Toral: Politics, like sex and showbiz, sells

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

IN THE past few weeks, monitoring Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona’s impeachment trial made me realize a lot of things. Content about politics, like sex and showbiz, actually sells.

High traffic to articles and passionate discussion on the impeachment drama, as it unfolds, fills most online news, print newspapers, radio, and related media outlets today.

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Local news, business, sports, lifestyle, and even showbiz for that matter, hardly gets the buzz it used to have.

Depending on who you read and listen to, your opinion will likely be swayed to that camp. For instance, listening to commentators like Ted Failon on morning radio makes me appreciate what the prosecution intends to achieve and how the defense is trying to deflect by using “legal technicalities”.

Reading columnists like Jojo Robles and Emil Jurado of Manila Standard Today makes me appreciate the issue from a different perspective. Newspapers who don’t have prominent columnists vocal on this issue, sharing their opinions daily (like sports commentators), are losing big time in gaining or influencing political mindshare.

At first, I was worried Sen. Miriam Santiago would unleash a firestorm during the trial. But reading the user commentaries and appreciation of her legal explanations made me very thankful that she is there.

I guess that is also the same reason President Benigno Aquino III is going out of his way, explaining his stand on the issue, so that the audience can decide from there on whom to believe in. Banking on his popularity and approval rating as head of our country, the President obviously has an edge on this in comparison to Chief Justice Corona.

But just lately, CJ Corona resurrected a 2010 election issue on the mental stability of the President. All of a sudden, people are now more observant of his behavior when he speaks, how he says things, and composes himself when not talking.

It is a scary thought if what former Senator Ernesto Maceda said was true. That President Aquino is not mature enough. That it is dangerous to give tremendous power to an immature individual.

That quote from Maceda was so powerful that I can’t just forget it. Now whenever the President appears on TV and I get the chance to listen to him, I can’t help but wonder if a boy trapped inside a man’s body is actually running our country.

Those of us in business can only wish otherwise. We would rather focus on the reforms that he is doing and support it. For the online community, we can only remain vigilant and call each other out when someone goes out of line.

Until the impeachment drama is over, everything seems to be at stake for President Aquino as he puts it. His efforts in judicial reforms won’t foster unless CJ Corona is impeached. I am worried.