P-Noy consistently hates newspapers

By Al S. Mendoza

 

ALMOST every time now that President Aquino speaks in public, he attacks his critics.

A bad habit, indeed.

He did it again on Thursday, when he addressed the Ilonggo Republic in Iloilo City.

He was there, among others, to inaugurate the newly-refurbished Iloilo airport.

Of course, he was also there for a more important reason: Using the airport ceremony to veil a move to make Mar Roxas the anointed one in 2016.

Mar Roxas is the Ilonggo’s favorite son, being a native of Roxas City—a beautiful seaside charmer which is a little over one hour away from Iloilo City.

When Mar Roxas was introduced to speak, the emcee said, “Let us now welcome the next President of the Philippines, Mr. Mar Roxas.”

If that was an unscripted act, fine.

If Mr Aquino was not informed beforehand about that, fine.

If Mar Roxas didn’t know about it, fine.

What wouldn’t be fine is, if the emcee got himself rebuked after the proceedings.

This is a program a.k.a. political rally hatched by P-Noy’s Liberal Party.

That’s why P-Noy used the occasion again to throw tirades at his critics.

“Even if we do good, our foes will still find fault in us,” he said in Tagalog.  “They will always try their best to use every occasion to criticize us.”

Of course, it is us, columnists, he was referring to.

A poor attempt, as always, to conceal his hatred against journalists.

And by consistently being like that, it has become continuously obvious that P-Noy doesn’t know the latent job of newspapers, of columnists:  They are government’s No. 1 shadows a.k.a. covert sentries.

In short, our job is to make Presidents to be on their toes not just once in a while but at all times.

If that should make the President’s job harder because of our being too strict as to become virtual naggers, so be it.

Our adversarial stance could only mean, we care—caring for the government’s well-being being also a primary component of how a columnist, a newsman, a journalist must behave in his milieu.

If only Mr. Aquino knows Thomas Jefferson, maybe, just maybe (P-Noy is as stubborn as a mule, they say), he’d have a wider, broader, perspective of what newspapers are all about.

Said Thomas Jefferson, one of the greatest thinkers of all time:  “Were it left to me to decide, whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Tita Cory, when she was President, had carried that credo close to her chest.

Unfortunately, P-Noy is not his mother’s son.

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