GOVERNMENT WARNING: Cigarette smoking is dangerous of to your health; not even a would-be president is safe.
If there is one thing that Filipinos learned coming out of the 2010 election, it is that we realized the possibility of a trustworthy process never before seen in our country. Even after so many rah, rah and blah, blah from people who seem to create noises out of thin air, we eventually came to understand that a beautiful progression from one perceived hopeless scene can actually become a sight beaming with optimism.As we trudge along the way, at least there are personalities out there who clearly deserve to be given some chance. And if by this chance the wheel of our destiny came to a lustrous conclusion, then we can tap our shoulders and say, “Glad I did the right thing; a very good job.”
Current senator and president-elect Noynoy Aquino is one person I am referring to. Coming off a victory from an election not-so-marred with worries of possible fraud, he took along with him more than 15 million believers who trusted his scheme to heave the country into the writing of the next six years of Philippine history. Being a product of two heroes in the name of the martyr, Ninoy and the saintly, Cory, he emblazoned their momentous lives and created a scenario of hope just like what his parents did during the dark hours of martial law more than two decades ago. That although his mother, the late Cory, herself, did not bring the country into a land of milk and honey during her raise to power, she created the change that had been clamored for more than 20 years prior -from dictatorship back to democracy. All these started when Ninoy was shot to death that brought fury and added fuel to the then raging fire in the hearts of million Filipinos; he died but the name and his face will forever be entrenched within the veins of our consciousness –the premier airport bears his name; the face looking out from your 500 bill.
Now, it is the son’s turn to prove how he will define the legacy his father left but for sure he must work quadruple times: As a senator for only 3 years before his candidacy as chief executive, Noynoy can never equal his father who served the senate for five years before attempting to face his biggest rival, former Philippine prexy, Ferdie Marcos. History tells us how the hero, Ninoy climbed the political ranks of being a multi-awarded journalist at tender age of 17 and later become the youngest ever mayor at 22; Tarlac vice governor and eventually as governor at 27 and 29 respectively. He also became the youngest senator at only 34. Things would have been better and greater had not with his imprisonment, confinement, exile, his return to the country and his assassination at age 50.
President-elect Noynoy is now 50.
Until now, Noynoy is unproven as a senator authoring and co-authoring no more than 10 bills during his 6-year tenure both in the house and the senate. Though very important these bills were, he is perceived to be short of ripening as long as legislation is concerned. So questions about his possible performance when he begins his job as the Head of the Philippine State have been thrown well into. But minding all these, of course, is to reflect how his mother, President Cory equate with her son when it comes to political history -Cory has no political history apparent to her seat to presidency. Though intelligent she was, she actually claimed she really was and just a plain housewife; no political inclination other than being a Cojuangco from Tarlac. Also during her husband’s political ordeal, she preferred to glow faintly under his shadow. The only two reasons why she was chosen as a bet against the then ailing-strongman (excuse me for the oxymoron) Ferdie were because she was Ninoy’s wife with the grounds of emotional penchant with his death and also because she was the direct opposite of Marcos, physically, politically and [sexually] –oops, wait, that is being the first ever FEMALE president and head of state in whole of Asia. She entered Malacanan at age of 52.
Looking at these seems to be a no brainer – Noynoy is a version of a politician who’s in-between his father and that of his mother. With this, we can say that by electing him as president, the country has settled in-between!
But as we go into the next six years of having Noynoy as the president, we must expect the unexpected. It is either we get better or get worse. Chances are, we must take half of his father’s political prowess and another half of his mother’s modesty. Both might be good or otherwise but after all the hullabaloo of smoke will then come the clearing of it and it may finally get us all through this whole tribulation our Philippines is currently experiencing. Trust is the key; he deserves a chance after all.
But to ask if he’s to quit along the way, expect a resounding NO! Not that even Barack Obama said he already quit it; Noynoy seems really unprepared for that kind of HUGE sacrifice with his tiny-lit roll of stick called cigarette.
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