Sunday, September 13, 2009

The Noynoy Aquino phenomena

I am not the type of a political supporter who would carelessly announce my choice of a candidate. But in my Facebook account, I readily said “Let's just go for Noynoy... it's the imperative of the times....a new breed of leadership - inspirational, free from corruption and hunger for power.”

Of course, I meant it, and would stand by it unless I proved myself wrong!
Immediately, there are reactions from friends, mostly favorable. Elsewhere, I see a lot of various reactions on Noynoy’s candidacy. One bishop even warned against “joining the bandwagon.”

Another senator slammed Noynoy’s camp for using the term “good versus evil” in the coming elections. Of course, it was not Noynoy who said that, but Mar Roxas, the sometimes tactless scion of political ritzy families of Araneta and Roxas (remember his public expletives, which I supported as understandable in my other blogs).

Some sociologists try to explain the euphoria over Noynoy as some sort of political romanticism, which according to them does not have a long shelf life, meaning it could fizzle out over a period of time.

Be that as it may, I still believe that the reason for this “euphoria” is very simple. It is not a battle between Gloria and Noynoy, neither is it a battle between good or evil, I must agree. But it is a battle to win the trust of our people back. To win our people’s confidence in governance, so badly tarnished by Marcos, Erap and Gloria.

Talk to any ordinary Filipino and most likely, you will hear sadness and hopelessness. That we have become too wary of politicians, for even the incumbent, who has a PhD in Economics has only given us the most disappointing leadership of all time.

So when Noynoy, a personification of Ninoy and Cory, has announced that he is willing to take the lead, we have become euphoric. So he must live up to our expectations. Otherwise, we are a lost people.

Sadly, no politician in this generation can match Noynoy’s credibility (at least for the moment). He may not possess an impressive track record, but the thing is, we trust him. Why? Because we trust that he would not betray us, that he would not betray his parents’ legacy.

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