EDITORIAL - Coup plots do not solve anything

President Aquino may be proving to be a very great disappointment as a leader. But removing him from office, especially by unconstitutional means, will not bring this country anywhere near the expectations that came with his election to office.

On the contrary, any coup plots (since denied by the Palace after first disclosing them) being hatched by disgruntled elements to remove Aquino from office will only drive this country deeper into the quagmire to which we naively allowed ourselves to fall into.

Destabilization is something we need like a hole in the head right now. We cannot afford another problem on top of the growing mountain of troubles we all have to surmount. If at all, we need to pull together behind Aquino, warts and all.

But pulling together behind a constitutionally-elected leader to shield ourselves and the entire nation from unconstitutional disintegration is just half the mitigating measure that must be undertaken quickly for us to survive.

The other half involves Aquino himself, and he has to do a lot of things fast. First and foremost, he needs to quickly douse the fire of discontent before it becomes a conflagration over which he has no control.

That is the short term of it. The long term requires Aquino to break out from the comfort of his cocoon and face the music in the real world, where things are very much different from his preconceived notions of it.

In the real world there are as many voices as there are people in it willing to express themselves and Aquino is duty-bound as a leader to listen to each one of them. From the voices of his own people can Aquino piece together the true picture of his domain.

Aquino cannot afford to listen only to his own voice and those of his close advisers. The presidency does not guarantee infallibility. And his advisers may whisper only what he wants to hear and thus compound the problem, if he happens to be wrong.

Only by opening himself up can Aquino avert any rebellion from within. A leader who listens is a leader who attracts supporters. A leader who attracts support is a strong leader, against whom any attempt to topple will fail.