Implosion

ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Implosion
Sunday, 11 15, 2009

The run of Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Cojuangco Aquino III for the presidency is imploding, well before he has even filed his certificate of candidacy.

Noynoy and his handlers have touted the presidential contest for May, 2010 as a choice between good (Noynoy’s side) and evil (all others’).

The problem with this kind of labelling is that the one who insists on the dichotomy could never be sure his side is so pure and full of saints eternally and all others opposing him are devils, miscreants and sinners. From the time Noynoy announced his candidacy, when all the saints (presumably) were on his side, to his campaign entourage has been added the devils of Philippine politics. Politics is addition, that is a given in any presidential campaign, and you have to accept whoever wants to put in his twenty-five-centavos worth into your campaign. The Liberal Party has observed this policy of accretion to the hilt and without discernment, indiscriminately accepting into its fold many of the rejected devils, miscreants and sinners from the other political parties. Now, the good and evil dichotomy is is no longer valid, with Noynoy having to live and campaign with a full baggage of saints and sinners, each elbowing out the other to gain prominence in the campaign. The result? Confusion. One cannot make out the halo from the horns among the talking heads that surround Noynoy.

Noynoy and his handlers have latched on to the legacy of his famous parents as a campaign credential far too long. It would have sufficed to ride for a while on the crest of the Cory Magic to launch his candidacy, but he and his handlers have relied too much on it. And it would have sufficed to remind the Filipino people that they are worth dying for as did Ninoy say before he was killed in 1983. That would have been enough for a while, but his handlers keep repeating it as if the candidate Noynoy is the resurrection of the dead Ninoy. Noynoy and his handlers do not realize that euphoria is only fleeting, and that there comes a time when it is “gone to graveyards everyone,” as the song goes. And as the last strains of the song die in the wind, one has to proceed without the high-five-slap-happy euphoria and grapple with the realities on the ground.

The electorate are now looking into Noynoy’s own credentials because, after all, it will be Noynoy they will vote for, not Cory or Ninoy.

Noynoy has relied too much on the incompetence of his handlers. Noynoy is a good product to sell, but even a good product can get stale if not handled and merchandised the right way. So far, all the selling has been done to people already “sold” to the idea and need no further convincing. But what about the other buyers? Look at how they handled the SCTEX Interchange Scam bombshell of Congressman Boying Remulla. It has been six days since the Pandora’s Box of Noynoy’s immediate past was opened, yet there is no coherent and plausible explanation from the LP as to how Noynoy could not have been involved in such a scam. The simple denial from the LP that Noynoy did no such thing, or the limp assertion of Noynoy that it is pure black propaganda, will not placate the valid suspicion that Noynoy might not have clean hands after all. Something more concrete, something documented for his defense is what is expected. But it seems Noynoy and the LP are unprepared to handle crisis situations, and if they think that the SCTEX Interchange Scam is just the only one, they’ve got another think coming—a friend in the Nacionalista Party boasted to me that it is just the first in a series.

Noynoy has failed to put himself across as his own man. There is his celebrity sister whose skills at overselling a product rubs a great many people the wrong way. There is the scandalous use of resources of a media network to put Noynoy over for what he is really not. Then there is the campaign manager who, aside from making a half-assed promotion of Noynoy the candidate, also manages to project himself as if he were the one running.

And who is fending off those nasty text messages about Noynoy that I continue to receive even here in snowy and cold Central Asia? Is there anything that Noynoy’s supporters in the business sector can do to stop these messages?

Who is really the chef d’état-major of Noynoy’s campaign? Methinks ’tis a classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, or as my friend Reggie would say, too many crooks spoiling the soup. Noynoy, to continue with Reggie’s “malaphor,” should have set the main ingredients of his recipe; he should have personally chosen the condiments that should season his once-heady soupe du jour. The broth at Nonoy’s camp is slowly turning into a retch-inducing slop that only pigs would dearly love. It gives a whole new meaning to the expression, “feeding off the trough.”

Finally, whoever gave the go-signal for that infomercial that keeps running on your television set for three and a half minutes should lose his say in the Noynoy campaign. He never considered the consequences of that infomercial. Never mind if Marian Rivera, et al. were paid or not their fees for holding on to those faux torches of idealism that is passed from one entertainment talent to another; never mind Noynoy’s awkward gait — that validates Manong Ernie’s claim in his column in this paper? — against the balletic stride of Boy Abunda or the manly stance of James Yap; and never mind if a giant media network gave a 50% discount for its airing.

The infomercial does not send any substantive message that communicates the talents of Noynoy (that would qualify him as president), a message that could resonate long after its airing is finished. Rather, it presents Noynoy as the odd man in a sea of talents, or Noynoy as the recipient of a flaming torch — there goes again the association with Ninoy and Cory – that is extinguished everytime the infomercial ends. Reggie describes the infomercial, for lack of a more charitable term, as ampaw: too little substance and nothing in between. My other friend says it’s more like watching a dazzling fireworks show in the sky: too much sparkle and brilliance but too little warmth.

If the LP and its surrogates have mishandled the candidacy of Noynoy, they only have themselves to blame. Sayang.

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