BBM Podcast 6 (Episode 2)

KATHLEEN ANNE MILLONTE (UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST, EDITOR IN CHIEF, THE DAWN): We are curious po about your mental well-being, Mr. President. Everyone knows po how immense your role is po sa Pilipinas, sa government po natin. So, despite all that, kamusta po ang mental health ninyo, sir?

PRESIDENT FERDINAND R. MARCOS JR.: I’m fine. Siguro over the years, nasanay na rin ako sa… May malaking advantage ako dahil ‘yung father ko naging presidente. So, for 20 years, napapanood ko siya. Sabi ko, alam ko, ang hirap na trabaho ito.

So, you have to learn to manage it. Una akong umupo, ayaw kong mag-break kasi ang daming trabaho. Pero you have to teach yourself hindi kailangan mong mag-break. Kasi you’re not as clear in your thinking when you start to get tired. O ‘di ba? Or you’re not as fast.

And I’ve always been – ang sistema ko pagka may malaking problema, my approach is always like this. I said, learn everything about the problem. Then go away and do something else. Do something completely different na hindi mo maiisip. You come back, usually there’s – you have a new idea. Usually that works for me.

So, you have to take that break somehow. I don’t mean vacation, two months’ vacation.

I’m talking about taking three hours off, right? And doing something, I don’t know, listen to music or make kuwento with your kids or something. But something different.

I’ve been through hell and high water, you know. I don’t panic anymore. I don’t — hindi na ako natataranta. So, that’s my advantage.

MS. MILLONTE: Thank you for that, sir. Maybe we’ll try to do that po. In your case po, ano po usually ginagawa niyo po during that break?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: That one of the best things for me for relieving stress is exercise. It really, really helps.

AGRIPINO JOHN PATRICK GA-AN (4TH YEAR JURIS DOCTOR OF THE COLLEGE OF LAW OF WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY): Maybe we’ll exercise later. [laughter]

And in relation to that po – to that question, given that there’s a lot going in your plate, what is that personal why of your leadership? Parang, it’s not in the press release, but what drives you, what excites you the most in serving our country, Mr. President?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: I’m here to serve. I’m not here for myself. I’m not here for, you know… But I really think that there are many things that I could do.

And I say, you’re not yet doing it. Hindi mo pa natatapos. Go, go, go, go, go. Keep doing it. Keep working, keep working, keep working. Kulang pa, kulang pa, kulang pa.

At saka ang katotohanan diyan, lagi naman magiging kulang ‘yan. Kahit ilang taon mo na tinrabaho ‘yan, kulang pa rin ‘yan kasi hindi natatapos ‘yung trabaho. But never mind, you just have to keep going, you have to keep going until you drop.

[laughter]

JANNINE LAGBAWAN (POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, NEWS EDITOR, THE COMMUNICATOR): Now po na-question po namin your life as a President. How about in a different perspective? Do you once wish to live in a different family background? Or naisip niyo po ba na, if I’m not living in a political background, what kind of life you would like to be po ba?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oh my gosh! Would I want to have been born into another family? Absolutely not.

I still consider – parang ang tingin ko sa sarili ko, ako na ang pinakasuwerteng tao na kilala ko. Wala na akong kilala na tao na masuwerte pa sa akin dahil ganyan ang naging ama ko, ganyan ang naging mother ko, ganyan ang naging experience ko.

Kasi lahat naman ng experience kahit hindi ka nage-enjoy, may natututunan ka eh, ‘di ba? It was Nietzsche, ‘di ba? What doesn’t kill you?

MS. MILLONTE: Pero, sir, say if ano po, if you weren’t born po as a Marcos?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: If I wasn’t born in my family, you know what, I’ll tell you something, that all my – when I was young, I really did not want to enter politics.

At saka medyo nadidismaya na sa akin ‘yung magulang ko kasi you know ako ang lalaki eh, iisa akong lalaki. Pero ayaw na ayaw ko, ayaw na ayaw ko.

Sabi ko, nakita ko ‘yung magulang ko, ang hirap ng buhay nila, ang daming sakripisyo. Sabi ko, ayaw ko na – ‘yung tahimik lang na buhay. That’s why I went to business school.

Pero hindi ganyan ang buhay, hindi mo ma-predict. Kaya dito ako napunta. Not that I regret anything of it. I do not regret one day.

MR. GA-AN: Since every public role po requires a sacrifice, what do you think or ano po ‘yung sa tingin ninyo ‘yung ni-let go po ninyo when you became the President na nami-miss ninyo po ngayong gawin, na hindi niyo na po nagagawa since naging Presidente na po kayo?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Tulog.

[laughter]

MS. LAGBAWAN: Parang hindi lang president ‘yung…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Mahirap matulog. Mahirap buoin ‘yung tulog. Dahil kung minsan matatapos ka ng late. Pero kahit na matapos ka ng late, mayroon pang kaunting gagawin, may kailangan kang basahin para mag-ready sa the next day.

Tapos dahil marami kang masyadong iniisip, pagka nagising ka may some noise or something o kinagat ka ng lamok or whatever, ‘pag gising mo, ang hirap nang bumalik sa tulog kasi papasok na naman sa isip mo ‘yung mga kailangan gawin, ‘yung mga papaano kung ganito ang mangyari, papaano kung ganyan – plano-plano.

MS. LAGBAWAN: How are you naman po as a father? How do you discipline your child or your children? Or how do you set – be a role model po para sa kanila?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: That’s one thing that I truly believe in is that you teach by example.

Because in my own experience, all the things I learned from my father, “hindi ‘yung umupo ka rito, the lesson for today is, ganito, ganyan, ganyan, ganyan.” Wala, walang ganoon.

Basta nakikita ko lang ‘yung mga ginagawa niya. Kung minsan magtatanong ako sa kanya, bakit ganoon, bakit ganyan, ba’t si ganyan, bakit hindi? Sasagutin naman ako.

MS.MILLONTE: Sir, we’re talking about your family dynamics po. So, I want to ask po, since you are the son of our late president, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. po, is there anything po na you would have done differently from the decisions he made during his term po?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: We don’t do things the same way anymore. You shouldn’t be doing the same things as you were doing in 1975 or 1980. This is a different, different world.

And every day, we spend hours with my advisers thinking, think out of the box. Stop thinking the same old way. It doesn’t work anymore.

My hope and the reason the structural change is important is because kahit wala na ako rito, sana ‘yung mga pagbabagong nasimulan namin o na tumatakbo na, matuloy-tuloy na para hindi na matanggal.

Do it in such a way that it will continue, it will even get better, especially if we choose our presidents well. So, that’s what’s behind all of that.

MS.MILLONTE: I’m curious po, is there anything na tinuro po ng father niyo po sa inyo na you still apply up to now whether sa work niyo po as President or personally po?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Many things, dami.

Kung minsan may nangyayari tapos may response ako. Tapos maiisip ko, paano ko alam gawin ‘yun? Ah kasi naalala ko na years, years ago nakita ko sa father ko mayroon siyang ginawang ganoon at maganda ang naging resulta. Kaya ‘yun – doon ako natuto.

I think the basic thing that I learned from my father is don’t stop. If you believe in something that you are doing for the country, for your people, do not stop.

You will have to sacrifice. Ganyan talaga ang trabaho. You will have to sacrifice. Masasaktan ka. You will have to make sacrifices but don’t stop. You will fail. You have to stand up again. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.

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