EDITORIAL - The Pied Piper Secret

Noynoy Aquino is expected to sign into law next week the bill postponing elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao from its original schedule on August 8 to May 2013, and for him to appoint interim officials to take the place of elected officials whose terms are expiring.

Paving the way for the signing is the commitment of the so-called Mindanao bloc of more than 50 congressmen who have signified their intention not to block the bill despite its patent unconstitutionality and illegality.

Instructive is this statement by one of them: “While I have maintained that the ARMM polls postponement is unconstitutional, my fellow lawmakers from Mindanao believe that we have to give the president the chance to make good his promise to instill reforms in the region.”

What this tells the citizens of this country is that their lawmakers, those who make the very laws that citizens are expected to follow and obey to the letter under pain of punishment are themselves far more willing to bend or break the law to suit their own interests.

What these interests are, the citizens can only surmise. But these interests must be powerful and compelling enough to move lawmakers in one direction and one direction only — and that is to break the law.

What is even more interesting is that these lawmakers include some of those who have been very vocal about supposed shenanigans in government, those who have succeeded in projecting to the public an image of uprightness and incorruptibility, such as the one quoted above.

Aquino has been harping about moral uprightness being the foundation of his presidency. It would serve this country well if he makes public the Pied Piper formula he employed to marshal successfully such an unwieldy bunch of lawmakers into breaking the law in one fell swoop.

Moral uprightness demands openness and honest dealings. But would Noynoy be up to the task of being open and honest in this regard? Just listen to the congressmen — they are willing to ignore the legal infirmities of the bill, right? What on earth could make them do that?