Statesmanship

Vice President Noli de Castro is turning out to be a pleasant surprise. In our world darkened and polluted by the thick, black smoke of politics, he is like a whiff of fresh air with his statesmanlike posture. A person in his position — just a heartbeat away from a beleaguered Presidency — would have already jumped ship, whipped up a lot of noise and spearheaded the clamor for the resignation of the incumbent whose post he is bound to assume under the Constitution. After all, a precedent to which he could pattern his moves has previously been established. I am sure this idea has crossed his mind so many times during the turbulent days and the pressure on him to secede both internally and externally, must have been tremendous. His continued low profile and quiet demeanor as he goes about doing his main job of providing shelter to the homeless poor, is quite refreshing indeed. Others may criticize his attitude as a sign of weakness and lack of leadership but it is definitely not a selfish act of eagerly aspiring and grabbing power tantalizingly within his reach. His deportment is truly a far cry from the actuations of ambitious politicians salivating for the throne that is not even within their reach.

Many still doubt his capability to run this country with all its problems and with lots of inhabitants who are as overly conscious of their freedoms as they are pathetically oblivious of their duties as citizens. Such unfavorable assessment of his qualifications may have been the main reason why he withdrew from the presidential derby in 2004 despite the fact that he was the leading contender in all the surveys then coming out. On hindsight and as the unfolding events tend to show, it would now appear that he pulled out of the presidential race more as an act of personal sacrifice to give way to GMA because he really believed that this was for the best interest of the country. To be sure, he may have also underestimated himself and thought that he still needed more experience in the art of governance.

Apparently, in the short span of one year as Vice President, he has learned the ropes of statesmanship. Despite his low profile, he easily stands out simply because he projects an image that is exactly the opposite of the usual power hungry politicians. So far all his moves have been fairly acceptable mainly because they are consistent with the rule of law and are not divisive. He refused to go with the Hyatt 10 when they demanded the resignation of GMA last July because forcing her resignation is not constitutionally contemplated. Then recently, he again resisted the call for him to be the transition president in the proposed scenario of a snap presidential election which is obviously not allowed by the charter. As he declared at a recent interview, he "is not an option" who could be given a deadline to decide whether to remain with the administration or join the opposition.

Undoubtedly, several actions of the present administration are not legally unassailable and its critics may have good reasons to question and brand them as brazen attempts to suppress the truth, particularly: the killing of the impeachment complaint; the silencing of the Cabinet Ministers and other officials in the Executive Department through E.O. 464; the calibrated response to the exercise of the freedom of assembly; and of course the mysterious disappearance of Garcillano and equally mysterious failure of the government with all its resources, to bring him back to shed light on the tapes. But in what appears to be another display of prudence, de Castro does not immediately jump into conclusions and take a definite stand. He is aware that these questionable moves of the administration are now subject of judicial actions and therefore, it is the judiciary rather the bickering sides which will conclusively resolve them. Verily, it is quite hard to quarrel with his appeal to let the judicial processes take its due course and in the meantime to just concentrate on how to improve the peoples’ welfare.

Admittedly, there are a lot of skepticism on the Vice President’s qualifications and ability to take over the reins of power and assume leadership just in case. But the political reality is that unless Loren Legarda proves otherwise, De Castro remains as the duly elected Vice President and the only constitutional successor of GMA who likewise remains as the duly elected President unless proven otherwise. In accepting such reality we can perhaps take comfort in the Vice President’s recent display of statesmanship and thus rekindle the hope of a brighter tomorrow.

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