Applying the 5Cs in Philippine Elections
By: Josiah Go
The National election is coming in few days, and everyone has their own opinion on who deserves to be in the top national leadership positions of our country. There have been many talks about converting knowledge to action and that one presidential candidate in our May 9, 2016 election positioned himself as one good in execution (no pun intended). I respectfully disagree. Consider the 5 Cs of execution on getting things done:
1) Clarity of strategy – Execution comes after strategy; a strategy entails understanding complex interactions of many variables and understanding the bigger picture as well. For a country, it involves not just peace and order but equally important factors like the economy and foreign policy. An important aspect of execution is knowing what strategy to execute. The Philippine economy has grown tremendously with each president building on the gains of their predecessors, successfully getting out from being the “sick man of Asia” when Marcos left the country in 1986 to being Asia’s brightest economy under the term of President Noynoy Aquino.
Today, the Philippines is the 29th biggest economy in the world in gross national product (GDP) and we cannot afford to lose what we have gained through the years. A single-minded focus on crime needs a doable strategy – – what exactly is the doable strategy to suppress crime within 3-6 months on a national scope? Having nationwide death squads is not legal. An example of a clear strategy is the Oplan Lambat-Sibat of the Aquino government, resulting in arresting 716 of the 946 most wanted, high profile criminals in the country. A clear strategy, with attention to details, weekly follow through meetings and accountable metrics becomes sustainable.
2) Communication – The president of a country is the role model of the nation and chief diplomat worldwide. He or she must be clear and inspiring yet tactful and respectable. One cannot keep saying one thing today and changing to another tomorrow. One communicates to gain allies, not alienate different segments of society on a weekly basis — foreign customers last week, rape victim this week, disabled people next week. For sure, good communication is not about using foul language and tasteless jokes. If it is the new norm, we should all be concerned about the implication to national culture. The machismo communication style may be needed and effective for Mayor Duterte in Davao in Mindanao but certainly not necessarily nationwide. LP candidate Mar Roxas and running mate Leni Robredo have their platform – “Kalayaan sa Gutom, Kalayaan sa Takot, Kalayaan Mangarap“ (Freedom from Hunger, Freedom from Fear, Freedom to Dream) translating the vision to clear projects to gain Philippines momentum if they win the election.
3) Coordination – Getting things done is not just an executive prerogative, it entails coordinating and convincing other equal parts of the government — the legislative and judiciary. A president belonging to PDP-Laban and legislative belonging to Liberal Party may be harder to coordinate, as there is still the need to cross party lines to get things done. A look at some countries like Indonesia will reveal barriers to get things done if the president is different from the ruling party in congress. The government may have the best of intentions, but it needs the cooperation of others to form a team, even harder if a president is elected as a minority president. Think of the scenario if on May 9, 2016, over 70% of the ‘masa’ and over 60% of those belonging to ABC are not in favor of the new president. It is important that after the elections, the success rate of the President and VP will be based on how he or she manages to coordinate the 3 branches of government, and engaging the constituents to support his or her administration.
Existing coordination barriers need to be removed. In the 3rd and final presidential debate, it was Mar Roxas who identified specific coordination issues such as the merger of DPWH and DOTC, an advantage from one who has been part of the team that helped in implementing laws resulting to the highest growth rate of the Philippines, yet, seeing areas of improvement not available immediately to neophyte without national executive experience in governance.
4) Commitment – It is about starting and staying in a relationship. It is about a promise, in fact, a covenant for an election. One cannot make a stand only to keep changing. A leader must say what it means and mean what it says and not allow its followers to end up being its apologists. Reality check is that on short-term, it may be possible but on long-term, it may be hard for a leader to sustain the commitment of competent people if he or she does not show consistent commitment to a promise. We have seen the declining rating of another presidential candidate, Senator Grace Poe, on ground that she pledged alliance to the United States before and until recently, her husband was an American citizen. Even countries like Myanmar disallowed anyone to become president unless the immediate family and their spouses are natural born citizens of the country, a signal of consistent commitment.
5) Competencies – Different people have different strengths. Competencies in good governance is doing what matters. For example, the BPO industry’s turning point came about when tax incentive previously given to product sector in EPZA was extended to service by virtue of amending Republic Act 7916 so that buildings or floors in buildings could register as an eco-zone. This simple insight under the time Mar Roxas as secretary of trade and industry convincing congress to amend the law resulted to a US$25 billion industry with over 1.3 million jobs, 78% being male, 61% married, 57% not college graduate given another chance in life, trickling down to the poor sector with over US$6.7 billion in salaries and benefits, creating new growth opportunities for other industries. It is noteworthy to mention that Manila has overtaken Mumbai as the world’s no. 2 BPO destination and contributes to some 6% of the country’s GDP.
While these 5 C’s of Execution seem to stand alone, these are interdependent and interact with each other. For example, a good commitment will reflect an effective communication approach. A clear strategy if not communicated properly can lead to mistakes in coordination. It is impossible for a leader to have successful execution overnight, while experience and track record in the government can surely make a leader qualified to lead the country.
(I write this article voluntarily for the undecided voters. I have no intent to convert Duterte die-hard fans. Like many of you, Duterte was in my shortlist but pattern I have observed have convinced me to vote for Mar-Leni in the May 9, 2016 election. If you need a basis for electing the next president and vice president, please allow me to share this 10-Point Test http://josiahgo.com/10-point-test-to-elect-the-next-president-and-vice-president-by-josiah-go/)
Source: http://josiahgo.com/applying-the-5cs-of-execution-to-philippine-election-by-josiah-go/
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