Noynoy Aquino: A Presidency by Osmosis

By Tony Lopez

You won’t believe this but the reason why 44 percent of survey respondents of Pulse Asia will vote for Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd is because they think he is “clean” (malinis).
In the Pulse Asia Oct.22 to 30 survey, the respondents claimed they would vote for a presidential candidate because of: “hindi kurakot/malinis” (not corrupt/clean), 21.2 percent; “may nagawa, may magagawa” (has done something/could do something), 14 percent; “para sa mahirap, galing sa mahirap” (for the poor/came from poverty), 12.23 percent; “tumutulong” (helpful), 12 percent; “reputasyon ng pamilya” (family reputation), 4.2 percent; mabait (kind), 3.87 percent; “may alam/sanay sa pamamalakad/may karanasan” (knowledgeable, an experienced manager, experienced), 3.6 percent; and “maka-Diyos” (God-fearing), 3.2 percent. The total is 74.1 percent.

There are two conclusions you can make from these figures. One is that the biggest answer is don’t know 25.9 percent (100 minus 74.1 percent). The other is that being clean (21.2 percent, that’s Noynoy) has a higher premium than performance (14 percent, that’s either Manny Villar, Erap Estrada or Gibo Teodoro), experience (3.6 percent, that’s Villar, Estrada or Teodoro), or being pro-poor (Estrada) and having been poor (Villar).

Voters in effect are saying you may be stupid or inexperienced but as long as you are perceived to be clean, then we will vote for you. However, being stupid or inexperienced or both can mean you are incompetent.

In other words, in 2010, voters will prefer incompetence to performance, intelligence and experience. To me, that is an insult to the Filipino voter. Which makes the Noynoy Aquino presidential candidacy frustrating it not outrageous for many concerned Filipinos.

Noynoy has little to show in his nine years as congressman and barely three years as senator to deserve to be elected president. His only claim for presidential gravitas is having had Ninoy Aquino, a martyr, as father, and Cory Aquino, a beloved president, as mother. In effect, he is offering a presidency by osmosis.

Osmosis, as you know, is the movement of water from an area of high water potential to an area of low water potential to produce energy, without input of energy. It is producing something without much effort or talent just because of your family background.

Now, ordinarily, clean means honest. Honest as in never been tainted by scandal or corruption. “Clean” could also mean clean, as in tabula rasa—nothing there. Or no record of performance.

Noynoy may or may not be aware of it but there is a text and joke brigade propaganda against him implying that he has nothing in between. This insidious image is bolstered by the fact that Sen. Mar Roxas keeps taking up the cudgels for him on many issues. Mar is not only a good running mate, he is also a good and articulate spokesman. He will make a good presidential spokesman or a presidential spokesman for economic affairs, ala Gary Olivar for GMA.

For a retort, Noynoy may pickup Manny Pacquiao’s oft-repeated insistence, “hindi ako bobo” (“I am not stupid”).

Noynoy is not stupid. I have known him since August 1983 after Ninoy Aquino’s assassination. He has always come across as an intelligent, decent, courteous gentleman. This is not to say he is not capable of meanness or double-dealing.

Noynoy has after all the genes of a Cojuangco and an Aquino—two of the most enduring political families in the Philippines. Some factions of the two clans are capable of rent-seeking and using political connections to gain a juicy contract or a lucrative concession.

The 6,300-hectare Hacienda Luisita was bought by the Co-juangcos (Cory Aquino wing), with a loan from the Central Bank on the condition that the family would cut it up and give parcels of it to sugar tenants. If the Cojuangcos then were not politically powerful or influential, do you think they would have gotten the loan?

If Cory Aquino were not president, do you think the family would be able to insert a vague provision in the Constitution putting “tenants” and “workers” in the same category as tenants as far as agrarian reform is concerned? And because of this provision, the Agrarian Reform Law was crafted in such a way that agrarian reform can be undertaken two ways—one for tenants and another for workers.

The Hacienda Luisita tenants became “workers” overnight. Because of the change in their status, the tenants were no longer entitled to land but to shares of stock since a company does not usually give away land but can give away shares of stock.

And since the “workers” had no money to buy the shares with, they had to pay for them by installment, and while the tenants were paying for the shares by installment, the voting rights for the shares were assigned to the Cojuangco family. In effect, the Cojuangco family, Cory wing, never lost control of the hacienda.

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