THE tragedy of leadership is that judgment on its success, or on its failure, is based on result, and not on effort.
Each generation writes its very own story, or its very own history. But the story, or the history, fortunately or unfortunately, will only be as good as the result, not at the effort.
The present administration, in its first few chapters, had a timely and timeless narrative of eradicating poverty by eradicating corruption.
It was a perfect introduction to a new novel after having been through a series of books on lying, cheating and stealing. But, of course, the challenge is always on how to sustain interest, excitement and enjoyment.
The present administration, in its last few chapters, is already struggling to maintain the timeliness and the timelessness of its main plot.
Times have changed, and with it came changes in wants, changes in needs, changes in standards, changes in measures, and changes in demands. And all these changes do not automatically mean that targets have been hit and there are just new aims, new goals and new marks.
The hard truth is that the original campaign slogan has become just that – original, campaign, and slogan.
It is just the original, not the existing. It is just for the campaign, not for the incumbency. It is just a slogan, not the reality.
First, poverty is still present. Second, corruption is still present. Third, while the incomprehensible “macro-economic indicators” are surprisingly high, the yet another incomprehensible “inclusive growth” is frustratingly low.
Now what? What now?
The present administration still has two years to scribble the words that will comprise its finale. While this is not exactly two working years, as the campaign season for the 2016 presidential elections will already begin if it has not yet begun, this is still enough time to compose a compelling conclusion.
Aside from the incomprehensible “inclusive growth” that it has to address clearly, convincingly and completely, it also has to tackle the concerns of the victims of super typhoon Yolanda and all the other natural disasters that struck the country, the welfare of the victims of the Zamboanga siege and all the other man-made calamities that struck the country, the issues surrounding the PDAF and all the other corruption-related scandals that struck the country, among others in the long list of things to do, to begin and to finish.
It likewise has to finally make its much-hyped PPP program up and running, not through mere announcements of the approval of projects, but through actual implementation of the approved projects.
It moreover has to prepare its defense, excuse, explanation, clarification or justification for the upcoming release of the Supreme Court decision declaring DAP as unconstitutional.
It furthermore has to look back, once more with feeling, at all of its original campaign promises, not just at its original campaign slogan, to check if it has missed anything, or everything, for that matter.
With all of these, does the present administration really have enough time to develop an epilogue worthy of its prologue? This present administration is at the edge of tomorrow.
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