EDITORIAL - Once astride the tiger, there is no getting off

Let us consider for a moment that it is even possible for constitutional amendments to be initiated and then approved in time to allow President Aquino to run for a fresh six-year term. And let us consider further that the people will go along with his excuses for running again and actually elect him to a second term. What then? What can Filipinos expect to happen in those next six years.

According to Aquino, he needs a fresh six-year term to finish what he has started. That is, of course, assuming that he has started, or that if he has, what he has started is already substantial enough to need only a finishing kick, finish being the operative word that he used. But looking back at what he has accomplished, it is very doubtful if the goals he has set for himself will be finished even if he is given his entire lifetime to do so.

The goals Aquino has laid down for himself are anchored on reform, to be achieved by treading on the straight and narrow path. But those goals are not yet in sight this late already into his first term. A former president in hospital, a former chief justice jobless, and three senators detained have been equalled out and cancelled by friends and cronies culpable of similar offenses who not only remain scot-free but are in fact being defended by no less than Aquino himself.

With each passing day that no friend or crony of the president is even subjected to the most cursory of investigations, the more hazy and distant his goals of reform through the straight and narrow have become. And the more hazy and distant they become, the less likely they will be achieved, as we said, even if Aquino is given his entire lifetime to do so.

Moreover, if his present term is used as a measure, Aquino has failed miserable to project himself as possessed with the kind of work ethic that can achieve things substantially and in time. Aquino is more known as a laid-back executive, more known for his absences than for being on top of everything 24/7. The term that has been invented to describe him - noynoying - is pretty much accurate and appropriate.

It is therefore not to the best interests of everybody, including Aquino himself, that he be given a new six-year term. For one thing, a people frustrated in their expectations a first time may not take kindly to being frustrated another time, especially over the same unfulfilled promises. Aquino is no stranger to social unrest, having scarily lived through it when his own mother was at the helm. He should not court it for himself.

On the other hand, securing another term for himself means shoving aside all of those who have already spent so much time, money and energy positioning themselves for their own chance to be where Aquino is now. Surely they too will not take kindly the prospect be being shoved aside after all they have done to promote their interests. Aquino must therefore weigh his options well before committing himself. Once astride the tiger, there is no getting off unhurt, like Marcos.