YESTERDAY, a friend shared a story about former president Noynoy Aquino and the Liberal Party stowing away 3,500 metric tons of gold bars. Supposedly hidden in the Central Bank and bound for Thailand, these were intercepted by Spanish authorities.
To a friend who seethed over the story went my advice: Two topics we should never gamble our friendships with – religion and politics. We agreed that presidents come and go but friendships should remain.
Of course, it was fake news. Clear giveaways were the identification and attribution. Wha-a-a-a-a-t? Noynoy Aquino and the entire Liberal Party? How can one whole party do that, without the then opposition group of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Imelda Marcos, Joseph Estrada, Jejomar Binay, etc. squeaking about it?
It’s not that there was martial law during Noynoy’s time that the above-mentioned parties would be scared of opening their mouths about? If they screamed their tonsils out, no one would be dragging them into the streets so they could repent.
Oh no, they had to wait to now as they continue their saga of scraping the bottom of the barrel to dredge out any dirt they themselves manufactured. So, what do we have? This fake news about UNTV (har de har de har!) dated January 2017 (last year). Wha-a-a-a-a-t? Such desperation to besmirch the reputation of the previous administration!
What will they think of next? Perhaps that Noynoy hasn’t gotten married because he’s balding further....er, growing a forehead? Or that Communications Group Asec Mocha Uson is actually Lady Godiva incarnate, riding her horse down the streets in all her nakedness to protest the repression of her people? What a laugh!
And yet, saying so would not be beneath Uson and her ilk of fake newsweavers. Remember her infamous gaffe about Mayon Volcano being in Naga City?
Speaking of Uson, there’s this posting that she plans to resign, immediately drawing netizens’ comments from “Pati ba siya, nabuwisit na rin sa amo niya?” to “Now na; now na talaga!”
Down, netizens, down! This is just some trial balloon to determine the acceptability of her senatorial bid. Presidential clones like her do not resign; rising from being unknowns, they never had it so good!
Besides, Uson’s blunders, as well as her boss Communication Secretary Martin Andanar’s, are less scandalous or blasphemous than those of their own boss. Imagine this mere mortal Rodrigo Roa Duterte calling God “stupid.”
Precisely because my God is not, and does not lose his cool over wayward souls, Duterte did not freeze or burn right where he stood.
So I’ve realized that I continue to be disappointed, shocked, angry, depressed or frustrated about Duterte’s behavior. I have accepted that reacting in such ways is a result of expecting behavior and speech from my country’s top leader to be presidential, to encounter “delicadeza” or grow some conscience.
My grade school teacher was right; old goats learn no new tricks. And this nation’s president is an old, old goat.