elsewhere, I
myself was only thinking of my Ilocano family!
So, as a form of
saying goodbye to my townmate President, who died yesterday, July 31, I have
written this article, declaring:
Mr Ramos, you could have done more and better after Mr
Marcos!
I’m talking now of
Visionary Leadership.
What the
Philippines needs today is a Blueprint
for Archipelagic Development (BAD). (BAD would have been good for FM.)
If I have learned anything from former PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, who played the unmatchable
& stellar role as Director General
who brought the nternational Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) from last place
to first place in the achievement list of members of the international CGIAR
Group, it’s this:
· You need Vision
(institutional ambition)
· Your Mission
will bring you to the achievement of that Vision.
· Your Vision & Mission will bring you to
your desired Destination.
So!
What Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr
needs to do is demand that his Secretary of Agriculture come up with a
blueprint for a New Philippine
Agriculture – Agrikulturang Pataba
ng Pilipinas! (Agpataba!)
Fertilize the soul of this country, not simply the soil!
Of course, you
will need a new and experienced and determined and visionary Secretary of
Agriculture to do that: my candidate is “old” William
Dar, from Ilocos Sur. BBM, of course you know him – Dar was the one whom
you unceremoniously replaced when you became PH President. Please correct your
mistake now!
What did Mr Dar
say then?
"Ang legacy
po natin ay may direksyon ang sektor ng agrikultura (Our legacy is that the
agriculture sector has direction), ‘yung (the) thinking, it led to a new food
security development framework. There was the global summit of the food systems
approach so we made our own version of that, sinama na natin ito lahat sa (we
rolled everything into the) OneDA Reform
Agenda. That's a legacy. We have a direction for the future. It will be
the solid foundations of the sector."
What my townmate
and PH President FVR had not seen, and what current President BBM
has not grasped, is that the Philippines needs an enriching mind managing
the whole agriculture of the nation. Total agriculture!@517
