You're the man

Everyday for the past week or so, my mom would ask how things are in Malacañang (this is where I work by the way) and if I have new i.e. insider news. Last weekend at the height of Sammy Ong’s 5 minutes of glory, she said she felt nervous. One night before sleeping I checked the news on TV. I was sleeping in her room at that time for the AC and I know she slept hours before. All of a sudden, she was up and asking me all kinds of questions.

Yesterday I was surprised to get a text from my father. He hasn’t texted in a long while and it’s not that I mind. His text went like this “How can I e-mail GMA? I want to share with her some words of encouragement”. I texted her PGMA’s two addresses and thought that will be the last of it. His next text was “Thanks babe. Can I cc you?”

Just about all my e-groups are swamped with stories about “the tape”. It’s everywhere – in the media, in mp3s, in conversations with cab drivers, in Quiapo, except where it should be in the first place. My classmate in Spanish, Señora Ambajadora, even asked me to relay to my boss what she thinks she should do.

Personally, I don’t think it will lead to anything. Primarily because the only real opposition left is Chiz Escudero and he’s not even ripe yet. I believe that the prime mover of the president’s ouster is no less than the opposition and with Edong, Pimental and Lacson at the helm, I can’t see a full-proof opposition gameplan at the offing. If I were Sammy Ong, I wouldn’t get Rez Cortez as escort, at least for the sake of credibility.

More than this I believe the people are too tired of a regime change, especially if it involves the name Kabayan as alternative. Even the media was surprised that despite the big number of slumdwellers behind the San Carlos seminary, nobody organized whatever form of picket along EDSA. Some people would say that although they despise the president, they see no one worthy of replacing her.

I don’t think we can afford another political disruption. It is just too costly. One of the reasons cited in a Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) study why poverty continues to plague this country is the lack of continuity of programs. We have enough credit downgrades and I don’t think we need one more. Regime change in whatever form, legal or extra-constitutional, will not be viable. We don’t even have any evidence admissible in court.

Whatever this is (politicking, mudslinging, conspiracy, circus) I hope it ends soon.