Iq and Governance in The Philippines

Is the IQ of a Philippine president directly related to the overall growth and development of the country, its people and its natural resources? Stated in another way, is the intellectual capacity of a national leader a guarantee of her/his country’s success during her/his term of office?  These are questions worth considering as the Philippine electorate prepares itself to choose a new leader come May 2010.

For Filipinos born during the Marcos era, direct experiences regarding Philippine politics would date only from the late 1960’s to the present.  That would mean five out of fourteen Presidents.  It is a limited experience but spanning four decades.  No thanks to Marcos’ two-decade rule which was highlighted by the institutionalization of corruption in government.  Filipinos who’ve lived before the Marcos era attest that before Marcos, a number of politicians, imperfect persons that they were, had sufficient moral standards that enabled them to value service and integrity, coupled with an electorate that looked for those values in their government leaders.  Apparently, things were better before Marcos’ time.  One thing that proves this is the country’s economic status during that time:  the immediate post-World War II Philippines was far better than Japan and Korea.  Twenty years later, the reverse took place.  Why?  Countless studies have shown that corruption in the Philippines, or in any country for that matter, is very costly.  For example, a hospital bed that costs Php20,000 each could end up costing a staggering Php200,000, all because several government officials would have to benefit from the overpriced commodity through under-the-table arrangements, a.k.a. bribe.  Marcos and his wife, Imelda, were stalwarts in this practice.  They’re experts in that.  Imelda was even branded by the Western press as “Miss 10%” because it was rumored that for every loan that was approved in favor of the Philippine government, Madam Marcos gets 10%.  So, a loan of US$100 million would make her gain US$10 million. Wow! Easy money. Tax-free at that.  Well, that’s institutionalized corruption, as some political experts called it.

Now, how does IQ come into the picture?  I was born during the Marcos regime, so, my comment will focus only on the last five Philippine Presidents.  It was widely known and acknowledged that Marcos was a genius, very intelligent.  No doubt about that.  He intelligently divested the country of its riches and channeled it to his Swiss bank account.  As he enriched himself and his family, the country got deeply mired in poverty aided by an enormous foreign debt such that those who have yet to be born are already indebted to the World Bank-IMF.  So, a genius led the country but, to no avail.  Next came the Saint of Democracy, the much-revered-after-her-death Corazon Aquino.  Educated in the US, perpetually living under her famous husband’s shadow, until she was thrust into the limelight and catapulted to the highest office via the miracle that was known as People Power.  Several coup attempts and the slump in the Asian economy blew her government’s attempt to make an economic take-off after twenty years of dictatorial rule.  Cory wasn’t dumb; but, still, the Philippines lagged behind its neighbors economically.  Then came the tobacco-smoking West Point graduate, Fidel V. Ramos.  The economy stabilized during his watch but then, the average Filipino’s earning and spending capacities did not improve much.  After Ramos, the school-dropout, action-movie hero, Joseph Estrada, rose to power via a victory whose margin was reportedly the largest ever by any elected President in Philippine history. Wow! Filipinos pinned their hopes on him.  The intellectually average President could do wonders which none of his highly intelligent predecesors have done.  Well, he did achieve something before he was booted out of office — amass great wealth for which he was later charged with plunder.  Now, the beneficiary of EDSA 2, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, became the 14th Philippine President.  Initially, she was fine, having an aura of simplicity as a person and as a leader.  Sadly, things turned for the worse as the male equivalent of Imelda Marcos, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, started “collecting favors” from contractors, et al., left, right and center.  He hogged the limelight for that for quite a while.  Does Jose Pidal ring a bell?  GMA might have meant well, initially.  However, as time went on, the system corrupted her senses, or she might have been corrupt all along, only God knows.  She was an economist who was trained in the top schools in the Philippines — University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University.  She also studied abroad at Georgetown University in the U.S.  Intellectually, she was definitely loads better than her dropout predecesor, yet, where is the Philippines now?  Economically, we’re still in the bottom of the heap.  Corruption-wise, that’s where we excel, very unfortunately and so shamefully for we are a largely-Catholic nation.  And, it isn’t sacrilegious to say that corruption has also entered the hallowed halls of the Church.  That’s another topic, though.