Presidential clout

“Power is the great a phrodisiac.”

— Henry Kissinger

VICE President Jejomar Binay implored his friend and Commander-in- Chief President Benigno Simeon Aquino to terminate the tedious, venomous, vulgar, and time-wasting Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearings against the Vice President in aid of ambition. The President can do it if he wants to as he possesses the power of persuasion, plus PDAF and dap, over senators and congressmen.

When Senate President Franklin Drilon, with tongue-in-cheek and sensing an opportunity to grandstand, advised and admonished the President that senators are independent-minded, and cannot be controlled or told what to do, the whole world knows that Senator Drilon was being hypocritical, BS, and, as they say, tell that to the Marines.

The fact is that the Philippine President, under this Constitution, is vested with, and possesses awesome powers and vast resources that he can either utilize to give the greatest happiness to the greatest number, or destroy his enemies, or abuse or misuse the people’s money for narrow and partisan politics.

The raison d’etre or bottom line is: Can President Noynoy Aquino rise above the mundane?

Is he presidential in vision and decision-making, or petty and vindictive in character?

Former President Fidel V. Ramos had shown and demonstrated that the economy can be resuscitated, liberalized, and prosper; insurgencies tamed, and can co-exist with Congress as co-equals without having to avail of emergency powers or resort to dictatorial decrees.

Alas, it is true that a fixed six-year term is too short for a good president.

On the other hand to prove the President’s wide raging tentacles, President Benigno Aquino has not only successfully and brazenly subjugated and intimidated a docile House of Representatives with the flagrant exercise of the “power of the purse” which is traditionally the proprietary right of Congress, and by coupling and stringing together the NPC, the Nacionalista Party, and Arroyo turncoats, the once anemic Liberal Party had become since 2010 the majority political party in Congress.

Thus, the conquest of Congress by President Aquino is an extraordinary feat in itself.

Moreover, President Benigno Noynoy Aquino has not only invaded the Judiciary, and challenged and defied the Supreme Court, but he has also cowed and intruded into the independence of constitutional bodies, such as, the Comelec, the Ombudsman, and the Commission on Audit (COA), as though they were subordinate and subservient agencies.

Overall, President Benigno Aquino, consciously or inadvertently, is changing the political landscape and challenging traditional democratic institutions for the better or for the worse.

Can President Aquino be presidential and leader of ALL Filipinos, or is he condemned to a tunnel vision of petty interests and personal vendetta?

After four years of volatile governance, and two years to judgment day, the jury is still out, so to speak, to assess and decide whether the Aquino Administration is a failed enterprise, or is true to its reformist mission.

You be the judge.