ANTONIO TRILLANES IV

Antonio “Sonny” Fuentes Trillanes IV is a former Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade and currently serving as a senator of the Philippines since 2007.

Antonio Fuentes Trillanes IV, or Sonny to his relatives and friends, was born and raised in Caloocan City. He traces his roots to Ligao, Albay in Bicol where his late father, Antonio Sr., grew up. His mother, Estelita, hails from the province of Capiz.

Antonio Trillanes IV is 42 years old; born on August 6, 1971. He is married to the former Arlene G. Orejana with two children namely: Francis Seth and Thea Estelle. Their third child, Alan Andrew, died of an illness while he was just twenty-one days old.

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS

He was one of the Navy personnel who risked their lives to rescue thirty-two (32) persons during a daring search and rescue operation for the survivors of the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Orient at the height of a super typhoon in 1998.

He has a five-year sea duty experience logging-in a Total Steaming Time (TST) of 2,593 hrs and 47 min and Total Miles Covered (TMC) of 35, 316.78 nautical miles. During which time, his unit was responsible for the apprehension of dozens of smugglers, illegal loggers, poachers, human smugglers and illegal fishermen in numerous maritime law enforcement operations conducted in the waters off Batanes, Ilocos, Cagayan, Isabela, Zambales, Scarborough, Quezon, Bicol, Palawan, Mindoro, Romblon, Iloilo, Cebu, Zamboanga Peninsula, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Davao and Maguindanao.

He was involved in numerous naval operations in support of ground operations directed against the Abu Sayyaf and other lawless elements.

As procurement officer of the Naval Training and Education Command,Philippine Navy, he reformed the procurement system, which resulted to the accumulated savings of more than four million pesos in favor of the government.

He has participated in 22 naval exercises conducted with local and foreign navies.

He is a recipient of 23 assorted merit medals, campaign ribbons andbadges.

LOREN LEGARDA

Loren Legarda is a Filipino broadcast journalist, politician, TV host, environmentalist and philanthropist. With politician of Visayan ancestry, she is notable as the only female to top two senatorial elections (1998 and 2007).

For the last 30 years, Loren Legarda devoted her work to ensure that the future generations of Filipinos will live in enabling environments where our natural resources are used in ways that are sustainable and equitable; where social justice, human rights, peace and cultural diversity are priorities; and where opportunities for quality education and decent employment to all hard-working citizens free them from poverty.

Loren Legarda is chiefly responsible for the passage of the following laws, which she authored:

Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 (RA 9994)

Barangay Livelihood and Skills Training Act (RA 9509)

Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (RA 9501)

Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act (RA 9262)

Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710)

Anti-Child Labor Law (RA 9231)

Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (RA 9208)

Philippine Ear Research Institute Act (RA 9245)

Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 2009 (RA 9709)

Food, Drugs, Cosmetics and Devices Administration (FDCDA) Act of 2009 (RA 9711)

Philippine Tropical Fabric Law (RA 9242)

Eid’ul Fitr Holiday Law (RA 9177)

Tourism Act of 2009 (RA 9593)

Clean Air Act (RA 8749)

Environmental Awareness Education Act (RA 9512)

Renewable Energy Act (RA 9513)

Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003)

Climate Change Act of 2009 (RA 9729)

Among many vital pieces of legislation, Loren Legarda also co-sponsored the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 (RA 10121).

Now on her second term as senator, Loren chairs the Committee on Climate Change and the Oversight Committee on Climate Change; the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Legislative Oversight Committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement; and the Committee on Cultural Communities.

Senator Loren Legarda has long been hailed as a “Green Crusader” for her staunch advocacy of environmental issues and concerns. For the last 30 years, she has devoted her work to ensure that the future generations of Filipinos will live in enabling environments where our natural resources are used in ways that are sustainable and equitable.

CHIZ ESCUDERO

Francis Joseph G. Escudero, popularly known as Chiz Escudero, is a member of the Philippine Senate since 2007. He previously served as a member of the Philippine House of Representatives from the 1st District Sorsogon, and as the Minority Floor Leader of the 13th Congress of thePhilippines on his third and last House term.

Chiz Escudero was elected to the Senate with the second highest tally of votes, slightly behind Loren Legarda.

He heads the Senate Committees on Justice and Human Rights, Joint Oversight Committees on EcologicalSolid Waste Management Act, Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Clean Air Act, and Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

This man’s meteoric rise into the nation’s consciousness as a leader has earned him several distinctions, including becoming a TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines) awardee in recognition of his selfless dedication as a youth leader.

ALLAN PETER CAYETANO

Alan Peter S. Cayetano is anincumbent senator and minorityleader of the Senate of thePhilippines.

He was the congressional representative from the district of Taguig-Pateros for 9 years. He had a seven-point program for his Taguig-Pateros constituency in Metro Manila.

Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano was only 13 years old when he was first exposed to public service. His father, the late Senator Renato “Compañero” Cayetano, was then elected Assemblyman representing Taguig, Pateros and Muntinlupa.

Having been raised under the tutelage of his father, a lawyer and a devoted public servant, he took interest in political science and enrolled at the University of the Philippines in Diliman where he eventually ran and won as a university councilor in the student council. Then inspired by his father’s preeminent standing as a lawyer, student Alan decided to pursue a degree in Law at the Ateneo de Manila University where he graduated as Silver Medallist and with a Second Honourable Mention. He was later admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1998.

It was the late Senator Rene’s values, principles, and dedication to public service that further inspired the young Alan to follow in his father’s footsteps. Having had the privilege of seeing his father consulting, meeting, and working with people from all walks of life, it was not difficult for him to decide on a lifetime advocacy and career in public service.

GREGORIO HONASAN

Gregorio Ballesteros Honasan II, also known as Gregorio Honasan or Gringo Honasan, is one of the senators of the 15th Congress and currently the Chairperson of the Senate Committees on Agrarian Reform, Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, and Public Information and Mass Media.

Gregorio Honasan played a key role in the 1986 EDSA Revolution that toppled the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos. He led a series of coup attempts against the administration of Corazon Aquino. President Fidel Ramos granted him amnesty in 1992.

As a solider, he saw action in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and earned a number of medals, awards, decorations and commendations for gallantry in action including three Distinguished Conduct Stars, Gold Cross medals and Wounded Personnel Medals sustained in combat. In 1985 he was recognized as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men given by the Philippine Jaycees. In 1986, he was one of the principal players of the EDSA revolution as one of the leaders of the RAM (Reform the Armed Forces Movement) that broke away from the martial law government. He was awarded the Presidential Commendation Medal for Government Service by then President Corazon C. Aquino.

He is principal author and co-author of, among others, the Clean Air Act of 1999, Clean Water Act, the National Security Policy, Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act of 2009, the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms Law (CARPER). He is shepherding the Freedom of Information Act which he now refers to as the POGI Bill – People’s Ownership of Government InformationAct, the National Mapping and Resource Authority Law and the Land Use Act. Senator Honasan has also proposed a Mini-Marshall Plan for Mindanao to help jumpstart economic development, peace and order, and political unity. The proposal will also help end centuries of armed conflict and terrorism.

Senator Honasan is for God, Country and Family as core principles of citizenship coupled with values of Faith, Hope and Love. He is a staunch advocate for the environment, social reforms, national

security, good governance, education and public health, youth and sports development recognizing that as a proud sovereign nation our most strategic and precious resource are our children.

JAMBY MADRIGAL

Jamby Madrigal, also known as Maria Ana Consuelo Madrigal Focfuquita Valade(born Maria Ana Consuelo Abad Santos Madrigal April 26, 1958), is a former senator and a politician in thePhilippines. She was elected during the 2004 general elections as a Senator. She ran for president in the 2010 presidential elections but lost.

She is formerly the Chairperson of four Senate Committees:[6] Committee on Environment, Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations, Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, and the Committee on Cultural Communities.

Jamby Madrigal began her senatorial career by quickly establishing her credentials as a true social reformer known for taking principled and uncompromising stands on national issues, thus notching up a consistent pro-Filipino and nationalist voting record in the Senate.

Her voice was also one of the most strident and vociferous in the Senate debating chamber during the highly controversial jueteng and NBN-ZTE investigations and hearings in the Senate. This ran consistent with unequivocal opposition to the corrupt Arroyo government as she gallantly took up the people’s fight against that corrupt and oppressive regime.

Jamby Madrigal has filed bills in the areas of education, juvenile justice, gender equality, empowerment, anti-trafficking and anti-pornography. She has also authored bills on the protection of the indigenous peoples and their ancestral domain as well as the protection and conservation of the environment.

RAMON MAGSAYSAY JR

Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. (born June 5, 1938) is a political figure and senator of the Philippines.Senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., inherited his great sense of compassion for the common tao from his revered parents, the late President Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay of Zambales and Mrs. Luz Magsaysay (nee Banzon) of Bataan.But more than being the son of the country’s most loved president, Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. is a self-made man. With President Magsaysay’s sudden death on March 17, 1957, 18-year-old Jun inherited greater responsibilities that enabled him to recognize the value of perseverance and hard work.

Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. has pushed the Magsaysay crusade for an honest, efficient, responsive and open (HERO) government.

1. IMPACT ON PUBLIC WELFARE AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A.SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND/OR CULTURAL IMPACT

When Senator Ramon B. Magsaysay, Jr. dissented in the enactment of the Retail Trade Liberalization Act in 1998, many were in the opinion that while Magsaysay advocates globalization, the preparedness and readiness of the small businessmen are primordial for them to survive internationalcompetition. Believing that full government assistance, identification of safety nets, and a five-year transition period to prepare SMEs with the advent of liberal economy and open trading are significant to enjoy the benefits of GATT-WTO.B.GEOGRAPHIC IMPACT

When Senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. expressed his belief that there was collusion between the military and the Abu Sayyaf expressed through a Senate Committee Report after conducting investigations on the Basilan siege, many agreed that the solon wanted national reform and would not countenance wrongdoing. While he believed that the Filipino soldiers should be accorded the highest recognition by anchoring laws which would further professionalize their ranks by increasing militia’s base pay, providing them and their families scholarships and housing assistance, and upgrading the table of the AFP organization, he also would not tolerate abuses and violations of the basic rights of the civilians.C. YEARS OF DEDICATED WORK AND SERVICE

His entry into politics came in 1966, when he was elected as Congressman in the lone district of Zambales, until 1969. He went back to the private sector soon after. Gifted with a keen business sense and learned in the ways of mechanics, he pioneered the cable TV industry in the country in the early ’70s when antennas for cable television were things unheard of. Today, with roughly 900 cable operators nationwide, the cable television business has turned into a multi-billion peso a year industry. And in recognition of setting the blueprint for the sector, Magsaysay is known as “The Father of Cable Television.”For the last nine years since his election in 1995 and his subsequent reelection in 2001, Senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. strives to work for legislation that will help improve the living conditions of the majority of the Filipino people. His programs and policies for the development of cooperatives and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are geared toward encouraging ordinary Filipinos to make use of their individual capabilities as they strive to attain their socio-economic goals and uplift their standard of living to a more decent and humane condition.

Likewise, he is the proponent of programs that empower the ordinary Filipino and help in the economic transformation of our society through Information Technology (IT), E-commerce, SME start-ups, professionalization of varied sectors and improving the cooperatives’ viability.

At present, he chairs two major committees : agriculture and food, and science and technology.

2. PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMENT, PROFESSIONAL, SOCIO-CIVIC, RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

2000-present Honorary Member, Rotary Club of Parañaque

1969-present Reserve Officer, Commander, Philippine Navy Trustee, Alay sa Kawal & Ramon Magsaysay Society1988-90 Business Columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer

1974-88 Member, Board of Consultants, National Supply Services Boy Scouts of the Philippines

1972-75 Vice President and Director, South Rizal Chamber of Industries

1973-74 Member, De La Salle College Alumni Board

1963-64 Assistant to the Commissioner, Philippine Participation to the New York World’s Fair

1962 Chairman, National Youth Committee for UNICEF Group Leader, Way-US Peace Corps Welfareville Project1961-62 Vice Chairman, Work-A-Year with the People Volunteer Doctors Program under Sen. Raul Manglapus and Manuel Quezon

3.AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONDoctor of Public Administration, Honoris Causa, Polytechnic Univ. of thePhilippines (2003)Golden Jubilee Awardee, Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers (2002)Most Outstanding Mechanical Engineer, Professional Regulation Commission (2000)First Internet Man of the Year (2000), Web MagazineDoctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa (1999), Central Luzon State Univ.Most Outstanding De La Salle Alumnus, The Philippine StarFather of Cable Television in the PhilippinesMost Outstanding Senator, Graphic Magazine4. IMPACT ON FIELD OF ENDEAVOR OR PROFESSIONAL FIELD

Senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. voted with 10 of his colleagues in thePhilippine Senate during the impeachment trial of President Estrada to open the envelope that changed the landscape of contemporary Philippine politics. Many agreed that he respects moral leadership and honest public service. In his mind, to open the envelope was the prudent venue in seeking the truth.

The Anti-Money Laundering Law of 2001 and its amendment in 2003, is considered as one of the most controversial and widely-debated policy measures in recent legislative history. In the course of its lengthy deliberations, many agreed that he was striking at the very core of public service. The said two laws were unpopular with politicians with the perception that many in the government would be affected by its implementation,

but Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. fought tooth and nail for its passage. In fact, in one of the debates, he showed his disappointment and as reported, he banged the podium when the bill was being watered down.

5.LEGISLATIVE AGENDA (13th Congress)

Personal Equity Retirement Account (PERA)Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF)Young Farmers’ Program (YFP)Good Samaritan BillSpecial Education Fund (Amending Art 272 of the Local Government Code)Student Loan ProgramComputer Literacy as subjects in elementary and high school curriculaCybercrime ActCoffee Research and Development BillTerrorism Finance ActRationalization of Tax Administration BillPre-Need BillCorporate Recovery ActDoctors for the Barrios BillScholarship Program for Government Employees ActBotika sa Barangay Bill

FERDINAND MARCOS

A lawyer, a member of the Philippine House of Representatives (1949-1959) and a member of the Philippine Senate (1959-1965), Ferdinand Marcos became the president of the Philippines in 1966, a post he held until 1986, when his people rose against his dictatorial rule and he fled.

TO BE on top and to stay at the top has been Ferdinand Edralin Marcos' lifetime dream. In school, he was always at the head of his class; in the bar examinations, he was top-notcher; during the war years, he was, according to army records, the bravest among the brave, the most be-medaled soldier; in the House of Representatives, he was minority floor leader; in the Senate, he was the Senate President; in the Liberal Party, he was party president; in the Nacionalista Party, he was standard-bearer; in Ilocandia, of course, he is the supreme political leader.

Today he occupies the highest post in the nation. He is President of the Republic of the Philippines.

Since boyhood, he has been striving for the top with the soaring ambition and nerve of a pole-vault champion.

It was not merely the natural gift of a superior intellect that made him Numero Uno wherever he went. Nor was Lady Luck the primary factor. In Philippine politics, there are other politicos brighter and on the whole luckier than he.

But Ferdinand E. Marcos has other attributes more effective and rewarding than just brains-a will of steel, unflinching resolve and a passion for planning, planning, planning. It seems nothing ever happens to Ferdinand E. Marcos without his knowledge and consent. In politics at least, everything that has happened to him he knew beforehand: he had planned and prepared for it. (His biographer, Hartzell Spence, would dramatize the point by suggesting, albeit half-seriously, that Marcos had something to do with the timing of his entry into the world. "Ferdinand Edralin Marcos," wrote Spence in the opening sentence of his worshipful book, For Every Tear A Victory, "was in such a hurry to be born that his father, who was only eighteen years old himself, had to act as midwife. In fact, young Ferdinand scarcely waited for his parents to graduate from normal school before he put in his appearance, thus bringing to light a secret marriage.")

But to separate fable from fact, no politician has assiduously made a fetish of preparing for his political career years in advance. Marcos charted his political course from the House of Representatives to the Senate, to the presidency of the LP and, finally, to the presidency of the Republic. Every political move by Marcos has been a conscious, calculated maneuver, executed according to a meticulous, carefully-studied plan.

Regarding the presidency, he didn't only draw up a master plan, he also had a timetable with such specifics as when he would become president. Ilocanos now recall how, years back, Marcos, without batting an eyelash, would assure them in the town plazas that he would give them a president in 1965. He did.

Few presidents can boast of a perfect score on their entire political careers. President Marcos is one of them. Never has he suffered anything that might amount to a political setback. He has never lost an election. From the start his career has been one continuous climb, at turns smooth or rough, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, but always upward.

Not once in his entire career as parliamentarian in both chambers of Congress, one now recalls, was Marcos ever caught unprepared in a debate or in a floor maneuver during the periodic power struggles. In a TV debate with the country's sharpest debater, Arturo Tolentino, on Harry Stonehill's deportation-a topic heavily loaded in favor of the opposition then-Marcos, as president of the LP, ably held his ground, turned expected disaster into a creditable defense of the LP's precarious position-thanks to a cool intellect, eloquence, and intensive research and preparation.

When President Macapagal started to hem and haw on his promise to let him take over as party standard-bearer in the 1965 elections, the Ilocano politico had already drafted a plan to deal with DM's turnabout. His strategy was to capture the Senate presidency and make common cause with the opposition, thus checkmating Macapagal.

With the armor of the Senate presidency, he was able to blunt Macapagal's deadly thrusts and escape a political beheading at the height of LP power. He waited until it was safe to tangle with the President. When the tide turned against Macapagal in the last two years of the New Era, Marcos charged and took on the party in power.

He resolved to hold on to the Senate presidency at all costs until the end of the session in 1965. "In case our plan to win over Senator (Alejandro) Almendras failed," said a Marcos lieutenant, "our boss had two other emergency plans ready for implementation, which would have kept him in the top Senate post just the same."

Marcos had it all figured out. He knew that the NPs would be disposed to deal with him only as long as he remained head of the powerful Senate. He knew only too well that only as Senate President would he be able to crash the NP national convention and elbow aside the NP's homegrown presidential aspirants. All through the tumultuous years of his incumbency as Senate President, Marcos turned down the most tempting offers, ignored all threats endured all sorts of political buffetings just so he could remain Senate boss until the end of the 1965 session. His ability to plan and think ahead paid off.

Three years ago we asked his favorite brother-in-law why Marcos, unlike his colleagues in Congress, shunned the social circuit, preferring to stay home curled up with a book or immersed in his papers in his library.

"He is preparing himself for the presidency," replied Kokoy Romualdez with disarming candor. "He has a timetable and it's already due. He also plays golf every day," Romualdez volunteered the information. "He wants to keep fit for the rigorous presidential campaign."

Three years ago all speculation about the president of the majority party running as standard-bearer of the minority party would have been branded wild and wishful thinking. The prospects for Marcos in the LP were quite bleak-the incumbent President then had let it be known that early that he had preempted the LP presidential nomination.

On November 9, 1965, Marcos defeated the reelectionist candidate of the party in power. Marcos' favorite reading fare is politics and economics. He has read and re-read all the books about the "making" of presidents in the United States. On the average he finishes two books a day. "He still does it," said his Press Secretary Jose Aspiras, "despite his heavy schedule as President-elect."

"Politics," Marcos once said, "is my life." He has been boning up on economics, "because the country's main problems are economic in nature."

For all the experts' intricate analyses of what makes Marcos tick, his formula for success is nothing complicated or tricky. He simply made the Boy Scout motto his own: Be prepared. He saw and prepared, came and conquered. He planned and fought his way to the top. He is the FREE PRESS' Man of the Year, the man who dominated the news in 1965.

In the 1965 presidential elections he demonstrated beyond any doubt that he had more political savvy than all the political pros in both parties put together. Of course, he had in his favor some pre-fabricated votes-the Ilocano Vote, the Iglesia ni Cristo vote, the protest vote. Any opposition presidential candidate who is also an Ilocano, it may be argued, would have little trouble corralling these bloc votes.

But his winning the presidential elections was certainly not the most astounding or the most difficult of his political feats. Far more awe-inspiring than this achievement was his maneuver that transported him from the top echelon of the party in power to the top of the ladder of the opposition party-from president of the LP to presidential standard bearer of the NP. It is doubtful if this feat has been duplicated in any democracy anywhere else in the world.

To win the NP presidential nomination, Marcos had to face and fight a formidable galaxy of NP political giants, joust with them in their own home grounds, under their own terms and rules of the game-and using their own men and votes.

To beat them in the NP convention, he had to woo strangers and old, embittered political foes. For two decades, Marcos had been an aggressive and ardent Liberal leader tangling in every election with the NPs and, in his own political bastion in the North, making life for the NP leaders miserable during all these years.

These were the conventionists that he had to woo and win in the last NP national convention. He won them over, and after that singular feat at the Manila Hotel Fiesta Pavilion, his followers felt certain that he would surmount whatever political obstacles still lay in his path. Even his victory in the presidential elections was an anti-climax.

A politician's political skill can be measured not only by the enemies he has licked but also by the enemies he has won over. During his early days in the Nacionalista Party and even after the convention and during the campaign, Marcos had to deal with formidable foes in the NP hierarchy.

At the lowest ebb of his campaign a number of top NPs refused to endorse him publicly. In private, they actively opposed his candidacy. He was fighting the elections on two fronts-within the party and without. He succeeded in winning over his NP detractors toward the end. That he succeeded in doing so revealed the quality of the man. He had what it takes to win the presidency-leadership.

To the known factors that propelled him to the summit-the protest vote against the administration, the Iglesia Ni Cristo vote, the Ilocano vote, and Imelda, his wife, who, more than any one individual (except Eraño Manalo), earned more votes for Marcos in the last campaign-one more element might be added. . . Marcos' political leadership, which welded all these factors together and set them in motion.

What kind of president will Marcos make?

His friends are quick to point out that more than anything else, the popular appeal that Marcos inspired in the last polls would ensure his success as president of the nation. The post-election picture

of Marcos himself is one aglow with confidence. Didn't he lick the party in power? Didn't he rally the Nacionalistas around him? Hasn't he proved his ability and determination to conquer tremendous odds, hurdle all kinds of obstacles?

But this analysis is but half of the picture. A president faces not just the problems of his party, the problems of certain sectors of the population, the problems of an election campaign, the problem of winning votes. A president carries the burden of the nation-all the national problems, including those inherited from past centuries and those to come in the next four years.

No past president knew what he was up against until he found himself in the chair of power in Malacañang. True, Marcos as president has tremendous powers. He is now the most powerful man in the country. At his disposal are the prerogatives and authority bestowed on him by the Constitution and the laws.

But soon he will discover, as all presidents before him discovered, that these tremendous presidential powers have built-in restraints. Too late President Macapagal, by his own admission, came to grief with this truth. For one, the great powers of the president carry greater responsibilities. Presidential responsibilities tend to abridge presidential authority.

It was easy for Marcos, as opposition candidate, to damn the administration for trying to raise taxes and promise not to increase them or create new ones. He will soon find out that, as a president responsible for providing the people with essential services, for keeping the government and its programs in operation, his pre-election promises are not so easy to keep.

How does one keep prices down under the decontrol program, with a million new mouths to feed every year? How does one begin employing the four million or more unemployed? Where does one get the homes for the legions of homeless?

There is the unfortunate notion, held by the mass of our people, that a presidential election or rather its results will solve most, if not all, of the problems of the nation. Some of the friends of Marcos seem to have this belief. It is time the minds of the people were disabused of this notion. There's no telling how the people would react to another let-down, another disenchantment with the president of their choice.

Things are going to be worse before they are going to be better, said the late John F. Kennedy when he assumed the U.S. presidency.

To start off on the right foot, a president must at least try to learn from the mistakes of past presidents. To promise happy days ahead as the New Era had promised the electorate is the surest way to erode public confidence in the new administration.

This is not to say that Marcos is bound to fail as president. He has one quality, it must be admitted, that might turn the trick, bring about the miracle-leadership. But even the most dynamic and heroic leader will not be able to provide instant happiness for the country under present conditions. Not in

the next two years, anyway. Marcos is no superman. He can only do so much. The sooner we faced up to this fact, the better for the country.

But the friends of Marcos have one comforting thought to offer. The new President, says a Marcos confidant, was "the most maligned" presidential candidate ever-"He was charged with all kinds of crimes during the campaign. As a result, he will try his best to become the best President the country has ever had. He is out to prove to our people that he is not what he has been painted to be."

The motive may not be exactly orthodox. But in an age of cynicism and disenchantment, in a country grown weary with politicians' promises, motives and intentions are of secondary importance. Results, concrete achievements are what count. Whatever his motives, if President Marcos performs well, a grateful people will thank him and future historians will reserve him a permanent niche in the annals of our country.

The new President seems to be obsessed with the word "great." His battle cry in the last campaign was: "This country can be great again!" The title of his inaugural speech, he told this writer, is "Challenge to Greatness." His intimates say that his burning ambition now is to go down in history as a "great president."

Now that the elections are over, the big task is nation-building. What his foes and critics said of him before the election should not matter now that the people have spoken. He has been given the mandate. If he performs well, soon everybody will forget what has been said of him. But if he falls down on the job-then he will have to worry about what his critics said of him. The people will remember him as he had been painted by his enemies. Thus, what is important for him and the country is that he do an excellent job in Malacañang.

The Man of the Year faces his biggest test in the next four years. In essence, the challenge the new President confronts is not new at all: more good government and less politics.

Will he pass the test? Time, a philosopher has remarked, is the fastest thing in the world. The Macapagal era is over. The Marcos regime has begun. Soon the history of this administration will be written-a record of futility and ignominious shame, or a testament to Filipino pride and greatness.