A good name could bring us to greatness. It would not always point to one's affiliation or origin but rather more of one's hard work in building a good reputation. And when tarnished, bringing it back to its original distinction becomes onerous. Such is the case when we cannot fulfill a promise.
But it seems to have become a common practice especially during elections when politicians, out of desperation to sustain the interest of the listening public and to get their votes would resort to promising them the heaven and earth.
The news online portal of TV 5 reports that just last Thursday, when the MRT Line 3 twice suffered breakdowns, it spurred netizens to bring out an old video clip of President Benigno Aquino III's speech in 2013 where he said that if the promised improvements in the commuter train system are not fulfilled by 2015, he and Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya will probably have themselves "run over by a train." The clip uploaded on YouTube has gone viral as netizens ranted against the seemingly endless problems of the MRT 3, which has steadily encountered problems the past two years.
In the clip, speaking at a campaign sortie of Team PNoy, Aquino promised that the project that can service an estimated 250,000 passengers would be finished by this year. And as the year is about to end, netizens expect a fulfillment of a promise-not the improved transportation system but the "suicidal act."
And as expected allies of Aquino would come to rescue the president by saying that it should not be taken literally as it was purely a rhetorical statement. But for Filipinos who are used to hearing promises delivered without necessarily fulfilling them-there is nothing new-credit to a frustrated soul that says promises are made to be broken.
And granting we will buy their excuse, from no less than the president, is this kind of leadership we want.
"Run over by the train" is, for sure, will not happen. But to fulfill a big promise to the people is another thing. But given the remaining months under his leadership, this is impossible, after all, there is nothing to finish because none has started yet. And if this won't happen, we expect another finger-pointing scenario--blaming others or to circumstances why such promise is unrealized.
And I can't resist taking note of some bizarre yet hard-hitting comments from the netizens. One remarked, "I'm so excited to witness this once in a lifetime historical event in the Philippines history. I wish the ABS-CBN will have live coverage on this event. Another netizen suggested that "his sister Kris and Mr. Abunda will be the hosts. Presidentiable Mar Roxas and wife Korina will give free slippers to the lucky viewers on this historical event. Mr. Anderson Cooper of CNN will also grace the event. Only in the Philippines!"
Seriously, would it be a never-ending cycle of promises? Once again, election time, we are faced with future leaders who seem to have perfected the art of promising. There are already many Filipinos who took the option of going out of the country because they cannot anymore take the condition and the kind of system they were in. For other ordinary Juans and Juanas, surrender is an easy way that has long been considered. So for us who opted to remain are still hopeful. But when would hope end? Where would this lead us to?
For now, and once again, we appallingly need leaders who are true to what they say.