MR. PHILIP CU UNJIENG: What angers and frustrates me about this systemic corruption and what’s been going on is that it’s tainted words like infrastructure. It’s even made occupations like DPWH District Engineer like a meme or a joke to begin with, ‘di ba? And yet it’s frustrating because there are so many people who are still taking public service seriously, ‘di ba?
PRESIDENT FERDINAND R. MARCOS JR.: True.
MR. CU UNJIENG: And for me, I feel it’s such a shame that these people have sort of like thrown occupations like that into the gutter, ‘di ba?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah.
MR. CU UNJIENG: I’d like you to comment on that.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: I take your point completely. I have always said, there are so many people in government who are very good, who are dedicated, who make sacrifices, who give everything that they can to their service.
And one of the reasons I really exposed all of this was because they’re – what the – these people are trying so hard.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yeah.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: You know, they come into work early in the morning. They leave late. They don’t take holidays. They come in on the weekends just so that they can do what they’re – even beyond – above and beyond their actual job description. And these people are doing something else entirely.
You know they’re just – just doing all this corruption, just taking money, destroying projects, you know that people very worked hard on.
For example, you tell somebody in – I don’t know, in some department and you say, “We have a proposed project. Work hard on it. All right?”
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yeah.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: And you said, you do the design, you know, do the program of work, and make sure you get everything right, et cetera, et cetera. We’ll put out people to bid.
And then you – after you’ve gone through all that work, they’ll just say, “Okay, ito, hindi – hindi, failed bid ito, ito lang ‘yung magiging – mananalo. Ito lang ‘yung contractor na mananalo.” Tapos ito, bayaran kita ng ganito.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yeah, tumahimik ka na lang, oo.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: You know, of course, everyone needs the money but most government workers would rather just be able to do their work and actually serve. That’s why they’re there. Government service is not easy.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yeah.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: We must respect that people are really working very hard and trying their best.
We cannot paint everyone in government with the same brush as all of these corrupt operators that you see in government.
And yes, there are many, many of them. But you will find, they do not filter down.
These people are making serious sacrifices: time away from their family, money out of their own pocket. Things like that. And they do this constantly, every single day.
That is not the face of government. These corrupt people are not the face of government.
All they are is the face of corruption. That’s all they are. They are not typical of government.
MR. CU UNJIENG: I agree with you on that, yeah. Second to the last question, sir, Mr. President, if you were to conduct your own sit down, who would you have as your guest?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Like this?
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yeah.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Just one person?
MR. CU UNJIENG: Just one person, yeah. Who would you have as your guest that you would – ?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: I might creep people out, but I have long conversations with my father still.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Okay.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: I mean, I think what would my dad do? It was a similar situation that I saw my father in and what did he do.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yes.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: And if I asked him, “Dad, what am I supposed to do?” What would he say? So, that’s the – because I’m in government.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yeah.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: And I’m President.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yeah.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: And he was president.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Right.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: That’s a treasure trove of good advice right there. I try to look back and sort of see what – you know – of what you know of him, what would he say?
MR. CU UNJIENG: Okay.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: How would he judge what you just did? “Anak, mali ‘yan,” o “anak, very good.” O whatever, you know.
So, the one thing I – since I became President, sometimes I hear in the back of my mind, it’s like my father and some of his other political allies – ‘yung mga – ‘yung sa generation niya, “Oh, mahirap ano?” Parang naririnig ko.
[laughter]
MR. CU UNJIENG: But you knew that. You knew it was mahirap.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: “Ano, mahirap ano?”
MR. CU UNJIENG: There was the honeymoon the first year – ‘di ba the first year and stuff –
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah.
MR. CU UNJIENG: – but you knew things were going to get tough.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, I have the advantage of having watched my father being president at very, very close quarters. So, yes.
You know, you have a good idea but you don’t really know until you’re there.
MR. CU UNJIENG: You’re more than halfway now through your term ‘no, and I’m guessing thoughts sometimes of legacy creep in, coming into play in terms of what you are doing.
Now that you’ve poked that hornet’s nest of corruption, what are your priorities for the next two years and what do you see as what you would want to be best remembered for?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: This question of legacy keeps coming up. It’s not something that I think about quite frankly. Because legacy is when you die, right? I’m not about to die. At least that’s not my plan.
I’ll just say, what are the directions I want to go towards in the time remaining?
First of all, the social programs are important. People have to have a good healthcare system. People have to have food to eat. People have to have shelter as much as possible. People have to have – they must be able to survive. Ganoon na lang. Let’s just start there.
Once you’ve achieved that, for me, the next thing you should do is education. So, I’m putting a great deal of my attention and the government’s focus on education. That is the most important thing that you can do.
You cannot have a successful society without a well-educated society. Remember when we were the best English speakers in Asia? We had the highest literacy rate in Asia. Let’s get back there. We need to get back there.
MR. CU UNJIENG: And even from Science point of view ‘di ba? IRRI, the International Rice Research Institute, ‘di ba?
PRESIDENT MARCOS: And again –
MR. CU UNJIENG: Everyone would come here to –
PRESIDENT MARCOS: And again, there are so many good people here. They just don’t have the means, they don’t have the support, they don’t have the funding. That’s what we need to do.
We have to make sure that the generations to come are well-educated, they’re well-able to compete amongst themselves in the Philippines and internationally because kaya naman ng Pilipino ‘yan eh.
MR. CU UNJIENG: Yeah.
PRESIDENT MARCOS: Look how well we do when we go abroad, when we’re well-trained. Look how well they – how wonderful the reviews that come back to us.
Kayang-kaya ng Pilipino ‘yan, but they have to be trained. There has to be a system that brings them up to the standards so they can be internationally competitive in whatever – whatever they do.
If they enter a business, or become – they compete in the labor market. Oh ‘yan ang gawin – gusto mong gawin? Halika, dito ka, tuturuan ka namin. Tuturuan ka namin.
That’s what we need to do. That’s – we have to have that system there.
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