The champ among the corrupt
I cannot understand why Noynoy Aquino should be given emergency powers to solve an impending power crisis. In the same manner, I cannot understand how giving him such extra powers can solve the problem. If we subscribe to such a notion, then it is the same as saying the presidency as it is is inutile against any crisis involving power.
On the other hand, since we know that the presidency is helpless against any power crisis, why ask emergency powers only for Noynoy? And why only now? It is not as if the Philippines has truly been blessed with a stable power supply. As far as anyone can remember, this country has always struggled to be sufficient in the power it needs.
Since it appears that the solution to a power crisis is emergency powers for the president, why did we not incorporate such powers in the presidency right from the outset? Why did we not make it an inherent power of the presidency? Why do we have to wait for a power crisis to stare us in the face before we start scrambling for those extra emergency powers.
My suspicion is that, since nobody ever thought of making emergency powers inherent in the presidency, this current campaign of Noynoy to be given emergency powers is just a ploy to give him extra powers for purposes only he knows. In fact, who knows if this is not part of a two-pronged approach to keep him in power beyond what the law allows him. He has, after all, been dropping broad hints at another term.
But why would Noynoy want to be given more powers, or indeed a second term? I think the reason is that Noynoy is beginning to be scared shitless. Noynoy may not be the brightest president this country ever had. But he is not dumb either. I am sure he has seen the possibility that he might suffer what he is making his political enemies suffer.
Remember that it was not until the Supreme Court declared some of his Disbursement Acceleration Program unconstitutional that he began to toy with the idea of a term extension. When the high court issued its unanimous ruling, even a moron can see what the possible consequences that ruling might have on him personally down the road.
For the first time in his life, Noynoy has been made aware that he could be held accountable. He has realized that if even his own appointees to the Supreme Court would dare vote against him, how much more for his so-called political allies whose loyalties are much more suspect. And that is not even counting his enemies, of which there are many.
For the first time in his life, Noynoy has felt very vulnerable. I could be wrong, but I think Noynoy has slightly lost weight. Maybe it is from too much smoking. Or maybe it is from lack of sleep. Whatever. But I think his thoughts of impending doom are taking a toll on his health. And that is why he needs to have some kind of fallback, which a term extension, or maybe just emergency powers can provide.
Alas for him, and just like our unstable power supply, Noynoy cannot stay in power forever, and that is given the unlikely scenario that he gets what he wants and legally wins a second term, or is given a much shorter lease as emergency powers. Eventually, Noynoy will have to face the music. And just the thought of that is enough to give anyone a coughing fit.
Noynoy knows the jig will soon be up. He knows he is starting to get unmasked. He knows the charade has been called. He is not a true reformer. The straight path was just a ploy to get him elected. It was an empty promise, a hollow boast who true essence a growing number of people are starting to get a whiff of. Noynoy has betrayed the hopes of many Filipinos. He knows he could get lynched for that.
Noynoy may not be corrupt in the sense that he steals money from people, although no one can really be sure. But he is even more corrupt in my vocabulary because he is a hypocrite. People who betray people are more corrupt than those who merely steal money. People who steal money are merely greedy. Besides, if you do not take care of your money, it is bound to be stolen sooner or later by anybody.
But a person who plants the seed of hope in another person's heart and tends to it until it flowers and bears the fruit of real honest-to-goodness expectation, and then suddenly betrays that expectation by cutting it down is far worse than mere stealing in my book. If I lose money, I can find more some other day. But if you betray my hopes and my expectations, you take a part of me away that can never be replaced by any means. I will no longer be whole. You will have destroyed me.
And Noynoy knows fully well that that is what he has done to those who placed their trust in him. These people can no longer continue pretending how Noynoy keeps on shielding his corrupt friends. Noynoy cannot fight corruption by going only after his corrupt enemies. He must crack down on corruption wherever he finds it, even among his friends. But he is protecting them instead.
To me that is even worse than stealing money. To me that makes Noynoy the most corrupt president this country ever had. You may name several past presidents whom you may consider corrupt. But one thing I can assure you, these past presidents never pretended to be otherwise, or at least did not pretend with the same claim to honesty and incorruptibility that Noynoy did. The corruption of Noynoy has the added element of betrayal to it. That makes him the champ.
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