So I guess we were both wrong, eh? He didn't become a Carmelite nun and he wasn't coy anymore. Sorry. Inside joke with someone who never reads this blog anyway.
Uhrm.
Noynoy's announcement this morning has sent something of a ripple through Manila society. On teevee, a noted blogger practically giggled like a school girl when he said "the Yellow Army is back," implying that the legions of faithful that Cory commanded had all but transferred their allegiance to her son. On the web, people have begun rhapsodize the candidacy.
The noted blogger I can understand. He has said often enough that "it's all politics." As far as I can tell, this means that for him, the most important thing is to sway the people – no matter how fuzzy your logic is, as long as you can create an easy-to-understand dichotomy between good and evil, you're good – because it's the people who vote and the people who vote need only enough information for them to feel good about voting this way or that. Winning the popular nod – rather than doing the right thing – has therefore become the greatest good; when you're in power is when you can start worrying about doing the right thing. In a very pragmatic sense, this is of course true. But it leaves me cold and disappointed since that kind of thinking predisposes to populism and only perpetuates the mind-numbing inanities politicians engage in too often.
So like I said, him I can understand. We don't have to actually worry about what Noynoy is capable of – or whether he is capable at all – since all that matters is that he has the greatest chance of winning; Yellow Army and all.
What I'm having difficulty with is accepting that we need a leader who's raison d'etre is to do as little damage as possible; whose greatest credential is not his vision, nor his skill as an executive, but his … goodness.
What are we? Infants?
Well, if we aren't infants, then maybe we're just caught in some cosmic joke of a loop so that after overthrowing the lothario Erap, and dodging the bullet named FPJ, our nation is once more in peril of being handed on a silver platter to their clone.
I'm not totally convinced of Noynoy's capabilities to lead, I'm not totally convinced he can put his honest foot down in the face of the powerful sycophants and meddlers, I'm not even totally convinced he has the balls yet (or will ever develop them), but I know one thing for sure: He isn't like any of the others. And maybe, just maybe, that's what we really need.
Let's try that again, with an FPJ this time.
I'm not totally convinced of FPJ's capabilities to lead, I'm not totally convinced he can put his honest foot down in the face of the powerful sycophants and meddlers, I'm not even totally convinced he has the balls yet (or will ever develop them), but I know one thing for sure: He isn't like any of the others. And maybe, just maybe, that's what we really need.
And an Erap now!
I'm not totally convinced of Erap's capabilities to lead, I'm not totally convinced he can put his honest foot down in the face of the powerful sycophants and meddlers, I'm not even totally convinced he has the balls yet (or will ever develop them), but I know one thing for sure: He isn't like any of the others. And maybe, just maybe, that's what we really need.
With all due respect to the Greatest – who, by all accounts truly has a legit claim to that title – it's this kind of maudlin, sentimental pap that's exactly the problem with the way we choose our leaders.
Reminds me of an old tagalog movie I saw a long time ago where the mother screams at her children – "Ganyan naman kayo! Porke't hindi ako marunong mag-ingles, pakiramdam niyo, pwede niyo akong paikutin!" or something like that. The point is that this character makes the argument not about relative merit, but about her sense of victimization at the hands of an intellectually superior opponent. Key words: victim; intelligence.
We (VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: When I say "we" I am referring to those of us who actually talk about these things as though our opinions matter and who believe that we might actually sway a few minds. Fortunately, the general public isn't as prone to over-analysis as "we" are and so have very straightforward criteria for choosing who to vote for. Needless to say, it is these people – these members of the general public – that we constantly try to 'educate' with our learned writings. Kinda like a modern version of noblesse oblige? the blogger's burden, if you will. LOL) do so dearly love portraying ourselves as the victims of people smarter than us – a subtle way of shifting blame from our own inadequacies onto some supposed unfair advantage being enjoyed by the opponent. In the context of what we are talking about, we like to blame the leaders for "misusing their intelligence" rather than blaming ourselves for choosing the kind of people who tend to misuse their intelligence. And so, instead of opting to exercise greater responsibility and intellectual rigor in choosing properly, we convince ourselve that we would rather elect lovable rogues and endearing dolts to office. This makes us prone to succumbing to the allure of celebrity candidates, especially when they are aggressively marketed as game-changers.
Noynoy Aquino, for instance. We get all teary-eyed at the notion of a "movement" or a "revolution" in the offing that we willingly throw our support behind someone who's only advantage is his pedigree and the fact that his parents' formidable shadow looms over, and influences every decision.
It makes a person wonder, whether the shadow of Cory and Ninoy having such an effect on Noynoy also means that the motivations of the dead will continue to be the motivations of the living son. I certainly hope that land reform will now darken the doorstep of Luisita; I hope that the domination of the Church over affairs of state will finally be broken; and I hope that the presidency won't be wedded to the 1987 Constitution as a matter of amor propio. Unfortunately, for that wishlist, we need a president who is his own man – not someone who needs to consult an oracle to make a decision.
But then, maybe a man like him has no choice but to consult the whisperings of the dead. Like Erap and FPJ before him, Noynoy has not proven that he is anything more than a celebrity. How is he qualified to lead on his own account, therefore? Heck, any decision he makes will be held up to the standard of his dead progenitors, and anyone who's had a dead anything in the family tree knows that that's a no-win situation.
Highly likely then, that we will end up with a president susceptible to oracular whisperings that will NOT come from his dead parents from people who will claim to be channeling them – priests, nuns, civil society types, do-gooders of every stripe, and grifters who know which buttons to push. Niiiiice.
Worse, he is a dynast who activates, quite easily, the sleeping serf in all of us. The magic of his name – evoked by even the noted blogger – is an artefact of that part of our psyche that hungers to be ruled by an offspring of the divine Grail Family. We believe on a deep, subconscious , and ineluctably romantic, level that the name carries with it the promise of greatness and that that greatness will be unleashed at the opportune time.
Maybe we need a leader who leads reluctantly, yet finds his place when greatness is thrust upon him.
No need for proof that he is great, therefore; and never mind the apparent mediocrity. All that matters is the faith that when comes our darkest hour, his will be the hand that will lead us out into the light. On this faith – and precious little else – will we stake the future of our country.
And so, if Noynoy does bring anything back to the Filipino people, it won't be pride.
Maybe we just need someone who will give the Filipino people their national pride back, to be able to say that they FINALLY came together as one to swipe the table clear of the usual suspects and given themselves a fresh start, by choosing least evil of a hundred evils, who just might be the one they can all get behind in reforming the sorry state of government.
It will be the willingness to surrender reason to teary-eyed, chest-swelling, sentimental faith.
If these are the only qualities that commend Noynoy to the electorate, then I sincerely doubt that he will be worth the trouble.
We don't need a feel-good messiah. We need someone with a vision for the country and a clear idea of what needs to be done to achieve that vision. Someone with a set of goals, an understanding of where we are right now in terms of achieving those goals; an understanding of what needs to be done, and the determination to get things done. Will that be Noynoy Aquino?
From the looks of things, hardly.
1 comment:
I don't even understand why he was swayed to do something that he is not really bent on becoming, a president of the Philippines. Definitely he does not have the balls to stick to what he believes in. He may be a good man but definitely not the kind of man that can support the country. We need someone who cannot be pushed over.
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