Flirting with constitutional authoritarianism

Granting, for the sake of argument, that Noynoy is the best thing that ever happened to this country, that still is no excuse or justification to amend the Constitution just so he can run again. And you don't have to look far to find out why. Just use the same argument. If Noynoy is the best president we ever had, then everyone else who comes after him cannot be as good. And if they cannot be as good, then certainly they do not deserve the same opportunity for another term.

It does not serve the long-term interests of our nation to be so fickle in the treatment of our sacred institutions, not even if it is for someone arguably regarded so highly as Noynoy. And it is not only because the others who come after may not measure so highly as well but because it simply is not good to keep altering things that are meant to be basic, are meant to be the foundation upon which things are built and grown.

But that is only granting that Noynoy is the best thing to ever happen in this country. The fact is he is not. The closest thing to being best about Noynoy was only the illusion his handlers built around him back in 2010 when they needed somebody to clear a straight path to Malacañang. But even that almost did not work. In case people have forgotten, Noynoy almost did not make it. He is only a minority president. More people did not vote for him than did.

That is why I cannot understand Noynoy's continued reference to the people as his bosses. When he says he needs to listen to his bosses, I do not know what the hell he is talking about. To begin with, basing on the results of the 2010 elections, his "bosses' are in the minority. The real bosses, those who make up the majority of Filipinos who did not vote for him, have not been convinced to start liking him.

After four years of ineffectual leadership and even worse corruption than he continues to ascribe to his political enemies, the real bosses, those who make up the majority of Filipinos who did not vote for him, are as convinced as ever that they were right after all in rejecting the charade that Noynoy so shamelessly foisted on the nation in 2010.

And the real bosses, those who make up the majority who did not vote for Noynoy in 2010, are growing in number. Their ranks have swelled after those who fell for the ruse back in 2010 have finally seen the light after getting betrayed by the merciless and wanton destruction of the faith they, in all sincerity, pinned on the son of Ninoy and Cory.

And I am not making this up. Go check the surveys. From a net satisfaction rating of +66 in June 2013 to just +29 one year later in June 2014 cannot be seen any other way than as a rejection. No amount of spin can paint the picture otherwise. So what the hell is Noynoy trying to invoke the "bosses" for? The real bosses have spoken in the 2010 elections and they are continuing to speak to this day in the surveys.

And the latest surveys are even just up to last June, before Noynoy got exposed for hijacking billions of savings to feed his orgies through the mother of all pork barrels -- the Disbursement Acceleration Program which, as the name suggests, is a method of spending public money as fast as possible, perhaps in mortal fear of the public getting wise to the highway robbery.

Just as it is a mistake to keep on referring to Janet Napoles as the brains behind the P10 billion pork barrel scam involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF of legislators, it is also a mistake to refer to budget secretary Butch Abad as the creator of DAP. Pardon this resort to Cebuano, but in the only way I can express it precisely -- "bisan giunsa pa og tuwad-tuwad ni Abad, kung wala mopirma si Noynoy, walay mamugna nga DAP."

Noynoy simply does not get it. He doesn't have to pocket a single centavo to be corrupt. In fact he is far more corrupt than those who steal money from the public coffers. When you steal money, it is only money that you steal. But when you make promises that you do not intend to keep, you betray the people's trust. And that hurts far worse than a simple loss of money.

Worse, when in your betrayal of public trust you destroy the institutions that not only bring order to people's lives but, more importantly, shepherd the aspirations of an entire nation toward a single and meaningful direction, you are very dangerous on top of being very corrupt. You do not deserve another term. In fact you do not deserve the present term you are enjoying.

With Congress already bought, it is up to the people, the real bosses, the majority of Filipinos who never voted for Noynoy in 2010, to stop any attempt by those who stand to reap tremendous gains from their continued ability to manipulate him to amend the Constitution in a way that will allow him even the slightest chance to stay in power.

The moment Noynoy sets in motion any bid to amend the Constitution so that term limits can be lifted to allow him to run for another term, that should be seen as an open declaration of war against the sovereign will of the people and the people must respond in an appropriate manner. If Noynoy can get away with hijacking the people's money, the people must not allow him to hijack their own lives.

Noynoy has already bought Congress. He has already threatened and disrespected the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court. He must not be allowed to tamper with the Constitution. We cannot afford to slide into another dictatorship, especially one that takes after the Marcosian model of "constitutional authoritarianism" that Noynoy pretends to so abhor but now so direly covets.