by Edcer Escudero
THE four most probable factors that caused the stunning disaster of Mar Roxas’s vice presidential bid are:
• He was junked by the Kamag-anak Inc. faction that holds Benigno by the nose;
• He is not a Corysta or Yellow boy (he kept on wearing a blue shirt while being surrounded by the Yellow Army);
• Korina Sanchez didn’t go all-out for Mar’s candidacy;
• Chiz Ezcudero’s endorsement of Noy-Bi that swept the nation like a tsunami, and wiped out Mar’s seemingly insurmountable lead in surveys two weeks before E-day.
Mayor Jejomar Binay, who is jokingly referred to in coffee shops by critics as the Philippines first black VP, won the vice presidential race on the strength of his track record as doer of doables, an outstanding executive and manager.
In the words of Chiz Escudero, Binay has enough “callos” (experience) to take the job of vice president. The miraculous transformation of the municipality of Makati into the richest city in the country is an incontrovertible testimony to his managerial skills, and an achievement difficult to replicate.
Binay pledged to do for the Philippines what he did for Makati as its mayor for over two decades. He has six years to make good that pledge. Can he do it? Can he “makatize” LuzViMinda? Let his record answer that.
Binay’s political slogan says: “Gaganda ang buhay kay Binay.” Let’s hope it won’t just be an empty catch phrase.
President-in-waiting Benigno Aquino III is talking like crazy.
He said that he doesn’t recognize a Gloria Arroyo-appointed Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court. He also said that he plans to be sworn in by a barangay captain.
Now, that’s a clear sign of a disturbed mind. Those patently autistic outbursts do not reflect mature judgment and careful analysis of the legal implications of his action.
But Benigno is right in saying that there is no law that requires a President-elect to take his oath before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It may be recalled that Cory Aquino swore before Associate Justice Claudio Teehankee, not Chief Justice Ramon Aquino in 1986.
Benigno can take his oath before any Filipino citizen – a barangay official, a priest, a nun, a lawyer, a mayor, a governor, a professional basketball player, a boxer, a farmer, a drug lord, a gambling lord, a whistle blower, a movie star, even an illegitimate nephew.
There is absolutely no law that prohibits Aquino from raising his right hand and pledge to defend the Constitution before a living Filipino.
So, go ahead, Benigno, take your oath before anyone who catches your fancy. Be sure, however, that you are prepared to face the consequences of your defiant stand against the highest court of the land.
Your impending assumption to the highest political office within the gift of the people demands from you some degree of magnanimity in victory and a manifestation of mental equilibrium.
