THERE are two things Filipinos dread the most: Cha-cha and Jollibee running out of "Chicken Joy". Although there's too much serving of politics and so little of food, Filipinos still get nightmares when you try to tinker with the Constitution, especially when they go to bed on an empty stomach.
Just like McDonald's "French Fries" to the Americans, Jollibee's "Chicken Joy" is like the crack cocaine of the Filipino masses. It's cheap, deep-fried and salty. It has all the ingredients to satiate our palate seasoned by a cuisine known worldwide for its lumpia and chicken-and-pork adobo swimming in lard. With a thigh and a leg, make it spicy with an extra cup of gravy, please! you can chow down two bowls of rice, then wash it down with a 16-oz ice-cold bottle of Coke, and voila! that's me having lunch.
But another term of office? That's the crack cocaine for those in power.
That even a purportedly reluctant presidential candidate in 2010 like Noynoy Aquino is now contemplating on running again shows you how power corrupts, and that wielding it is an addiction no human can resist. When you're in charge, you get deluded by your omnipotence that you start doing things that you think are right, but they're actually not. Pres. Marcos had it in him, and he woke up from his delusion of grandeur with a people's revolution hot on his trail.
The despicable minions of Malacanang are at it again. Scared to lose the trappings of power, they get unleashed to hack the need for Pres. Aquino to finish the political and economic reforms he initiated, which, according to their misguided minds, will be undone by whoever is elected as the new president. To keep them in power, we need to amend the Constitution to lift the prohibition that limits Pres. Aquino's tenure of office to six years, with no reelection.
What the Palace sycophants are forgetting is that it takes two to Cha-cha. So far, the people are against Charter change if only because the present administration after four years in office has failed to bring about meaningful changes to the economic and social status of the vast swath of the population living below the poverty line.
As it is, those in power continue robbing them blind with Pres. Aquino cloistering himself with the same shenanigans he has sworn to voters he will weed out. Although he still has to be caught dipping his hands in the cookie jar, his reluctance to bring transparency to the fiscal affairs of his office and close aides perceived to be on the take doesn't only reflect vendetta against his political enemies he has prosecuted for graft but casts shadow on the seriousness of his reforms for clean governance.
The legacy of Pres. Aquino is that he showed us we can impeach a lapdog Supreme Court chief justice and jail plundering senators. He dug out the country from the pits of kleptocracy under the husband-and-wife team of Mike and Gloria Arroyo to give us hope that having a president who is not a thief could set an example to public servants to stop stealing our taxes and use them to fund civil and social work projects.
Except this social cancer has so metastasized in all levels of government and society that fighting it though crucial is not enough to bring economic progress. Creating jobs and providing livelihood are as much a priority but which the Aquino administration gets a failing grade given how some OFWs in war-torn Middle East countries like Libya and Iraq would rather die in the crossfire than starve at home.
The infusion of foreign capital will help except we don’t have the infrastructure and a tamed labor force to attract investors. The 10 million-strong OFWs and immigrants that prop up the economy to the tune of $20 billion a year, not counting the foreign exchanges they hide in their underwear when they go home, only made billionaires of the Chinese who cater to the food, entertainment and shelter needs of those receiving the remittance.
It doesn’t help that the Filipinos are blinded by their faith to Catholicism which preaches procreation even if the rate of increase in the population outpaces the growth in our gross national product, or whatever is left after most of it is pocketed by the wealthy few and stolen by corrupt public servants.
We don't need another Noynoy (or a Binay) as president the same way we need to rid ourselves of our own bad habits to become good citizens. Whoever comes after Pres. Aquino will still be stuck in traffic just like everybody else as long as anarchy rules the streets, and the Philippine society.