Irreconcilable

What bothers me about these Senate hearings trying to investigate alleged corruption issues involving Vice President Jejomar Binay and his family is that I have seen this many times before. Politicians have been repeatedly demonized by their opponents in the hallowed halls (or 'hollow,' as in empty?) of the Senate, all made in aid of legislation, but succeeding only in defacing the good names these people have worked hard to build. Don't get me wrong, I am not Pro-Binay, and I'd like to see them answer these allegations in the courts, but not like this. The family has been made into a spectacle by obviously ambitious and overeager political opponents like Senators Trillanes and Cayetano, who for me are two of the most irritating senators (can someone investigate Alan Cayetano and where he is getting all the money for those stupid Taguig ads aired on primetime? He hates Binay with a passion yet he borrows a page from Binay's "Ganito kami, sana ganito rin sa buong bansa" playbook; a fine line between hatred and jealousy, indeed).

There are those who have never been able to recover their reputations after successful demolition jobs by our beloved senators, some of these unfortunate politicians I know personally (and some of them are so undeserving of the muck and mud and poison), and so I have become wary of these hearings.

What bothers me more in light of these investigations is the double-standard that most people who condemn the Binays have. For them PNoy and the rest of the Aquino family, Cory and Ninoy leading the list, can do no wrong. Aquino is all good, Binay is all evil. They praise PNoy to the high heavens; they demonize Binay hoping he is plunged to the hottest depths of hell. They praise PNoy to the point of pushing for a second term for him, no matter how unconstitutional or divisive, no matter how dictatorial. They are out of their wits because in their hearts and minds, no evil can possibly come from the Aquinos, the infallible Gods that they are.

But this is what I cannot reconcile; there is no congruence in the parallel thematics they peddle. Do they forget that the vice president is a creation of Cory Aquino, and that if not for her, he would not be where he is today? The genesis of Binay is clear, it is no metaphorical or mythical Adam and Eve; both the Aquinos and the vice president have mutually and repeatedly expressed this fact for years and again just very recently.

So if Binay is as bad as they claim he is, how can the Aquinos be all good? I ask because it's not as if the creator banished his creation from paradise after being corrupted by the serpent, that there was a need to atone for his sins and ultimately redeem him so he may have eternal life. Such is not the case. On the contrary, the Creator is pleased with his creation, he continues to support him, to coddle him, to embrace him, and as the sisters Ballsy and Kris have made clear, the family will endorse him.

You see, if Binay is all bad, if Binay is so corrupt (per his critics who, ironically, are pro-Aquino stalwarts), what does that make of the Aquinos who created him and coddled him all these years? At best, they are complicit. At worst, they are hypocrites who claim to be the only genuine reformers but work mighty hard to promote and perpetuate the politics of someone who, if their own allies and supporters are to be believed, is the complete antithesis to reform and good governance.

The irreconcilability of both ideas is crystal clear as day, while the inconsistency of those who tout both ideas just baffles. So which is which? It has to be one or the other – Aquino is incorruptible or Binay is corrupt – it cannot be both.

Although, come to think of it, doublespeak isn't entirely surprising coming from those whose tongues are forked.

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Miriam for president, deux?

This could be a game-changer. With the crop of aspirants so far uninspiring, Miriam Defensor- Santiago just might rally young people (the base of her support) behind her bid and elect her into Malacañang, especially considering that 2016 will see more voters from the youth, more than any presidential election in history.

This is getting exciting.