P-NOY is our new president and we are his bosses.
Whether that means he represents our common hopes and dreams and will strive hard to make them a reality, or that he will kowtow to the diverging views of the people without really knowing how he should lead us, remains to be seen.
Whatever the case, I am excited to have a new president and I hope that even if President Noynoy Aquino calls us his bosses, he will also have his own bosses. Because even if he becomes a leader who fears the power of the people instead of a leader who wants power so people fear him, it is also not beneficial for the nation if we have a president who quakes and freezes at the thought of us. If that happens, nothing will get done.
No one can ever please everyone and the entity called "the people" is composed of many different individuals with different priorities and different ideas about how this country should be run. As citizens of this country, we should recognize that fact and take upon ourselves not to demand, complain and rage all the time. Not to say we shouldn't hold the president-- and the other elected officials we voted for-- responsible for the promises he made, but we should also realize that real changes sometimes take time, and that real changes take more than one person, and also that real changes require us Filipinos to participate.
After Noynoy was inaugurated last June 30, different news channels interviewed random citizens on the street about whether they think their lives would improve in the new administration. Most Pinoys said yes. They say since honesty is the Noynoy policy, then that in itself will help so much already.
I hope so too. I hope that an Aquino Administration Part II will indeed be honest and competent, putting the interest of the nation above its own. However, a greater hope of mine is that we the citizens of this nation will do something to better our lives instead of waiting for some miraculous mana from heaven to fall on our laps.
Cory Magic might have been a factor in getting Noynoy elected but he is a real human being and not a magician/miracle worker. It takes the whole nation to make this nation great. We should stop expecting so much from the president and expecting so little from local leaders, other government officials, and ourselves.
In order for real changes to happen in our lives, we must look at this time in our nation's history as an opportunity for us to also start anew, to decide that we ourselves must act and do something to make our lives better.
A new president can help our situation, but it should be coupled with a new citizenry willing to sacrifice and work hard as well. If Noynoy calls us his bosses, then we better act like the kind of boss who makes companies successful. That means less talk the walk, and more walk the talk. That means less showbiz, and more business. Even if Kris might want to grab headlines with her personal life, resist fellow citizen, resist with all your might! That means less indulgence in inuman, tambayan, chismisan and other walang kabuluhang activities, and more (to borrow from the slogans of defeated presidential candidates) galing at talino and sipag at tiyaga.
That means focusing, really focusing, on God and living out our faith even in our civic acts. Obey our laws, help those in need, love our families. If we pin our hopes of a better nation on one man because he said he will not be corrupt, imagine what kind of a nation we will become if ALL OF US will not be corrupt.
Dear fellow Filipinos, we are the bosses of the new president. Let us be the kind of bosses we all want to have. Whatever we hope the president will be, that we should also become.
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Jocy L. So-Yeung teaches at Davao Christian High School.