Truth or alibi

In Australia a few weeks ago, President Aquino skipped a dinner tendered in his honor by the Australian government. The reason? A bum stomach that had its origins in New Zealand, where he visited first.

Not much may be said about that incident. Everybody has a bum stomach every once in a while. In fact, a bum stomach is so common it has become the favorite alibi of anyone who simply wants to knock off from some duty or responsibility.

Last Friday, however, Aquino again developed a bum stomach, which is why he failed to formally receive International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde during her visit to Malacanang.

Again, a bum stomach is so common everyone gets in every now and then. But then again also, it is so common it has become the favorite excuse for anyone not wanting to show up at some function or appointment.

So, did the president really have a bum stomach or was he not just up to meeting with Lagarde? Of course, it is very difficult to determine whether the president truly got ill or was simply trying to find an excuse.

If the president was merely feigning sickness, Malacanang is not expected to make a clean breast out of it. If the president was telling the truth, Malacanang is still not expected to given the full details of his sickness.

Given these circumstances, the people are left with no other choice but to take the official line word for word. It is just hoped the president doesn’t get a bum stomach a third time.

For if Aquino gets a bum stomach a third time, I think the people would by then deserve to be given a full medical bulletin about their president, innocuous though a bum stomach may sound.

The health of the president is the concern of everybody as it affects every aspect of their lives, he being their leader. A bum stomach that persists or occurs with regularity needs to be looked at in case it is a symptom of something more serious than just gas.

All this, however, is based on the assumption that Aquino is telling the truth, something many people would have no doubt about, their president being the living symbol of goodness and incorruptibility.

Incorruptibility, remember, does not just entail moral strength against the temptations of money and material gain. Incorruptibility, in a broaded sense, is the moral strength to resist all temptation, period. And that includes against lying.

 If Aquino, on the other hand, is lying, for whatever reason, that makes him an unreliable man who would go back on his word at the drop of a hat, or at the sight of someone he does not want to see.

And if you are unreliable in one thing, you are unreliable in other things. And if you are unreliable at all, that would be a big disappointment to the millions who hitched their hopes and stars on Aquino.

So we are at some crossroads of sorts here. If the bum stomachs are a sign of something serious, Aquino should have himself checked and then appraise the people of what might be wrong with him.

If, on the other hand, there is no bum stomach to speak of, then Aquino should stop shirking on his responsibilities since he sought the office that carried these responsibilities in the first place. Or maybe he should find a new alibi next time.