Resuming the countdown

Now that President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III himself has put his foot down on the supposed popular clamor for an extended term of office, I could resume my parallel countdown of the remaining days of his presidency being done by one of his Palace staff. I stopped my own countdown last September when – with obvious tacit go-signal from the Palace – administration allies from the Liberal Party (LP) led a spirited public debate for possible term extension for President Aquino.

If you happen to visit The STAR editorial office, you could see the whiteboard behind my desk where I posted my parallel countdown on the Noy presidency. It was only last March when I joined the Palace countdown after hearing a speech of P-Noy when he mentioned the number of his remaining days in office from the countdown of a very close aide.

When I stopped doing it, the countdown stood at 667 days as of September 1. This, after President Aquino began to echo the lines of his LP men for possible term extension when all along he has staunchly snapped at Charter change (Cha-cha) calls even if administration allies were behind it.

But what suddenly changed the course of winds from the Palace?

The calls for term extension of P-Noy began after House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. formally started the ball rolling for the Cha-cha initiatives at the 16th Congress. Pushing a Cha-cha through legislation – via joint resolution of both chambers of Congress – the Speaker supported amendments of certain restrictive economic provisions of the country’s 1987 Constitution.

However, the LP congressmen stirred the Cha-cha agenda to encompass political amendments, especially to lift the term limits on all elected officials, including the six-year term of the President and no re-election provision. The term extension being pushed by pro-administration lawmakers turned full steam on cue of their LP president-on-leave, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas II.

Out of the blue during a TV interview in August, Roxas echoed his “idea” of enabling President Aquino to extend his term of office purportedly to continue the reforms of the incumbent administration. Roxas swore it was his own idea and it was not a party stand. Neither, Roxas averred, did he get prior permission from P-Noy before he aired this idea.

As later events turned out, it was a well-calculated trial balloon for the ruling party. It deflected growing criticisms on the leadership of the DILG by Roxas – the presumptive presidential candidate of LP for the May, 2016 elections. While at the same time, this left a good public impression on Roxas as a leader always willing to give way to a higher calling of national interest above oneself.

At the time, however, Roxas has been poorly trailing behind in pre-poll surveys. His archrival, Vice President Jejomar Binay has been leading in opinion surveys as the most preferred presidential candidate.

The two – Binay and Roxas – are still locked in pending case before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET). Roxas ran as LP’s vice presidential candidate but lost to Binay who was the vice presidential candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

In his suit at the PET, Roxas claimed for recount of the “null” votes to catapult him and ease out Binay as the winner of the vice presidential race during the May, 2010 elections. To do this, Roxas must pay millions of pesos but which apparently are not forthcoming up to now.

With the next presidential elections just around the corner, the PET could not thus resolve yet the Roxas protest against Binay.

In the meantime, the political stock of Roxas has gained traction in the latest pre-polls survey following the barrage of charges of corruption aired against the Vice President before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. The series of Senate public hearings tarred the Vice President on alleged anomalies he committed while he was still the mayor of Makati City for almost two decades.

The Vice President’s survey ratings naturally lost some ground but he remains on top of the heap as the most preferred successor of P-Noy at the Palace. Looking at the numbers, the Vice President expects there won’t be any letup in the attacks against him in the coming days ahead.

As already confirmed by both sides, P-Noy and Binay met at the Palace where they discussed, among other things, the ongoing Senate investigations into reported anomalous transactions of the Binays in the city government of Makati and allegedly amassed ill-gotten wealth. From all indications, P-Noy impressed upon the Vice President he is on his own to defend himself on these allegations presented before the Senate.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee has issued last week a formal invitation to the office of the Vice President to appear before the mother committee to air his side on these allegations. The ball is now on the court of Vice President Binay.

Meanwhile, P-Noy finally ended speculations on a possible term extension in a speech before the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) during its 13th CEO Forum and 118th general membership meeting held in Makati last Tuesday.

“Even if there are some quarters saying I should try and go for a second term, I don’t think that’s a right solution. We all have a time card in this world and we have to prepare for the eventuality of being called to meet our Maker. So there has to be that continuation of people of like mind who will deliver on the promises that are real and not just self-serving or nice, pleasant to hear,” P-Noy pointed out.

“The right solution,” P-Noy went on to say, is choosing the next leader wisely. I just don’t know if the President’s declaration was reading from his prepared speech or he digressed from it and spoke his heart out on the matter.

“And if I can ask you also to discern properly as to who is extolling populist sentiments with no substance as opposed to those who not only say the right things but whom you can trust to deliver the same,” the Chief Executive told his audience.

P-Noy though stopped short to identify who might be his anointed presidential successor. Or was he looking at himself in the mirror?

Going back to my calendar, it dawned on me that President Aquino has barely one and a half years left of his term. As of today, P-Noy has 604 days remaining before he steps down from office at noon of June 30, 2016.