Honasan says: Wanted: President who’s willing to be assassinated

By EJ Dominic Fernandez and Che Palicte
THE PHILIPPINES badly needs a government that is characterized by continuity and long-term sustainability, and whoever is elected President in 2016 must be “willing to be assassinated” for reforms and good policies that he would doggedly pursue.
This, in a nutshell, is the aspiration for the country of re-electionist Sen. Gregorio B. Honasan II who spoke before a gathering of Davao newsmen during the Hermes Club media forum at Waterfront Insular Hotel Friday.
Honasan, who had led revolts against the Philippine government in the past, said one of the main problems of the nation is lack of predictability because every time there is a new set of officials elected along with a new President, a new set of policies replaces the last one.
The veteran lawmaker said such a practice discourages foreign investors from doing business in the Philippines, adding that most big-time investors hesitate to gamble their money with a new set of government officials who are expected to disregard good established policies and change them with their untested ideas.
Honasan hopes that whatever good foundation the Noynoy Aquino administration has established would be continued by the next President.
The new President “must be willing to go against narrow vested selfish interest groups, must also be willing to forget about his personal security and focus only on God, country and family.”
Honasan paraphrased the words of the late senator, Raul Roco, on what a public official should be, especially a senator. According to him, the late lawmaker, Roco, said that senators are placed in the Senate not as soldiers, lawyers, or showbiz personalities, but as legislators to vote on laws and policies, some of which would determine in the long term who will live and who will die, adding that senators assume the role of god with a small “g.”