Noynoy Aquino may be leading in the recent Pulse Asia survey but for most sensible Filipinos there is no reason to cheer. It is a backward step for us. Indeed it is a reason to be alarmed. Here is a candidate with no qualifications or experience to be president of the Philippines and yet he is being pushed to win the May 2010 elections by hook or by crook. We should focus on this bizarre contradiction to understand what is happening to politics in the Philippines today as May draws closer.
Why is this happening? It is my opinion that other factors are at work. It is not merely a local contest as we are made to believe. I predict the campaign will become dirtier with the intent to destroy anyone and anything that comes in the way of Noynoy’s victory. And it will succeed unless we put up a fight.
You can be sure that the SWS and Pulse Asia chorus will be there to help the narrative along. Our minds are being diverted by petty political mishaps and black propaganda on other challengers. We will do well not to be distracted by its twists and turns because the bottom line of the campaign is to make sure that President GMA loses influence in any future Philippine government.
We’re back in the default mode of the oust Gloria movement that failed. The same players are behind Noynoy for President. To them, it is not enough that Noynoy wins, President GMA should also be taught a lesson. That is the fate that befalls leaders of weak countries who defy American power.
One day, a studious writer of history will connect the dots from the recall of the Filipino contingent from Iraq to the Garci tapes to the Hyatt 10 resignation, to repeated attempts to re-create Edsa inspired by Cory Aquino, the revered mere housewife and the crowds that were finally assembled to create the “bandwagon” for Noynoy for President. The Arroyo government may not be pure, but it is more contemptible to allow machinations by foreign interests to thwart our self-determination.
Filipinos want this country in competent hands and hanker for an intelligent basis for electing a president.
The perverted cause of Noynoy as president is nothing original. The election of an incompetent president through the help of outside forces with expertise on overthrow has been done before. All this is done in the name of good – what dominating America desires for the Philippines. It has been so since America’s pursuit of manifest destiny.
Therefore Filipinos who value the country’s independence must close ranks to stop the perfidy. Let us not be misled into electing an “incompetent little boy” in the name of good governance.
As the campaign heats up, there will be more acrimony fueled by dirty tricks but we should not be misled. To those who say there is no more time left to overcome Noynoy’s lead it is time to fight back and I mean really fight back. If necessary, we will have to resort to machinations as unorthodox as those used in setting him up as the leading presidential candidate when he was nowhere to be heard or seen through all the years when the Philippines was painstakingly learning how to stand on its own feet.
If we are to remain faithful to the vision and the sacrifices made by our forefathers we must vote for a competent president on May 10, 2010. For this reason alone, it is anybody but Noynoy. (And for the sake of accuracy also Erap, although he is not a threat).
In this election the most important task for Filipinos is to break up the partnership between the country’s oligarchy and foreign interests to bring about a strong nation. Our governments are accused of corruption but what about the greater corruption of colonialism shielded by an overstaying oligarchy? There may be other factors stopping the growth and strength of Filipino nationhood, some of them self-inflicted, but none is more toxic than this constant interference with our right to self determination.
This is the historical reason for stopping Noynoy from becoming president. It has been proven time and again that if we allow such interference we work against our own interest to become a strong independent nation.
The evil is about how clueless Noynoy is being put up for the most difficult job in the country. Interference is not justified. In a future article I will write about how the Noynoy-Roxas wing of the Liberal Party consorted with a foreign group while masking its interference in Philippine politics as a think tank promoting its own brand of “liberalism”.
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It is to be expected that the Opposition should criticize the President‘s recent appointments. It is the political season and any points against her, it is assumed, are plus points for their candidate.
But there is a country to run and she has her duties. She must continue to run it as best as she can or thinks she can as long as these are within lawful bounds. One of her duties is to make sure her government fully manned for the sake of the country’s stability and continuity with people she trusts. She exercises her mandate on behalf of the state and not in deference to political rivals or a bad press.
Many of the vacancies in government were created when officials resigned to run for the coming elections. She has had to appoint those she sees as able to carry on the policies set by her government.
Former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. resigned to campaign for his son Hilario III, who is running as a candidate for Cebu governor. In his place, President GMA appointed a career diplomat, Libran Cabactulan, a senior special assistant for nuclear disarmament at the Foreign Affairs Department. Her appointment of Cabactulan is consistent with continuity.
There is a distinction between her duty to keep the government running on one hand and whether those she appoints are to the liking of the Opposition and critics on the other.
Until there is a new government she remains in charge and must do her duties in the best way she can.