Antonio C. Abaya - Noynoy Magick

My apologies to Pia Hontiveros for failing to appear in her TV show last week, Strictly Politics, in which she and other invited panelists discussed the current outbreak of Yellow Fever, which seeks to draft Sen. Noynoy Aquino as the opposition's candidate in the May 2010 presidential elections.

Her staff had sent her invitation (by text or email?) to the offices of Manila Standard Today, which in turn texted the invitation to my cell phone. Problem is I am not in the habit of carrying my cell phone, and when I do, I do not bother opening text messages, which are mostly unsolicited advertisements from the telecom company.

By the time the newspaper office passed the invitation by land line to me, Pia's program was already history.

(Best to contact me through email [tonyabaya AT gmail.com] or my land line [available on request].

I would have wanted to be in that program because my article of August 18, titled No, no Noynoy, was discussed, and even highlighted on the TV screen, and Noynoy Aquino himself was asked by Pia to react to it.

In particular, the paragraph in which I wrote - not once, but thrice â€“ "It is not enough that you are the son of Ninoy and Cory and the brother of Kris. What have you accomplished and what do you propose to do if you were to become president."

To which Noynoy is said to have replied, tersely, that "apparently he has not paid any attention at all to me as I have achieved, etc etcâ€¦.." But he did not list down what those accomplishments were. So we the electorate still do not know what he has accomplished as congressman for nine (?) years and senator for two. And we do not know what he can or intends to accomplish if he were to become president.

So why are some people stumbling over each in pushing him to run for president?

I understand that one of Pia's panelists pointed to Noynoy as having the Aquino Magick and Trust that people can place with him. Are we then back to the Dark Ages in Medieval Europe when ignorant peasants were dazzled by Magick and were stampeded to Trust in Unseen Forces by equally ignorant monks as the Masters of our Fate and the Shapers of our Destiny?

It is not a coincidence that two of the loudest drumbeaters for Noynoy are columnists with whom I exchanged insults in the 1980s â€“ ironically during the Cory years â€“ when they were arrogant drumbeaters for the Magick of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Socialism and harangued their readers to Trust in dialectical materialism and the allegedly inevitable triumph of Communismâ€¦...while I argued from empirical evidence that Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Socialism was a failure, even before the collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989, the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the restoration of capitalism in China in the 80s and 90s.

But old habits die hard. Magick and Trust in Unseen Forces in the 1980s. Magick and Trust in Unseen Forces in 2009-2010. Just as I relied on empirical evidence in the 1980s, I also ask for empirical evidence in 2009-2010: what has Noynoy Aquino accomplished in 11(?) years as a legislator, which could indicate what he can or intends to accomplish as president?

Ironically, these two drumbeaters for Noynoy's Magick were the most acrimonious critics of Cory Aquino's Magick in the 1980s when they were still true believers in Joma Sison's Magick.

Will President Noynoy mix pro-Communists and anti-Communists in his Cabinet, as his mother Cory Aquino did during her watch? That would be a precursor to endless conflict within his own government, as it was in Cory's.

Will President Noynoy release the 14 "consultants" of the National Democratic Front detained by the military, as demanded by the Communists as a pre-condition for the resumption of "peace talks", as his mother Cory Aquino did Joma and other top ranking Communists in 1987, which directly led to military coups against her?

Will President Noynoy exempt the family crown jewel, Hacienda Luisita, from land reform, as his mother Cory Aquino did during her watch? What would such exemption do to his presumed goal to be seen as the Reformer of Philippine Society?

Will President Noynoy refrain from lifting a finger against the Arroyos, as his mother Cory Aquino refrained from lifting a finger against the Marcoses during her watch? 23 years later, not a single Marcos heir has gone to jail for his plunder. 23 years from now, can we foresee that not a single Arroyo heir will go to jail for her plunder?

This is not to say that Noynoy will never mature into a statesman and reformer. I am just saying that we should wait for him to do so, in his own time (if ever) and on his own initiative (if he can), rather than push him to the presidency, with nothing more than Magick and blind Trust in Unseen Forces to sustain him.

PULSE ASIA SURVEY. The latest presidential survey, conducted nationwide with 1,800 respondents from July 28 to August 10, 2009, a period which includes Cory Aquino's death and funeral, showed the following results:

Villar 28 points (up from 14 points last May); Estrada 19 pts (up from 18 pts in May);
De Castro, 16 pts (down from 18 pts in May); Escudero 12 pts (down from 17 pts in May); Roxas 11 pts (down from 13 pts in May); Legarda 6 pts (down from 7 pts in May); Binay 4 pts (unchanged since May); Fernando 1 pt (up from 0.3 pt in May); Gordon 1 pt (unchanged since May); Villanueva 1 pt (up from 0.3 pt in May).

Panlilio 0.4 pt (up from 0.2 pt in May); Reynato Puno 0.3 pt (down from 1 pt in May); Teodoro 0.2 pt (down from 1 pt in May); De los Reyes 0.1 pt (not in May survey); and Perlas a big fat zero (not in May survey).

Villar's uptick is said to be due to his ubiquitous infomercials. If Miriam's threat to sue the big ad spenders after Aug. 31 holds water, Villar is likely to suffer a decline, but he will likely remain one of the top three, with De Castro and Estrada. Roxas may enjoy an uptick when he weds the fair Korina in October.

Escudero, Legarda and Binay may consider settling for the vice-presidency. But Fernando, Reynato Puno, Gordon, Villanueva, Panlilio, Teodoro, De los Reyes and Perlas should abandon their futile quests and stop wasting their time and money.

Panlilio, who said his run for the presidency was in response to God's call, has actually said he will step aside in favor of Noynoy: that's 0.4 pts more for Noynoy, who wasn't in this survey. That must be God calling Among Ed a second time.

Filipinos are still looking for that man or woman on a white horse. If he or she does not come in time, it will be back to Magick and blind Trust in Unseen Forces. *****

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TONY ABAYA on YouTube,/B>
7 Interview with Harry Tambuatco, Aug. 12, 2009. On Revolution Yesterday and Today. Cory Aquino was elevated to the presidency by a revolution, not by victory in the snap elections; 1987 Constitution was drafted by a non-elected body; is there a knight in shining armor out there?; second round vote or run-off elections; plans for revolutionary governments by Erap, Honasan, Abat, Norberto Gonzales, Gen. Yano and Reynato Puno; Le Cirque menu was not a bill; what has Noynoy Aquino done to merit the presidency?; Manny Villar and C-5; bloodless revolution in Eastern Europe in 1989.

part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7hl65nCIuE
part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_YexIbujR4
part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuS_x51c_ow

To access earlier (no. 1 to 6) episodes of Tony Abaya on YouTube, please go to www.tapatt.net.