Some people in this country, politicians and not, including the one whose rent in Malacanang will expire in about two years, more or less, do not want Leni Robredo become the next president where there is more virus than there is fun.
And it may have nothing to do with mysoginism or the virus. There are precedents, in the first place; Cory Aquino, who first broke the glass ceiling ,and Gloria Arroyo. Objectively, both have performed creditably, with some help from men, thank you. In the latter case, not least from the First Gentleman, though that’s another story.
The former no doubt was a great boon to our democratic way of life brazenly stolen by a dictatorship. History is not yet finished with its judgment on the latter in the same light, with her support for Duterte a potential debit on her political balance sheet. It’s still very much an ongoing concern. The other night on TV, kabalen historian Ambeth Ocampo described history as a nightmare one wakes up from.
Now the possibility of another woman leading this country in the foreseeable future looms large on the horizon. With her lean, little voice in crescendo over perceived and real hiccups and burps in the government handling of the COVID 19 crisis, among others, Vice President Leni Robredo appears cut out for the role.
She has cut to the chase and has been cutting since: The country has a rudderless leadership and is pleased with the results of what it’s doing despite what’s happening on the ground: the ever rising virus infection, China’s unbridled incursion into Philippine territories, various assaults on our democratic space and so on.
Her newfound boldness has evidently unnerved those in their comfort zones.
So some die-hard members of Duterte’s choir are itching heavily to exorcise this epiphany (for now) of a chance this early by whipping up political frenzies that are patently unconstitutional and, worse, untimely.
First to give themselves away are the RevGov pushers who are all -in for Duterte to declare a revolutionary government with the legendary mayor as the last Mohican who will choose his successor: in all probability, himself, or ungrammarly, hisself. The offer is equivalent to that of the snake oil salesman.
Mark Twain, in a critique of the novel The Last of the Mohicans, wryly observed that whenever a plot requires a twig to be stepped on, its author would be quick to insert a twig and a character who will step on it. Who said it that desperation is the mother of all inventions?
It looked like a trial balloon. So when the public appeared not only lukewarm but resistant to the idea, quick pushbacks from top government honchos began to roll out like customized baggages on a carousel at the airport terminal. These could only have come from one and the same source. Of course, the source has revealed itself finally. Does a fruit fall far from the tree?
With the revgov scheme fizzling out before catching fire, other similar “revolutionary” ideas have suddenly emerged or resurrected on the political landscape like weeds after a lightning. Basically, the premise is that if the president conks out before he crosses the finish line, a successor should already be named. Now na, to so speak.
Apart from being radical and ridiculous, the suggestion smacks of plain ignorance, if not plain disloyalty to the Constitution. The sacred document, which seems to be a mere scratch of paper to those who are dreaming on the successor issue, neatly provides for such an emergency. Political Science 101, Your Honors, please.
The utter stupidity of the idea has been given its goofy description by the law dean of San Beda College who blamed it on government officials watching too many movies on Netflix. Can’t blame them, there is much so downtime. The dean has a radical suggestion of his own: put the successor pushers behind the slammer for trampling on the Constitution.
Talk about the media impact on people, the mean-world syndrome in which what you see or hear becomes reality. Garbage in, garbage out. No filtering of fiction, no gatekeeping of facts. Reality is anybody’s take on it, wrongly or rightly. In the kingdom of the blind, says Shakespeare in King Lear, the one-eyed is king. The reality show better done before midnight, right?
Why gang up on Leni?
She appears to be the most viable, potential successor to Duterte, through the Constitutional provision on succession or through an election. And it’s bad news to many members of the Administration choir. There’s job to lose, perks and privilege to forget and the prestige of being rather than doing in the current dispensation suddenly turning into vapor. And some shenanigans in pharasaical garb being uncovered.
Going deeper and more broadly , it’s probably a serious indication how much of the anti-democratic ideology — not the threadbare homegrown variety — has seeped into our officialdom that it resembles the proverbial frog in a kettle: it’s being cooked alive without feeling the heat slowly being turned up.
With the vice president getting noisier over supposed incompetence in high places — the rudderless leadership, in her own words — it has jolted those who have believed all this time they’re doing well they desperately want to stop her on her tracks.
It would’nt be surprising if the new slogan would be: anybody but Leni who?
And it shows where we are at the moment in history: a president so powerful it has Congress at its beck and call 24/7 and twice on Sunday, and the rest of our democratic institutions in a systemic paralysis of sorts, by will or by default. There’s another democratic fortress nearby but it might as well be temporarily closed.
But a woman is like a teabag, said Eleanor Roosevelt, you get to taste how strong it is when you put it in cup of hot water.
As time goes by, Leni’s voice gets louder, stronger and braver. Some footsoldiers may already be shaking in their boots at the thought that she may be it. But the baptism of fire is yet to come.
