What it takes for Filipinos to learn from the presidency of Noynoy Aquino
It's been eight months and there have been soooo many complaints about the performance of Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. From his dud of an inaugural speech, his misinformed State of the Nation Addresss, the litany of gaffes and debacles in his handling of relations with erstwhile friendly foreign governments, his oft-exhibited bratty politicians' son behaviour, his broken promises, etcetera, etcetera... -- the list of things to complain about with regard to Noynoy's administration is long, and getting longer by the week. Perhaps there will come a time when a critical mass of gaffes and no-results outcomes is reached and a tipping point crossed. When that happens, talk of impeachment will surely come or, worse, winds of fiesta revolution.My wish is that Noynoy remain President of the Philippines for the next five and a half years constituting the remainder of his term. Come hell or high water, Noynoy should sit in Malacanang and be the President. Filipinos deserve Noynoy, and deserve him over the next five and a half years.
Noynoy may keep reminding Filipinos that he was hoodwinked into running for President back in 2009 'til the cows come home as he does here:
When I was being asked to run, I did say there were people who came up to me and approached me and said, we know you will not be able to change our country from black to white. Perhaps, as my father would put it, our mission is to make it grey, the grey which is the in between step, lighter and lighter in shade until we get to the white. And we will be there with you. And so when I accepted the challenge of running first and then running this country, running for the campaign and then running this country. In the back of my mind, I was I accepting on behalf of all of the people who egged me to run. Therefore, those of you who are absent and not helping us, I hope my parents visit you one of these days.
But, see, the only thing that is relevant today is that he did run for President in 2009 and won. Perhaps he thought at the time that going into a "retreat" to seek "divine" guidance in that tough decision he had to make back then would dilute accountability for the result of that decision. Perhaps he thought then that God would be party to that milestone in Philippine history that saw him go down the road to Malacanang. Whether or not it is "God's will" (as that "retreat" would imply now) that Noynoy is the President of the Philippines today we will never know. God is something -- or someone -- better off understood when one is dead. For now, all of us who are subject to Noynoy's rule are alive. And much of the issues he needs to lead the Filipino people through are issues that are relevant to the living.
The irony that Filipinos need to come to terms with is that to learn from this unfortunate situation of having a man like Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III rule as President of the Philippines, Filipinos will need to subject themselves to his presidency for the full term that a President is obliged to serve. Choosing a man to be President is a responsibility and electing him to the Presidency is a commitment.
Filipinos deserve all of six years of a Noynoy Aquino presidency. We owe it to ourselves to learn from that experience.
Perhaps Noynoy Aquino is our Bangladeshi sh1t and IF we allow him the rest of his term (and resist any invitation to a fiesta revolution again), then perhaps he will also be the start of the Filipinos' redemption. Cross fingers.
ReplyDeleteUS President Nixon was a crook, Ford was slow-witted, Carter was too smart for his own good, Kennedy was bonging Marilyn while Russia was slipping missiles into Cuba, Johnson was showing off his scar, Reagan was sleeping, Bush Senior was being a gentleman, Bush Junior was being comprehensively stupid, Clinton was smoking cigars, and Obama is being called weak by Republicans who know the only good smear is any you can get the gullible press to print.
ReplyDeleteYou get what you get, and the next guy is sure to have warts enough to keep the Anti-Pinoy crowd happy in their unhappiness.
Noynoy will be remembered as the best Filipino President in history.
ReplyDeleteReally? How come? Pls explain why you think that is so, ty!
DeleteOn what part is he the best? Stop watching abs cbn.
DeleteI want to have some of what you are smoking Bayanihan dude!
DeleteYup. Presidents change and their characters vary. But Filipinos will always remain essentially the same.
ReplyDeleteFilipinos remain the same because they are inflexible in thinking. Not actually stupid, but even worse ignorant by choice.
ReplyDeleteStrong nations and cultures survive inspite of weak leaders because their institutions are strong, and the institutions in these countries are strong because people LIVE them. The Philippines has few real institutions, at heart it remains an anarchy of families, a collection of clans and tribes that think only of themselves.
Yes you have clans, tribes and other groups all over the world, and self-interest is normal as well. Except that Filipinos can only think of their short-term self-interest. Which is bad for them but that is their own problem.
What is worse is that they cannot stick to agreements made with those who are outside their clan or tribe or in-group. As long as Filipinos are like that, they need not wonder that they are not trusted or respected by other nations.
Finally the biggest problem of the Filipino is self-deception. Thinking you are an English speaking country when in fact most speak carabao English at best. Thinking you are modern "bikos yu hab mol" (because you have malls) but in reality your society is feudal AT BEST and tribal for the most part, which is why there are hardly any real institutions and any rule of law, just the arbitrary decisions of chieftains based on personal alliances. Whereby I am very happy that the present supreme tribal chief of the country does not walk around in bahag.
This site at least gets real, which is a major step. Waking up to reality is the first step on the way to improvement.