EDITORIAL - What change and reform?

The current buzzwords in politics — change and reform — ring hollow when those who mouth them cannot even force themselves to confront the real meanings of change and reform and then practice them.

When Mar Roxas stepped aside for Noynoy Aquino, the pressure was for him to see that Noynoy represented the embodiment of change and reform. But weren't those the very same reasons foisted upon Mar to embolden him to seek the same office in the first place?

Only yesterday Mar was the answer to our problems. All of a sudden that answer is now Noynoy? We cannot expect to see change and reform if those manipulating the two cannot even tell the nation squarely that Mar gave way because Noynoy is now the more winnable candidate.

In other words, it is still dirty politics at play, in which case there's no way change and reform can call a timeout and make a substitution. The sacrifice Mar had to make was indeed a painful and costly one. But it was still a practical political sacrifice nonetheless.

We can feel for Mar because he did try to work so hard. Some of the things he forced himself to do were nothing short of pathetic and beneath the normal dignity of a person of his stature and breeding.

Taking the intensity of his desire, and the pain he must have gone through to do what was the only thing left to do, one cannot help but be driven to silence and pray that God give him some future reprieve and a proper niche in time.

But while it is easier to be kind to Mar because of what he had to endure, the same cannot be said of the growing many who ravenously feast on the carcass of Noynoy for their own political health.

Look, Noynoy was not born yesterday. He has been around for all of 49 years. But has anyone truly given him a second look? So why all of a sudden they see him as the only chance for change and reform in this country?

The reason, which no one is honest enough to admit, is because they saw the numbers at Cory's wake and funeral and the wizards of political math realized what the numbers meant. They see victory in those numbers, not Noynoy. And they talk of change and reform?