General Admission
Hunting season
By Al S. Mendoza
MAR Roxas had led in virtually all the surveys in the 2010 elections.
Yet, he lost to Jojo Binay in the vice presidential race that year.
Jinggoy Estrada was always No. 1 in the senatorial surveys in 2013.
Yet, he wasn’t No. 1 but Grace Poe at the end of vote counting.
Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar were neck-and-neck in the surveys in the 2010 presidential derby.
Noynoy won but Villar wasn’t second; it was Erap, the ousted president in 2001, who finished No. 2.
Binay had led the surveys consistently as the front-running presidential timber in 2016.
Then allegations of corruption involving not only Jojo but also his son, Makati mayor Junjun, must have affected the elder Binay’s image.
The succeeding surveys had reflected it somewhat as Jojo now repeatedly trailed Grace.
Probably pissed off by a sudden barrage of unfriendly surveys, Binay went on all cylinders and hurled innuendoes.
He said what the nation needs in 2016 is a leader with experience and ample knowledge of the reins of government.
In his tirades, Binay did not mention Grace.
But it was obvious Grace was his target—Grace being a virtual greenhorn as she is merely virtually three years in the Senate.
But then, what has experience got to do with winning the vote?
For sure, the inexperienced Grace can win it in 2016, given the weird nature of politics in this country.
A “mere housewife” like the late Tita Cory toppled the Marcos dictatorship in the 1986 snap election to become president up to 1992.
Fidel V. Ramos was never even a barangay kagawad when he was swept to Malacanang in 1992, beating such heavyweights then like the late Ramon Mitra, Danding Cojuangco and Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago.
Two presidents later after Ramos came Noynoy Aquino, himself branded as another Palace-bound Mr. No Experience.
Politics used to be man’s noblest profession as practitioners to it are seen to endeavor to improve the lot of the people.
Not anymore.
Politics in this beloved nation of ours is no longer tied to what one knows about good governance.
It is not anymore beholden to serving the people properly.
Corruption is everywhere and if it’s any consolation, it is only P-Noy, seemingly, whose hands are clean.
But what good do we get from a clean leader surrounded by minions living in skullduggery?
Sir Francis Bacon said, “To worship the people is to be worshipped.”
By telling us on Day One of his administration in 2010, “Kayo ang Boss ko,” did P-Noy mean he would worship the people?
If he was to be worshipped in return, it is for the people to say in 2016.
The vote now tilts more on the popular Grace than Mar.
But, alas, P-Noy’s inclined to choosing Mar the unpopular.
The hunt continues.
(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)
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