Human parasites pressuring Arroyo

Neal H. Cruz, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila

Why are so many people trying to substitute their minds with that of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Why are George W. Bush and Mahathir Mohamad meddling in our political affairs? Why are her advisers and hangers-on telling the press that this or that foreign head of state is urging her to run?

Because they are looking out for themselves, not for President Macapagal or for the country. These advisers, hangers-on, Cabinet members and assorted politicians, now the high and mighty, would be nothing without her. They're like the parasitic fleas and ticks on a dog. Without the dog, they would be dead if they can't find another host.

Well, these human parasites, like the fleas and the ticks, would be as good as dead if their benefactor is no longer president and a candidate from another party succeeds her. So they're shaking in their shoes, afraid that Macapagal will be true to her promise not to run again in 2004.

But if she changes her mind, so what? Some say the people will be disappointed if she breaks her promise. They will think she is a liar, they say.

But since when did politicians not break promises? Since when did they not lie? The word "politician" is synonymous with "lies" and "broken promises." As soon as a politician makes a promise, people expect him to break it. When a politician says something, people believe the opposite. When a politician swears that a piece of paper is white, people believe it's black. And when he says it's black, they believe it's white.

That's the way it is. People don't trust politicians. They're expected to lie and cheat and steal. Not all of them do, but that is what people expect them to do. Politicians think that when they sweet-talk the people and make bola with them, they're able to deceive them. They don't. The people just don't believe them. So President Macapagal need not worry that the people would be disappointed if she breaks her promise not to run.

So I would like to tell her: Don't make it hard on yourself. Don't play hele-bele bago quiere and beat around the bush. You want to run, say so. People like straight-talking politicians because they're very rare. It's so easy to make excuses for breaking one's word. Like: "The people are clamoring for me to run. I can't turn my back on them. I want to serve them." Isn't that the standard excuse?

But it is understandable why she is hesitating. She isn't sure she can win even with all the resources of the government and her supporters behind her, considering how unpopular she is. She may lose the election. What a loss of face that would be. She remembers how her own father, Diosdado Macapagal, suffered when he lost his reelection bid to Ferdinand Marcos. Any sensible person would want to avoid the same fate.

But the human fleas and ticks urging her to run are not thinking or her. They're thinking of themselves. As soon as they sense that she's going to lose, they'd be the first to desert her and look for a new host, just like the Cabinet members and military commanders who deserted President Joseph Estrada to be the first to be appointed by the new administration.

But why is Macapagal still entertaining ideas of running for election? Why are the fleas and ticks pressuring her to go back on her word instead of latching on to a new benefactor? Because no presidential wannabe has risen as a sure winner like the first Ramon Magsaysay did. Only Fernando Poe Jr. seems like a sure winner, but he has sense enough to know his handicaps and does not want what happened to his pare to happen to him.

The early bird and frontrunner in the surveys, Raul Roco, is not surging ahead of his rivals. The others are hedging their ambitions waiting to see what President Macapagal will do. Juan Flavier and Jun Magsaysay have announced they would not run if Ms Macaoagal runs. They're there only for the ride. Baka maka-tsamba (They might get lucky). Danding Cojuangco is likely to do the same as he is hoping to be anointed by Macapagal. If Macapagal runs, all of them are hoping to be chosen as her running mate, assuming that House Speaker Jose de Venecia will fail in his bid to change our system of government into a parliamentary one. Loren Legarda can't be Macapagal running mate -- a patriarchal Philippines won't like two women running as a presidential and vice presidential team. Ping Lacson has already launched his presidential bid but some people think he has other things on his mind, mainly how to dodge the Kuratong Baleleng massacre case.

So who else is there? Nobody sticks out like a sore thumb. Estrada? He may still be able to put up a good fight but he can't run for president anymore in spite of what he claims -- the Constitution is clear on that. De Venecia? He had his chance and he muffed it. Vice President Teofisto Guingona? He is a good man, but even he realizes that his chances of winning the presidency are slim. So who else? No more. For the sad truth is that we are terribly short (no pun meant) of good leaders. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

And that is why some people have not given up on Ms Macapagal. The barrel may be almost empty but one small apple is still better than a number of rotten ones.