Noynoy’s To Be or Not To Be
by

(Before I, one of his alleged bosses, rake Noynoy over the coals in
my next piece on his performance may I asked the reader’s indulgence
to revisit my pride and prejudice on the Aquinos.)

The cacophony of noises increases in decibels as hacks and followers
of varied interests position themselves on both sides of the starting
line for the 2010 presidential race. A quiet onlooker Senator Benigno
“Noynoy” C. Aquino Jr. III is being pushed to the line to contest the
race.

To be a presidential candidate or not to be a candidate at all should
not be Noynoy’s dilemma in next year’s presidential election. In
Philippine politics what will be will be. Dirt can flood the
landscape. But there was that slim chance like that which
unexpectedly materialized when a fresh clean flower like his Mom Cory
appeared and floated among the political debris. That time nobody was
powerful enough to stop that.

To let the mind ascends even farther, for those who failed to have
learned its lessons, history tends to repeat itself even under
different circumstances by different actors. Like a flood of
political dregs and trivia, there is no stopping the march of history.
If Noynoy is in it, then so be it. But no one knew –and should claim
to know—like during the time when Noynoy’s dad was shot dead at the
tarmac that his Mom will turn clean president and be part of proud
history.

Regardless of who Noynoy is, what he can do, no one can really know.
What anyone will profess to know, speaks in relation to himself.
Anyone’s self-interest, and the limits of his knowledge and experience
defines the worth of his opinion. It’s like saying Noynoy will be
good President to me and therefore for the country too. If he is bad
for me, then it is bad for the country too. Arguments for or against
Noynoy becoming a good president shall only travel in that natural
free way of self interest and prejudice. Quite distant to national or
public interest.

 In their young life, when they were at the gates of a hall of fame
and greatness, nobody really knew who they really were; what they
will become. Magsaysay the mechanic, Gandhi the weaver, Lincoln the
woodsman, or Mandela the political prisoner. They led their countrymen
by deed and example. No signs at all of what they can become when they
heeded the call to ride the flow of events. These men seemingly
appeared from nowhere during troubled times. And the Philippines is
in trouble now. Deep trouble than any Filipino will accept. The
Filipinos were categorical and resounding during Cory’s funeral. The
sycophants who before were shouting there’s no one, no leader to take
the helm of the nation SHOULD SHUT UP NOW. The others who were not
there should listen to the multitudes who braved the rains.

 On the contrary in much the same way, family and neighbours will
say: He was such a good boy. Won’t hurt a fly. So intelligent and
thoughtful. no one not even his teachers knew before hand he can kill
30 people just like that. Who will say that many had incorrectly
predicted that some leaders will order to start a war, bomb cities,
gassed millions, steal billions? Indeed, no one. Only hindsight can.
Retrospectively.

The point hammered at this point is we can say something. Hoping that
by so doing, we can diminish subjective forecasts and misleads about
speculations on Noynoy’s to be or not to be president.

 There are some things, pros and cons to go by Noynoy’s fitness to be
president. He is qualified if he qualifies as required by law. If he
is physically and mentally healthy then he is fit. The integrity and
honesty of the members of his immediate family contributes positively.
If a parent was once an honest president, then he can be too. This is
as credible as that example of a bad president whose parent may
have been also a bad president bested only by his offspring. Just as a
mango tree will bear only mango fruits, so is a snake will give birth
to only a snake, a saying that is gospel to Filipinos. It can be said
too, that many beliefs had been modified or rendered irrelevant by
technology. Fruits had been made rotten by chemicals just as
politicians sired by good ones had been corrupted by his polluted
environment.

 The cons is factual and not a mere invention. Noynoy is not
presidentiable. Doesn’t look one and never was a presidentiable even
in the tabloids. And that tells it all. A judgment of the times.

 But really, who can really know? Even Noynoy doesn’t seemed to know.
He was reported to have asked in effect: “Will my candidacy really
result in positive change for the country?” He probably meant if he
wins, he is not even sure his presidency will produce positive change
for the country. He seemed unconvinced. Will he also get the same
support he got for the presidency when he try to institute change for
the country?

He was not even thinking like a politician like Barack Obama. Unlike
Obama he doesn’t want to ran just to raise the hopes of the people
when nothing really will happen. Obama is is widely known as superior
in rhetoric, as the apostle and bearer of hope and was believed and
embraced by the multitudes with the shouts of: WE CAN. WE CAN. Nothing
of that sort inhabits Noynoy’s imagination.

 Those who experienced it, especially the humble and self confident
can believe that position makes the man (but not the hopeless or
useless man). Even the uniform or the attire makes the man. In the
same manner that a position or a uniform or attire can be soiled and
made disgraceful by its wearer. A man denied a brush, paints and
canvass will never have a chance to prove he can be a good painter.
Monching Magsaysay and Nelson Mandela will never know the limits of
the good they can do without the bestowed mantle of presidency. They
became presidents without being considered presidentiables (a polluted
concoction in media traposphere).

 The fact is, no one had imagined Noynoy to be a senator until he
became one. That he can do a clean job without photo-ops and media
build up. To many politicians his image of young congressman remains
indelible. Now it’s being a senator’s image that tends to persist. The
presidency and the senate are poles apart. The roles are oil and
water. The presidency commands and leads while the senate backups and
supports. There is no reliable predictive indicators on positive
congruence of senator to president. An experienced and skill full
senator doesn’t mean a good president. Ditto for a slow performing
senator. A senator may turn out to be a good president when he becomes
one. The senate contrary to popular opinion is not necessarily a
reliable training center for future presidents. The senate can, even
in the absence of intent and purpose train good senators to become
bad presidents.

To digress, to be flippant: so what if the guy is only a paramedic,
not a doctor. Why not if he can stop the haemorrhage, if he can re
start the heart with a defibrillator. Then you can give the patient a
chance to heal himself. Likewise, even a buffoon will know that in a
community of the blind a one-eyed man will be a better leader if
two-eyed men are abusive. But that’s neither here nor there.

It is in Noynoy’s genes, in his blood and veins to do good for his
fellowmen. There’s nothing antecedent that will prove otherwise. It’s
only up to him. To fail. The nation is aware of his capital: the life
of his dad, the clean service to the nation by his mom, his sisters
rare and incredible disinterest of the awesome opportunities to be
rich via government. Indeed, not much non-monetary capital but enough
to give him a good start.

But there’s one caveat Noynoy must bear in mind. One that is
theoretical and at the same time very real. Theoretically, democratic
politics has a built-in obstruction to good leadership. A Canadian
philosopher recently said: “The basic tenet of all democratic politics
is a fiction.” To paraphrase him: The fact that you are born in a
democratic country gives you power on how it will be ruled when you
become part of the majority. Moreover, because it is the rule of the
majority, a rule by numbers, then numbers can be taken to mean
quality. This will suggest that majoritarian choices and decisions are
assumed by democratic tenet to be quality choices and decisions. This
is fiction because this never happens. Majority rule is curtailed if
not hijacked by a minority or elite rule. The powerful few rules the
large but weak majority.

A national leader put into power by an overwhelming majority should be
wide awake to this fiction lest he suffered the fate of Erap who
seemed not to know it even now. The obstacle to successful national
leadership can be very real. Death may cut leadership in midstream—as
what happened to Abraham Lincoln, Jack Kennedy, Martin Luther King,
Mahatma Gandhi and possibly Magsaysay—though it may had hastened
attainment of their revered place in history.

That probably was the unsaid point of Noynoy. An inner voice that says
no leader even if overwhelmingly supported by a majority can
guarantee social and political change because of a fiction in the
tenet of democratic politics.

This piece is neither a vote for Noynoy nor a diatribe against all
other aspirants. It’s a get well wish for the country.

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The author is a former faculty member of the National College of
Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG-UP) written August 27,
2009 Thursday 4:33 pm