IF we thought we would not see any president heaped with more spite than Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Ferdinand Marcos, think again. At the rate insults are being hurled at Benigno S. Aquino III, he could yet set a record of sorts.
The massacre of 44 Special Action Force troopers is just the latest incident that has unleashed the tsunami of bile on Aquino, following his foot-in-mouth welcome speech for Pope Francis.
But don’t bet that this will be the last faux pas of the president of our country. Consider that there are still almost two years till the end of his term. This man appears to be the personification of Murphy’s Law.
And yet, he really doesn’t deserve all the blame. We should own up to our share of it. We elected him by a huge margin. Remember?
We chose him over several candidates with varying degrees of competence. And we knew from the outset that he was the least competent of them all. We chose to ignore the fact that as a congressman and as a senator, Aquino had an unimpressive record, at best.
We got carried away by the death of his mother and the martyrdom of his father and we were incensed over the “unmoderated greed” of Arroyo (to paraphrase Romulo Neri’s advice to his NBN-ZTE co-conspirators).
Most of all, from reports, Aquino wasn’t keen on becoming president and had to be persuaded to accept the draft. By insistent public demand, no less.
When some friends and former clients asked me to help in Aquino’s election campaign, I told them that I didn’t think much of their candidate. But I agreed to help. I, too, was lured by the prospect of an end to the “endemic corruption” that characterized our government.
Besides, I was assured by these undoubtedly knowledgeable individuals – many of whom were heads of top corporations – that they would make up for Aquino’s “lack of experience” by giving him sound advice.
I distinctly remember the words of one leader of US Pinoys for Noynoy-Mar, a FilAm group that actively campaigned and raised funds for both Aquino and Mar Roxas in the 2010 campaign:
“Noynoy Aquino will never let his parents down. He will never disgrace their good name. We can be sure of honest governance.”
We all forgot – or chose to forget – that honesty alone does not an effective president make. We also forgot – or chose to forget – that an honest president, once surrounded by crooks, can become less-than-honest.
Who would have made a good president? Among those who ran in 2010, it would have been someone with the business mastery and entrepreneurial talent of Manny Villar, the charm and people skills of Erap Estrada, the no-nonsense operations management expertise of Dick Gordon and the intelligence of Gibo Teodoro.
Too bad Fidel V. Ramos could not run again. The ideal president could have used his work ethic and his leadership qualities. Too bad, too, that Jojo Binay was running for vice-president. His competence and compassion would have been a badly-needed plus.
Where did Noynoy Aquino figure in this ideal blend? Nowhere, except in his purported lily-white potential for honesty and integrity.
But this paucity of qualifications did not dissuade us from extolling Aquino as the Great Hope of the Motherland. And so, he won.
I recall writing a column entitled, “After the platitudes,” back in June 2010, following a celebration at the Philippine consulate in San Francisco, among members of US Pinoys for Noynoy-Mar over Aquino’s victory. I cautioned against over enthusiasm and suggested a reality check:
“It made me feel almost like a killjoy when my turn to speak came. I said that if they expected Noynoy Aquino to singlehandedly bring on a new era of prosperity, honesty, integrity and competence to the Motherland, they were wrong.
“’He can try and he can lead,’ I said. ‘But he cannot do it alone. If we do not help him, he will fail…’
“Noynoy Aquino is about to assume the most difficult, the most challenging job of any person in the country. His successes will have many fathers. But his failures will be orphans like him.
“For sure, he will have tremendous powers to wield, but because he has to delegate many of those powers, the prospect of abuse by those to whom he delegates them is real. Yet, the buck stops with him. He will have to take the blame.
“For that reason, the temptation to centralize all functions rather than to delegate will be difficult to resist. If he succumbs to the temptation, a whole new set of problems will besiege him. It’s damn if he does and damn if he doesn’t. But that comes with the job.”
I’m afraid we expected too much from Aquino. We thought that, at the very least, he would remember the sign on the desk of US President Harry S. Truman: “The buck stops here.”
But Aquino has turned out to be worse than incompetent. He has been exposed as an inveterate buck-passer, a finger-pointer, someone allergic to taking the blame.
In sum: A person devoid of character.
It is bad enough to have to deal with a person with no strength of character, no cojones to accept responsibility and accountability. It is tragic if such a person is the president of the country.
We should have seen it in the wake of the first major crisis to confront his presidency: the hostage standoff that resulted in the death of several Hong Kong tourists. Aquino refused to acknowledge command responsibility. Others were to blame. Not him.
We should have already drawn our conclusion about his character as he went past two-thirds of his term as president, still blaming his predecessor for the ills of the country.
With the remains of the 44 fallen SAF troopers still awaiting burial, we are witnessing a spectacle of hand-washing and equivocation, with Malacañang’s spokespersons declaring shamelessly, “Let’s wait for the results of the investigation to find out the truth.”
The truth??? Aquino knows the truth but won’t allow it to be told.
The facts are right there for all to see. Only one person so far has admitted his share of responsibility, Police Director Getulio Napeñas, commander of the SAF contingent. He has been relieved of his command.
But the buck doesn’t stop with Napeñas. It goes all the way up to the commander-in-chief.
Will Aquino do what Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was forced to do after the “Hello Garci” exposé? Will he mutter, with appropriate pathos and poignancy, “I-am-sor-ry”?
Don’t hold your breath. It takes balls and a strong backbone to do that. But if Aquino won’t accept his share of the blame, the rest of the country should.
We elected him, didn’t we?
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