EDITORIAL - Look who's talking

Joey de Venecia, the NBN-ZTE frustrated bidder (not whistleblower as some have taken to calling him), was in Cebu recently. Why a person of such compromised credibility still finds a platform to stand on amuses many. But then, this is a free and democratic country. So there.

Anyway, as soon as poor Joey began opening his mouth, it became apparent to many, though quite belatedly, that time with the guy is one huge chunk of life gone unproductively by. Words spoken by little children are far more insightful and educating.

Joey, like the true son of his father, told Cebuanos, who are among the most intelligent voters in the country, that he will be introducing a new brand of politics to solve lingering problems on poverty and corruption in government.

Ha ha ha. One could almost die laughing to see and hear who was talking. Everything Joey said against the present political leadership was at the same time an indictment against his own father and the very environment he himself grew up in.

What a haplessly unsuspecting chap. Joey was crucifying his own self and did not even know it. Either that, or he was too brazenly condescending in his appreciation of Cebuanos that he thought we would just lap up his spit and dribble because he was the Joey of NBN-ZTE fame.

A new brand of politics? Why, did his NBN-ZTE fiasco conveniently transform him into a saint, to whom God handed a new set of formulas for Filipinos to follow in that great political and social self-renewal? Why was the politics of his grand trapo papa good enough before that?

If Joey really wants to engage in a new brand of politics, impossible though that may seem to be given his personal circumstances, then he better start with a few quiet moments with himself and then proceed from there with a little more humility.

The quiet moments are for him to hear his own breathing and realize that, just like everybody else, he depends on the air to breathe. So he better not waste his supply needlessly by giving out empty and false promises.

The humility is for him to realize he is just an accident on the scene. It was never his desire to be here, moralizing and pontificating. He was an ambitious would-be participant of the very things he is now condemning. He must lower his gaze to the level of his own pack.