Quotes of the Day
Former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos says the cure to his country's instability is a switch to a parliamentary system within a year. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is fighting possible impeachment, endorses the idea, but without committing to a time frame. TIME's Anthony Spaeth and Nelly Sindayen asked Ramos recently if his solution can work.
When President Arroyo seemed in danger of losing her job about Five weeks ago, you joined her in a press conference in Malacañang palace and stabilized the situation. Some people are now calling you the co-president. are you?
I'm not exerting any power from here. If the President has benefited from my appearing in Malacañang, well and good. My support of the President is only secondary to my support of the people and the integrity of the republic. I must emphasize: I'm no stooge of anybody's, and nobody is a stooge of mine.
How unstable is the country?
Our ship is leaky, old, and there's stormy weather out there. It has not yet sunk, but it is floundering. So when we see a hole, for God's sake, let's plug the hole.
You view a parliamentary system as one way of doing that. You say the switch should come by July 2006. do you insist on that timing?
I'm saying we have 10 months, maybe 12 or 15—that's what the country can probably stand. Look at our peso, our credit ratings, look at the poor below. [He points from his 26th floor window to the streets and slums of Makati.] How urgent can you get?
That would require the president to forfeit four years of her term.
Ah, you've said the magic words ... The higher the position, the greater the sacrifice. It's her head that's on the line. It's her legacy.
How will a parliamentary system be any better?
Because there will be greater continuity, accountability, predictability and responsibility. The no-confidence vote is a mechanism to throw out an incumbent government.
Your term from 1992 to 1998 was successful. Didn't the Presidential system work then?
I did not go back to square one and rebuild the structure all over again according to my own design, sweeping away the little gains and reforms done by my predecessors, who were from another party.
Wouldn't a parliamentary system also allow you to return to power?
My rationale is to help the country, not to be elected Prime Minister or become a ceremonial President. I consider both of those as demotions. How can I write my memoirs if I take on a job I've already done before? And I've challenged Congress: make a law, or put it in an amendment, that previous Presidents can't run for Prime Minister.
What about a military coup?
That's always been my fear. I have to monitor that part of it. Right now, I have to take the word of the commanders. I think it will not be that way. We haven't reached that kind of crisis yet. It's basically an economic crisis.
Is A new legislative system enough to fix the philippines?
No. We also need the cleaning-up of undesirable and corrupt practices that have eroded the people's faith in government. Corruption, red tape and the poor enforcement of laws [deter] investors; our country's strategic location—in the middle of the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean—and our high-quality workers cannot offset that. In the global economy, anything that a country lacks, it can import and outsource—except for two items: good governance and national pride, which must be homegrown.
Can the Philippines recover from this crisis?
We have been through worse: 14 years of martial law. Everybody has to have the same vision for the country, and that is a better life for Filipinos. Every single day prolongs the agony of the people down there. If we clean up our slate and start anew, I'm very confident we'll be seen in a new light. My idea is that in 2013, 2014, 2015, we can get our house in order and catch up with the competition: Malaysia, Thailand, even Indonesia. It may be pie-in-the-sky right now, but we did it [during People Power] in February 1986.
- Anthony Spaeth and Nelly Sindayen
- TIME talks to the Philippines' former President