WHEN you ask presidential candidates what they would do if they win, they all answer with the same motherhood statements: they would eradicate poverty, curb graft and corruption, improve the economy, etc., etc. In reality, they do not have the slightest idea how to go about it.

Last Monday, I asked our two guests, former President Joseph Estrada of Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), and former Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane of Lapiang Manggagawa (LM), how they would go about achieving their motherhood statements. For example, how would they eradicate poverty, curb corruption, etc.?

Estrada had a clear idea of what he would do; Ebdane’s was not so clear.

Estrada said he would prioritize peace and order. When there is peace, when there is no rebellion or insurgency, the other priorities would follow. With insurgency and banditry, investors and tourists stay away, so we have no investments to put up factories and create more jobs, and we have no tourist dollars. Moreover, we waste so much money to fight the rebels, money we sorely need for social services and infrastructure.

“Do you know that we spend P30 billion a year to fight a never-ending war?” Estrada said. “With peace and order, I will save P30 billion a year and use that for other purposes, build homes, schools and hospitals, etc. With the military no longer preoccupied with war, I will use the soldiers for construction, build farm-to-market roads and bridges, schools, health centers, etc.

“Labor would be free. The soldiers would do the work. I don’t have to pay contractors. Imagine the savings. Those savings can be used for other needs. There will be a domino effect.

“With more farm-to-market roads, farmers can take their produce to markets more speedily, they would get more for their crops. At the same time, consumers will pay lower prices because transportation cost would be less.

“When the countryside is peaceful, investors and tourists will come in. Tourism is a big dollar earner of our neighbors. Do you know that tourists who come here are only a pitiful fraction of the tourists who go to Thailand? And yet we have the same, or far better, natural attractions than those of Thailand.

“With more investments, there would be more jobs for Filipinos here. They don’t have to work abroad to support their families. They would be able to afford their own homes (they don’t have to be squatters); they can send their children to good schools who would, later, get better jobs, etc.

“With everybody happy, comfortable, and better off, there would be no corruption or criminality.

Who can dispute such logic?

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Ebdane’s plans are not detailed, but they are centered on roads. He has been public works secretary for many years, after all. His goal is to build national highways to connect the islands of the archipelago from the north to the south. He is now nearing that goal, Ebdane said. That had been his assignment under President Arroyo.

Also, his administration would be pro-labor; his party is the Labor Party, after all. Instead of a minimum wage, workers should have a “living wage.”

What is a “living wage”? Enough to be able to afford a home, enough food to eat, sufficient clothes, enough to send the children to good schools and be in good health, etc.

Ebdane’s platform, although preoccupied with labor, does not ignore foreign relations. His administration would strengthen relations with our neighbors and the rest of the world.

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Who is Ebdane’s running mate?

“There will be a press conference where the complete ticket will be announced,” Ebdane replied.

How about Erap, does he have a complete senatorial lineup?

“Not yet, but we have some of the biggest stars in the senatorial firmament.”

How about some names?

“Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada (we have the two top officers of the Senate in the PMP ticket), Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Rep. Ompong Plaza, Brig. Gen. Danny Lim, Grace Poe… There will be more.”

Then there would be coalitions with other parties, and the PMP will have guest candidates. For example, Rep. Annie Susano, official candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) for mayor of Quezon City, will be a guest candidate of PMP. Susano used to be a member of Lakas-Kampi, and was with GMA in a number of her trips abroad. But the administration party did not want to make her the official party candidate. It would field Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista, also a former party member, they told her. So Susano was invited by NPC. Then “Bistek” was taken by Mayor Sonny Belmonte with him to the Liberal Party, along with Joy Belmonte, his daughter and Bistek’s running mate.

Malacañang was shocked by Belmonte’s defection; after all, he was secretary general of the party and was a senatorial and even presidential timber.

According to rumors, when the President was asked who would be the party’s mayoralty candidate in QC after the defection of Belmonte and Bistek, she answered, “Di si Susano,” the congresswoman they rejected before.

“But she has already joined the NPC,” they told her. She was taken aback again.

The administration party is losing its foot soldiers because its standard bearer, Gibo Teodoro, is kulelat in the surveys. There is an exodus from the party, because the head of the party, is the most unpopular, in fact, the most hated, president in the history of the Philippines. In fact, there is talk that she did not raise Gibo’s hand during his proclamation at his request. It is generally accepted that an endorsement by GMA is a “kiss of death” for any candidate.