A MEDIAMAN once ran for city councilor.
At the start of the campaign, he was ridiculed and denigrated everywhere he went, haunted and hounded as he was by his past stints in the then so politically-incorrect National Psychopathic Hospital.
Fed up with accusations of insanity leveled against him, he took to bringing a certification from the mental hospital of his having been cured, of his having returned to “normalcy.”
And subsequently launched an offensive against his opponents and detractors, challenging them to present certificate that they indeed were of sound mental health.
“I have the certificate to prove that I am sane, now I challenge my rivals to show documentary proof that they are not insane.” So he said in his miting.
Of course, our mediaman – who had impeccable grammar even at the height, er, low of his lunacy – failed to convince the electorate that he was rational, nay, sane, enough to represent them in the council. He ended up last among the candidates for councilor.
I remember this story with the brouhaha wrought by the bogus document alleging past psychological imbalance in front-running presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.
So the Ateneo department cited in the spurious document denied ever issuing such. So the Rev. Fr. Caluag whose signature was affixed in the document swore to the high heavens that he had absolutely no knowledge of it. So the psycho brief on Nonoy is fake, nothing but an underhanded black propaganda trick played on him.
Still, it merited to something. Not only for Noynoy but for all the presidential candidates to subject themselves to psychological tests, if only to assure the electorate that there’s no looney or wacko among them who could ever possibly become Philippine president.
Passing psycho or neuro tests is routine requisite to getting employed, especially for soldiers, police and security guards – they who bear arms.
So why should an aspirant for the Philippine presidency be exempted from undertaking such tests, the post fingering the virtual trigger in the legitimate guns of the republic, the police and the armed forces.
Think what havoc an utak-pulbura (gunpowder-brained, literally) of a president could wreak!
Then, there is a felt need too for all presidential candidates – all candidates for that matter – to be subjected to IQ tests, if only to ascertain that idiots and morons be kept out of political posts.
Come to think of it, if IQ tests were administered on the current crop of elected officials, over two-thirds would most assuredly fail to meet the grade.
Just witness the idiotic, okay, intellectually-challenged senators and congressmen dishonoring those once august bodies and weep.
A thorough physical – AIDS test included – needs to complement the psycho and IQ tests of candidates.
And to be thoroughly holistic about this issue, why not throw in a moral test too.
Instantly comes to mind – mine – here is the Four-Way Test of Rotary, thus:
“Of the things we think, say or do…
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?”
Great test there for a person’s character. But then comes some sobering realization: Ain’t Jocjoc Bolante of the P750-million fertilizer scam a much esteemed Rotary Fellow? Yeah, and he’s running for governor too.
There goes nothing for the Rotary test. May as well return to the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt not…vote, as no candidate is worth it. Makes one really go homicidal. If not suicidal. Damn.
At the start of the campaign, he was ridiculed and denigrated everywhere he went, haunted and hounded as he was by his past stints in the then so politically-incorrect National Psychopathic Hospital.
Fed up with accusations of insanity leveled against him, he took to bringing a certification from the mental hospital of his having been cured, of his having returned to “normalcy.”
And subsequently launched an offensive against his opponents and detractors, challenging them to present certificate that they indeed were of sound mental health.
“I have the certificate to prove that I am sane, now I challenge my rivals to show documentary proof that they are not insane.” So he said in his miting.
Of course, our mediaman – who had impeccable grammar even at the height, er, low of his lunacy – failed to convince the electorate that he was rational, nay, sane, enough to represent them in the council. He ended up last among the candidates for councilor.
I remember this story with the brouhaha wrought by the bogus document alleging past psychological imbalance in front-running presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.
So the Ateneo department cited in the spurious document denied ever issuing such. So the Rev. Fr. Caluag whose signature was affixed in the document swore to the high heavens that he had absolutely no knowledge of it. So the psycho brief on Nonoy is fake, nothing but an underhanded black propaganda trick played on him.
Still, it merited to something. Not only for Noynoy but for all the presidential candidates to subject themselves to psychological tests, if only to assure the electorate that there’s no looney or wacko among them who could ever possibly become Philippine president.
Passing psycho or neuro tests is routine requisite to getting employed, especially for soldiers, police and security guards – they who bear arms.
So why should an aspirant for the Philippine presidency be exempted from undertaking such tests, the post fingering the virtual trigger in the legitimate guns of the republic, the police and the armed forces.
Think what havoc an utak-pulbura (gunpowder-brained, literally) of a president could wreak!
Then, there is a felt need too for all presidential candidates – all candidates for that matter – to be subjected to IQ tests, if only to ascertain that idiots and morons be kept out of political posts.
Come to think of it, if IQ tests were administered on the current crop of elected officials, over two-thirds would most assuredly fail to meet the grade.
Just witness the idiotic, okay, intellectually-challenged senators and congressmen dishonoring those once august bodies and weep.
A thorough physical – AIDS test included – needs to complement the psycho and IQ tests of candidates.
And to be thoroughly holistic about this issue, why not throw in a moral test too.
Instantly comes to mind – mine – here is the Four-Way Test of Rotary, thus:
“Of the things we think, say or do…
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?”
Great test there for a person’s character. But then comes some sobering realization: Ain’t Jocjoc Bolante of the P750-million fertilizer scam a much esteemed Rotary Fellow? Yeah, and he’s running for governor too.
There goes nothing for the Rotary test. May as well return to the Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt not…vote, as no candidate is worth it. Makes one really go homicidal. If not suicidal. Damn.
