Punctuated!

By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
29 August 2010

On the 21st day of August, we celebrated the 27th Death Anniversary of Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., former President and Dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ strongest political opponent. Ninoy’s assassination, which catapulted the late Cory Aquino to power, is as of even date still unresolved.

The assassination punctuated the life of the greatest opposition leader in the Philippines. Undoubtedly however, the Marcoses did not envision that the punctuation would mean another punctuation mark in the history of Philippine Politics three years after: Marcos was overthrown via the EDSA 1 peaceful revolution.

Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, who was then 23 years old when Ninoy was assassinated, handily won last May’s presidential race to become the second member of the family to occupy the most sought-after post in the imperial palace by the river.

His rise to power punctuated another strong leader who left him with nothing by economically and politically unstable nation: billions of deficits and obligations, rising unemployment, escalating poverty, unresolved crimes, apparent graft and corruption, political ruins, etc. His predecessor, the scandalous petite woman, who ruled the country for two terms, was almost equally greedy as the strongman.

Arguably though, becoming the president was the dream of the late Ninoy Aquino, too, matter which stirred the political arena of the times. No one can discount that perception; not even the weakest of minds. It was precisely the reason why the late dictator caused the voluntary exile of the family to the America’s.

Vetoing in his early days in power numbers of Executive Orders that rippled all houses, midnight appointment, that has been a long practice, was again punctuated by Pres. Noynoy. Due to petitions from concerned parties though, it is under review by the Department of Justice. With only a handful of executive orders issued, the 50-year old Aquino is facing controversies already. Understandably, judging his performance is premature at this point.

Last week, it was reported in one of the national broadsheets that the newly-installed president is considering Charter Change if it is necessary in dealing with rebellion in the south. But isn’t this the same charter change pronounced by FVR during the last days of his term? Isn’t this the same Cha-Cha GMA enunciated in the last days of her second term?

The Cha-Cha of FVR was criticized; it was opposed by no less than the former President Corazon Aquino, the mother of Noynoy. The cha-cha of GMA was highly criticized, sensationalized, feared and strongly opposed even without seeing the platform of the planned change by no less Corazon Aquino herself and her team. The Cha-Cha of Noynoy has not even become the staple of the tabloids; it has not reached dual-house debates and movements behind picket fences. What difference do we have when we accommodate the Cha-Cha of Noynoy from the Cha-Cha of FVR or GMA? Aren’t they the same dog with different collars?

What really is the matter with us Filipinos?

The entire 85-million Filipinos thought that installing Noynoy would finally put full stop to the issue of charter change knowing for a fact that the constitution has been amended right after his mother, the icon of democracy whom the world admired, was sworn in to office. What then is this: testing the waters under the bridge? Is this the prelude?

Absolutely, if I may put my two cents in, this is going to be tough for Noynoy and his administration. For one, leading the community of Filipino people to achieve the normal course of life is not easy. While it was easy for him to win the race, winning the support of the entire archipelago to bring the country back to normal is not. Battling the socio-political and economic challenges is equally hard as mapping the game plan to convict the assassin of his father.

But at the forefront, he has no choice. With only a scant amount of petty cash left in the nation’s coffer, his political and economic agenda for the entire populace must be executed and implemented. His plan for peace settlement with the Muslim rebels must be articulated; program to end graft and corruption laid down and implemented; plan to provide home for the homeless, job for the jobless and food for the poor Filipino people carried out, etc.

Above all, his plan to punctuate political greed that has become the root cause of all these long-running socio-economic problems must be done at once.

The question now is: Can Noynoy intelligently punctuate all these socio-economic and political evils that his predecessors failed to and disprove his critics?