Follow the Leader

Dear Mr. President,

Today, we celebrate the 26th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution.  Even though I was barely a kid in 1986, much of what happened at EDSA and afterwards has affected my life and yours, as well, tremendously. I therefore believe that this day would be most appropriate to write you a short letter.   Let me begin with a quote:  

"I never felt the urge to follow the herd. Particularly when it was heading over a cliff.  If the herd is moving in a good direction, I join it.  If the herd is moving in a bad direction, I leave it.  And if I see the opportunity to move the the herd in a better direction, I take it."

I would like to remind you that you have been given that "opportunity to move the herd in a better direction."  Please take it, Mr. President.  You have at your disposal the vast powers of the executive department and the  cooperation  of the legislature, so please use them.

This is what leadership is all about.  Our nation is tired. The people are tired of leaders who do nothing but pander.  You can commission a hundred surveys to find out what are on peoples' minds but if you do nothing about them, then they would be useless, exercises in futility.  The people are fed up with leaders who just go with the flow and do what is safe or what is dictated by interest/lobby groups and campaign contributors.  Please leave the herd that is moving in the bad direction.

15.2 million of our countrymen elected you into office.  They are depending on you. I am depending on you.  I believe we deserve to have a President who is original and creative in his thoughts and is independent in his actions.  Come to think of it, an entire nation of more than 95 million people depends on you.  Please join the herd that is going towards the good direction.

When you are on the edge of the cliff and you do not turn, you are not the only one who falls.  Everybody falls with you, Mr. President - teachers, policemen, old people, fathers, mothers, sick people, children, the unemployed - exactly everyone who depends on you. I fall with you together with all of them.  You take all of us down with you.  That is why you must remember that we do not want you to fail.  Please do not fail, Mr. President. Please move and lead us to a better direction far away from the cliff of despair and of helplessness.

You will never be alone in this endeavor. We shall be with you every step of the way.

I will pray for you. We will all pray for you - that you be given the courage, the strength and the conviction to do what is right and to follow the path of the Daang Matuwid that you have talked about and promised everyone that you would take if they elect you as their President.  

That Daang Matuwid may be narrow, rocky, full of potholes, thorny bushes and or even wild animals but please persevere, Mr. President. Please choose and continue to walk and lead us to that road no matter how difficult and even if other people maybe moving the other way.  

Please stay on course.

^Travis