What makes us interested today are the analyses by our political watchers. These thinkers seem to possess a deep understanding of people and even if their views are different from the perceptions of ordinary mortals, like us, they appear more logical than ours.
I happened to bump into one of them. An analyst caught my attention because he focused his thoughts on the vice presidency. It was cheap on my part to pry on his wisdom because I just bought him his favorite cappuccino and even before he finished his jug, I learned a lot.
The analyst started his virtual lecture to me by enumerating the names of persons eyeing to become the vice president of the land. He emphasized to me that aside from naming the men in alphabetical order, he would dwell on the negative of these aspiring vice presidents, if only to demonstrate his bias. What he did not reveal to me was the reason of his negativity. While I am bound by an oath not to mention who the analyst was, I have his permission to write his observations here in this column.
Four senators and a representative according to him, are scrambling for the position. They are Senators Cayetano, Escudero, Marcos, and Trillanes, plus Congresswoman Robredo.
1. I could detect the analyst's sarcasm when he said that Senator Cayetano belongs to the few mentally gifted families in the country. To support his view, he pointed out that of the hundred million Filipinos, the Cayetanos are, like the Ejercitos, the only brother-sister team in the upper chamber of Philippine legislature. Peter Allan and Pia asked the nation to elect them as senators because they are the "bright ones," never mind if the higher sense of propriety would have prevailed upon either to desist from running for senate. Out of their brilliance, they have carved a political kingdom in Taguig where their vassals elect the other Cayetanos, high officials of their city. It is perhaps their dream to expand their dynasty to the whole country that one of them aims to become the second highest official of the republic.
2. The analyst asked me if I knew that the father of Senator Escudero began to rise in power as a henchman of former President Ferdinand Marcos. Because I shook my head to signal an answer, the analyst traced the origins of the influence and affluence of the Escuderos. The lawyer in me though saw no credible evidence to back his story up. The words of the analyst are unprintable here but he confessed to have divined the real intention of the young Escudero. Accordingly, this young blood is focused in reprising the Marcos era with a different brand name, Escudero.
3. "I am a senior citizen." That was my answer to the question of the analyst how old I am. Quite adeptly, he turned the tables on me. I was prepared to listen further to his critiques on aspiring vice presidents. But, he literally caught me with my pants down when he asked me how deep had I known of the abuses of the late Pres. Marcos. To my relief, he did not wait for my answer. Instead, he said that if only the young generation who appear to prop the current ambitions of Sen. Marcos, would really know how the country suffered during the Martial Law years, they would discern better whom to cast their votes in May 2016 for vice president.
4. In our conversation, the analyst said that democracy allows conflict of ideas. In fact, it is important that issues are discussed using the sharpest of mental scalpels and without inhibitions. But, to him, when guns are used to promote a position, tyranny rules and democracy is the eventual victim. When he said that, he mentioned the name of Sen. Trillanes and pointed me to the direction of the military coup organized and staged under his leadership.
5. The death of Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. galvanized the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship. Or so, the analyst claimed. When Pres. Corazon Aquino died, the clamor for the leadership of then senator and now His Excellency President Benigno Simeon Aquino III arose, he added. Congresswoman Robredo seems to fall into the pattern. Beyond this, the analyst knows nothing more of the only lady aspirant for vice presidency. End.