Hacienda Luisita: everyone is accountable - except P-Noy, that is

Recall how President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III vigorously campaigned under the banner of a pedigree platform. In his campaign for the presidency -- now considered by some to be the biggest political swindle in Philippine history -- he piggybacked on the names of his illustrious "hero" parents, the late "martyred" Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr, and former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino, as well as the celebrity of his sister Kris Aquino-Yap.

I wrote back in September of 2009 how...

[...] Aquino's biggest asset in his campaign is his being an Aquino. Contrary to what some may think, he does have a platform — a pedigree platform. This is a new concept that describes a very traditional campaign strategy that has an extensive track record of delivering brilliant results in backward feudal societies. Certainly the sort of approach that requires a bit of thinking applied simply will not fly in Philippine society — specially taking into account the full force of traditional thinking backing up this candidate.

All convenient at the time how quickly Noynoy hopped onto the Yellow bandwagon, and even more convenient now how Noynoy just as easily hops off as the feudal baggage that comes with this winning pedigree rears its ugly head...

Mr. Aquino also repeated that he had divested himself of interests in the plantation that originally totaled 6,500 hectares in Tarlac province.

In the above he seems to imply that he now considers himself an "outsider" in that laughable affair and thus...

[...] the people directly involved in the estate—the farmer-beneficiaries, members of his family and other stockholders in Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI)—should decide the fate of the estate and not outsiders.

It's like the man Noynoy is suddenly slathered with a thick coating of Teflon when it comes to the issue of his clan's feudal heritage.

And in that flaccid way that spineless men sidestep accountability, he invokes his now famous "the people are the Boss" moronism...

[...] The President said that the hacienda workers were among the people. "They have interest there and they should tell me which direction they would like to take."

To be fair, Filipinos deserve their president. Pinoys have long eaten up the tired platitude of political power residing "in them". Suck it up. With that power comes accountability.


[Note: Boldface formatting on quotes added by author for emphasis.]