PNoy to campaign for his man?

It was reported the other day that President Aquino will "campaign vigorously" for Mar Roxas' quest for presidency. This is bad news for Vice President Jejomar Binay and other presidential aspirants, if any. This is bad news also for Philippine democracy.

If the highest official of the land with his awesome resources and influence takes an active part in a presidential election, who can prevail against his desire to make his protégée win? The past five years of the Aquino administration has glaringly demonstrated what Malacañang can do to get what it wants. Remember the impeachment process against former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, how the House of Representatives railroaded the voting process reportedly through the influence of the Palace, and how towards the end of the Senate hearing, the senators were secretly paid P50 million each (according to Senator Jinggoy Estrada) to convict Corona?

Remember also how the members of the subcommittees looking into the Bangsamoro Basic Law turned around from their agreed resolution and came up with another resolution in conformity with the wishes of PNoy? This happened after these congressmen were invited to Malacañang for dinner and talks.

Talking of resources, resources in cold cash, here are the figures. Presidential Special Purpose Fund - P369.72billion (and P 430.43 billion for 2016); Presidential Social Fund- P2 billion for the current year and more than this in 2016.President's intelligence fund- P 500 million. Add to this the amount of P4.8 billion in congressional "insertions" (actually a clandestine form of pork barrel) which can be released only with the go-signal of the President, and you get a clear idea of the monumental cash resources of Malacañang which can be used to win votes for PNoy's anointed candidate.

Are you a congressional representative who has been trying to keep intact your self-respect by not being a sycophant of Malacañang? You may be, but what do you do to subsidize your reelection? You have to lobby for the budgetary insertions for your projects. And of course, you need PNoy's imprimatur, something which of course is given only if you toe the line.

Are you a local government head who has infrastructure projects to pursue in 2015 and 2016? To get your funds you have to pay obeisance to the president. Such is the awesome political clout of the president - even without campaigning "vigorously."

By campaigning actively for Mar Roxas (he started this during the "anointing" ceremony) PNoy revealed perhaps unknowingly how crooked is his daang matuwid. President Aquino needs to be reminded that he is the leader of the country and not just of the Liberal Party. His very salary is from the pockets of mainstream Filipinos who paid their taxes. And those billions of pesos for his disposal also come from them. Therefore, he should dispose those funds fairly and equitably, and they should be spent for the purpose which the law intended them to be spent and not for the benefit of any political groups.

If daang matuwid means fair play and righteous actions then the president should be completely neutral when it comes to national elections, particularly the presidential one. The claim that he has to ensure that his successor will follow his daang matuwid footsteps smacks of holier-than-thou frame of mind. Nobody has a monopoly of righteous thinking or of patriotism and love of country. The Liberal party with all the publicly known deviant bureaucrats in its fold, whom PNoy has protectively covered with his presidential wings like a zealous mother eagle, certainly has no Torrens title to daang matuwid.

Hence, PNoy should not be afraid that whoever succeeds him will turn everything upside down. The Filipinos, after Martial Law, have learned their lessons and will never tolerate any monkey business by any president.

To recall, neither former president Fidel Ramos nor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo "campaigned vigorously" for their chosen presidentiables. If PNoy does so, can it be said that he has less delicadeza than these former heads of state?