Reminders for Lent-bound politicians

The results of the latest Pulse Asia popularity surveys came as no surprise. Vice President Jejomar Binay, who has been leading all similar surveys in the past, has effectively kept himself much in the background. Unscathed by controversy, he was a shoo-in to keep No. 1.

  It did not come as a surprise either for Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to dislodge President Noynoy Aquino from the No. 2 spot. Enrile has been handling the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona impressively. The public cannot help but notice and appreciate that.

  As for Noynoy, there was no way he could beat Binay and Enrile if all he ever did with his official time during the survey period was to keep “noynoying” and then take a break trying to pick a fight with Corona.

  He had to fall to No. 3 and all the frantic efforts by Noynoy’s spin doctors to explain that his 70 percent rating was still high falls flat in face of the fact that the president of the republic lags behind his vice president and the Senate president.

  It would have been tragic, however, if Noynoy fell to No. 4 behind, say lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas. Though that would have been plausible, Noynoy falling below No. 3 is unthinkable to a regime riding on the crest of people power.

  I would not be surprised if the government’s entire spin apparatus kicked into high gear to prevent such a terrible ignominy. And I would not be surprised either if that apparatus used every means at its disposal, whether fair or foul, to ensure that does not happen.

  Anyway, pulling a few tricks here and there should be no skin off the back of an administration that has shown an utter lack of compunction to cut corners when it comes to the persecution of its enemies.

  As to Corona scraping the cellar, people did not need Pulse Asia, or any other survey for that matter, to tell them how unpopular he has become. The black propaganda unit of Noynoy is, after all, a far more efficient team than his sad and sorry prosecutors.

  I won’t be surprised, in fact, if the timing of the survey’s release was meant to keep the rankings nailed to the consciousness of people as they go into Lenten break. With the Senate going into recess and the circus folding up until May, it pays to keep some memories fresh. 

 I was caught off guard, though, by the parallel release of survey results on the leading contenders for the Senate race in 2013. I have to give it whoever cooked up this neat little way of reminding the senator judges that some of them are reelectionists.

 Lest we forget, the impeachment trial is as much a political exercise as it is a legal process. Beneath their flowing robes and behind their stern demeanors, the senator judges are still very much political animals.

  I will not go so far as to say someone is trying to tie the looming political battles to the ongoing impeachment trial. But I will not say it is impossible either. All I am saying is the timing of the survey results is rather odd and uncomfortable to deal with.

  Anyway, we all are going into our own Lenten breaks, and the public officials and senator judges upon whose shoulders rest he fate of the nation and that of the chief justice can use a little of their quiet moments to reflect on the responsibilities expected of them.

 They need not be told what these responsibilities are. As leaders of the nation, they know what these are and are expected to carry them out to the best that they are able. They need no surveys to be reminded. What they need is a little of God in their hearts.