Love for Country Index — a personal e-mail

From: Robert

Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 17:07:56 -0800

To all,

I am a member of a forum for Ateneo graduates and I was asked by a friend C.B. on why I was supporting this movement for the Noynoy – Mar candidacy.   Previous to this, there was an article written by Emil Jurado questioning the legislative record of Noynoy.

Following is my reply:

Subject: Love of country versus love of self Index

Charlie,

My decision to back the Noynoy Aquino – Mar Roxas ticket is based on a simple idea.

The idea that I have come up with is that there is a constant struggle, call it a tug-of-war, between a person’s love of country and love of self.

On one end of the scale would be a 10 (ten) wherein a candidate’s actions once in office would be dictated only by his love for his country and his fellow Filipinos, nothing else.

On the other end of the scale would be a 0 (zero) wherein a candidate’s actions will be based only on his selfish interests, such as power, money, paying off political debts, fame, and other considerations.

I do not care what a person’s past legislative acts have been.  I do not care about whether he was a womanizer, gay, a gambler, etc, etc.

And I don’t even care if he came from Ateneo, UP, or La Salle, a member of Mensa,  or whether he or she has an advanced degree in Economics or Political Science.  Just look at the people in the current administration.  I rest my case on this one.

What is important to me is how I perceive him to be once he is in office.

I agree that one’s perceptions is very subjective but I do believe that if a candidate’s heart is in the right place, everything else falls into place.

I do not have the time at the moment to put into graphics form my ranking on the different candidates but suffice it to  say that in my opinion the Noynoy-Mar ticket is way ahead of the pack in terms of this very simplistic idea.

Call me naïve, but you asked for my opinion.

Robert P.

source: noynoy.ph