Leni Robredo would have earned even more respect had she just stuck to her original apprehensions about running for vice president and politely declined the invitation to be the Liberal Party runningmate of Mar Roxas. Her original fears that she was not prepared for the job were not unfounded. Declining because of honest awareness and appreciation of one's limitations is admirable humility. It is nothing to be ashamed of.
On the contrary, for Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas to persist in courting her, to the point of insisting that she run for vice president despite her repeated refusals, was disrespectful. To impose their will on hers was savage and uncouth. When Robredo said her children were against her running, Aquino and Roxas talked to the children. Of course, who were the children to refuse the president and the presidential standard-bearer? But if you ask me, that is bullying.
These developments show in clearest detail the ugliness of Philippine politics. Aquino and Roxas have placed their own selfish interests over and above those of the nation. They ignore the fact that Robredo, both as a matter of fact and by her own admission, is not ready for the job they want to entrust her. All that they are after are the votes they think Robredo can add to the difficult run Roxas is having for the presidency.
It is not about Robredo herself. It is all about Roxas. Aquino and Roxas do not care if Robredo wins or loses provided she can add something for Roxas in the process. If Aquino and Roxas truly cared about Robredo, they would have respected her wishes. They would not have thrust her into a position she was both not ready and uncomfortable with.
More importantly, Aquino and Roxas only care about winning. It is not that I would wish ill on others, but in their greed, they have completely ignored the fact that in case Roxas wins as president and that something terrible ñ God forbid ñ happens to him, it would be Robredo, provided she also wins, who will be thrust into a position she will even be more unprepared for and most uncomfortable with.
For the truth of the matter is, in the case of electing the vice president, one is actually choosing a potential president. With just a flick of God's wrist, a vice president can become a president overnight. And that is what Robredo already saw and Aquino and Roxas simply refused to see. The vice president as vice president is almost like a walk in the park. It is the unexpected presidency that Robredo was trying to avoid for herself and her children.
In fact, I am firmly convinced that that is also the main apprehension of the Robredo children, that their mother might be thrust into a situation she was not ready for. No children who love their mother would want her in such a predicament. That is plain and simple prudence. To be prudent does not mean you love your country less. Indeed, in this particular situation, prudence is the best proof of unstinted love of country.
On the other hand, it is Aquino and Roxas who do not love their country. They have unequivocably shown it by placing their own interests above everyone else's. What is worse is that their greed is reckless. By bringing on a virtual neophyte, for no other reason than that she can bring in additional votes, Aquino and Roxas have placed the country and its 100 million people in jeopardy.
Aquino and Roxas have completely shunted aside the fact that great problems await the next president, problems that can, at a snap of the finger, escalate into full blown crises for which Robredo is not prepared to handle in case something happens to the president and she gets to assume the post. Two men ganging up on a woman and her children does not look very manly to me ñ more like two self-centered women hating to be spurned.