Should we Vote NONOY AQUINO for President ? ( because he is Ninoy & Cory’s Son ).
( http://pinoybiz.blogspot.com )
By all indications, he is indeed one damn good person, But really, is one damn good person what we need right now? Is nice enough to take us out of the mess we are in? Is his amiable personality enough to gloss over the fact that he has spent most of his years in Congress doing, well, not much, and that, just like the lot of them, he is a politician taking advantage of this singular opportunity – of all things, his mother’s death – to be president?
The bigger man, the wiser man, the one damn good person would, after seeing the multitude of mourners outpouring their devotion for his mother, have declined the temptation to be goaded into running; in Tagalog, hindi siya magpapabuyo. Certainly, a good man would have at least waited a little longer and not announced his candidacy right after the ritualistic 40 days after the passing of his mother, making it seem like he was just obliged to comply with Filipino tradition so as not to look insensitive, but at the same time that he couldn’t wait a day more since he’s thrown his hat in the race too late and must thus make up for lost time.
For in his years of public service, in his whole life, really, can Noynoy honestly say he thinks himself competent enough to be president? Or is it more likely that the crowd at his mother’s wake, and his slew of very able advisers – pardon the digression, but Drilon, Abad, which side are you on lately? – emboldened him into that way of thinking? While in his “period of discernment”, I was hoping that for at least once in my life, I would witness a true statesman, selfless, wise, like the previous generation witnessed Ninoy. He would’ve been that statesman had he declined, knowing he knows nothing and being truly wise for it. Alas, the blinding allure of power, the buoying wave of his mother’s (not even his own) supporters, was too strong to resist. If this doesn’t reek of political opportunism, I don’t know what does.
I agree, we shouldn’t vote purely on competence. But that shouldn’t stop experience from reminding us what happens if we vote for an incompetent president. What happens is we vote a hundred thousand advisers with him/her. What happens is after three years in office, we try to take him/her out again, realizing we made a mistake. If we’re unsuccessful, we call it a coup attempt. If we’re successful, we call it Edsa Dos. What happens is we pin our hopes on another popular icon, another shining symbol, without realizing that we’re being f*cked by the same people over and over again.
He may not be like his mother, or he might excessively pale in comparison to his father but he had the silent mystery that disarms even the most arduous critic.
Even so I hope that he has answers for the following:
1. The Reproductive health bill.
2. The Hacienda Luisita tragedy.
3. The massive cheating to be done this upcoming elections.
4. The possibility of a failure of elections.
5. What he would do if he wins the elections would he prosecute the former President?
6. His stance on globalization.
7. The national debt which his mother so proudly wanted to pay for at the expense of our economy.
8. The question of the muslim south.
9. His stand on the NDF.
10. His capacity to create jobs and how he would address the problem of brain drain.
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I hope that when we choose who to vote for President, we must not look at what did his/her parents have done to this country, but understanding and discerning what will be the country’s future if we lay it down into the hands of a certain candidate.
