What the President of a Country shoul be...in my humble opinion
Posted on Thursday, 12 March 2015
What the President of
a Country Should Be
…in my humble opinion
By Apolinario Villalobos
As a president of the country, the person is expected to
make sacrifices in many forms. Having been born and still living in a third
world country, such as the Philippines, I have witnessed the rise and fall of
my poor country’s presidents, and how the current one performs. My humble
opinion is based on my keen observation, thanks to the eyes and ears that God
gave me.
- The president must have a family of his/her own – a wife/husband, children. This way, he/she will have a feel of the effect on his/her family every time there is an economic crunch. He/she will also deeply feel how it is to lose a loved one, such as a son and a daughter. And most especially, instead of spending his/her free time in playing computer games on his/her tablet or cellphone, the available quality time left can be spent playing with his/her children.
- The president must know what he/she is talking about. What comes out of his/her mouth should be sincerely felt by the heart and well- analyzed by the mind. What he/she mumbles must be honestly-minced words. In other words, he/she must have intellectual integrity.
- The president must have a strong conviction. He/should not rely 100% on his advisers, secretaries, consultants, siblings, classmates, hobby buddies, to avoid developing a close relationship with a BFF (best friend forever) due to “unquestionable trust”. He should not be overpowered by the “gratitude” every time he/she makes decision.
- The president should not have the habit of delivering speeches hinged on empty promises and wishful thoughts about projects that are all just on papers and still in the mind. He/she should not unfairly claim the projects of the past administrations.
- The president should not surround himself/herself with personally chosen assistants – cabinet heads who he/she thought are intelligent and pro-active, but proved in time to be indolent, insensitive, and with questionable common sense and intelligence. If proven to be “useless”, he/she should remove them immediately to give way to deserving ones, so that agencies will not be left “headless” or without chiefs….though in reality, they operate as if they have none, anyway.
- The president must have a direct concern over the activities under his/her administration and not just rely on “reports” of his/her cabinet secretaries who tend to whitewash submitted papers. This is important, so that he will not accuse anybody of just fooling him, later on, in order to free himself/herself from the clout of “command responsibility”, if an operation gets twisted. To do this, he/she must have the habit of waking up early just before the sun rises. And, most importantly, he/she should not turn off his/her cellphone before going to sleep!
- The president must not be fickle-minded, so that he can stick on his statements in whatever situation, time or when he is delivering speeches, especially statements vocalized on the first day of his assumption of responsibilities.
- The president should be brave, so that every time he/she delivers a message, the perception would be that he/she is serious about his message and means business.
I am humbly aware that there are so many other “should be’s”
and “must be’s” which I have overlooked. Viewers are free to add…
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