Five Serious Leadership Mistakes Of The Empire Of Manila

There was an article in Forbes about the "Five Leadership Mistakes Of The Galactic Empire", now it's time to write about the five serious leadership mistakes of the Empire of Manila. Even after the Spaniards were expelled and the Marcos regime is over, I still couldn't help but think how the Philippines is an independent state under imperialism. Even if the Philippines doesn't occupy any other country, the country is still under the Imperial Manila system and even if an emperor does not rule as the Philippines' head of state, it might be best considered as a semi-imperialist system.

What are these five leadership mistakes that we need to correct from the 1987 Constitution? Aside from the protectionist policies, there are five mistakes that I have taken from Forbes but made some slight modifications.

Let's take a look at these five serious mistakes and correct them, shall we?

First mistake - Building the Philippine government around particular people than institutions

The problem of the Philippine government is that it's built around safeguard the ruling class. It's hypocritical to keep berating the Marcos years when most of his successors keep repeating the same kind of mistakes. During the President Benigno Simeon "Nobita" Cojuangco Aquino III administration, cronyism has also bee rampant like he uses the padrino system in appointing people. The whole term was nothing more than President Nobita's appointing based on his friends while going against his enemies. The trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona as well as other of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's allies and placing Liberal Party personnel is a shoddy decision. One may consider how many incompetent people rule over the Philippines based on President Nobita's appointments.

Solution:

What should have been done is not the use of the padrino system but one based on their merits and not by friendship or family background. Appointing people just because they are your friends will ignore possible real talent. Even if the better person is part of the opposition, every appointment must be based on achievement.

Second mistake - Too much decision making power is assigned to the Empire of Manila

The whole idea of the Empire of Manila is that it makes almost every decision. Every other part of the Philippines is left out of the decision process. This one has created several conflicts of interests especially the Philippines is 7,107 islands. Because all the decisions are too centered around the Empire of Manila, it's very difficult to get decisions on every other region or province of the Philippines. The consequences are that everything is left to the Empire of Manila who doesn't know much about the situation than the local areas.

Solution:

As suggested by CoRRECT Philippines, it's time to go for a federal state government. Every last region or province in the Philippines must be involved in decision making. Not every decision must be approved by the Empire of Manila. If we have proper decentralization where development is not restricted just to one area but to the entire Philippines.

Third mistake - Too much tolerance for failure

If the mistake of the Galactic Empire was zero tolerance for failure, the Empire of Manila is the extreme opposite. While we do need tolerance for failure, the problem is the rule of Pwede Na Yan. How much failure has been tolerated anyway? There is really much to answer for in cases like unaccounted funds by Butcher Abad or Stinky Soliman's failure to account for the Yolanda goods. President Nobita has ended up covering up the failures of his friends just because they are his friends. Even the incumbent head of state tolerates his failure too much.

Solution:

While failure is part of the learning process but too much tolerance of it or failure to correct it results to a slipping slope. If you were learning to ride a bicycle and you fell down, you certainly must stand up but you must treat your wounds. Failure must be punished accordingly to the gravity of the offense. If the offense does not deserve dismissal, milder punishments such as admonition or requiring the person to fix his or her mess is required.

4.) Not considering other constitutional alternatives for a better Philippines

It's a problem when people rely too much on the flawed 1987 Constitution. When we start talking about economic liberalization or bringing in policies to curb crime, people say, "But the 1987 Constitution says that it's not allowed." without considering the alternatives because rules sometimes need to change. The problem of the Empire of Manila is that it relies too much on what was written on the 1987 Constitution. In doing so, the Philippines ends up as a backwards country.

Solution:

Ever heard of the statement of keeping the good and throwing out the bad? the 1987 Constitution needs some reforms. The removal of the stupid 60/40 protectionist policies, restoration of capital punishment for heavy crimes and the implementation of a parliamentary system would be a few changes. The parliamentary system would allow more reforms to be implemented and an automatic snap election against any incompetent head of state can be done. Opening up the economy would allow more jobs and lesser need of overseas workers.

5.) Not learning from one's mistakes

Too much tolerance for failure and not considering alternatives leads to not learning from one's mistakes. I'm amazed to how the President Nobita administration has been nothing more than a series of never learning at all. After the Rolando Mendoza incident, they still haven't learned and instead of showing better measures to protect tourists decided to launch the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" slogan campaign. While it may be effective at first but remember, testimonials matter more than taglines. The Mamasapano Incident happened all because people refuse to learn from past incidents. Traffic is still a problem because people assigned to fix it don't learn from their mistakes just like that idiot DOTC Secretary Joseph Pabaya who said traffic is not fatal. Instead of learning from their mistakes, they still persist in their foolish path which has led to the Philippines to the path of no direction.

Solution:

The solution is to really as said, look for alternatives and learn from failures. If they realize that unjust economic restrictions is causing unemployment, remove them and place reasonable boundaries. If law enforcement is so weak then it's time to really give it some serious workout. Learning from one's mistakes is part of the process of improving the country.