Senator Bam Aquino is Barking at the Wrong Tree
Posted on Monday, 19 January 2015
Senator
Bam Aquino is Barking
At
the Wrong Tree
By Apolinario Villalobos
In his effort to show that he is heeding
the call of the pope to eradicate graft and corruption in the country, immediately,
senator Bam Aquino calls on the Filipinos. He is obviously barking at the wrong
tree. The tree of graft and corruption
is the government which is deeply- rooted. The tree of graft and corruption has
hideously developed robust branches, twigs, leaves and fruits. The Filipinos
are the victims. Through his message, the pope knows this when he called on
the government to stop diverting the resources from the poor Filipinos. Aquino
should stop tweeting out of tune rather than pretend that he does not know from
where corruption is overflowing.
This early, the neophyte senator should
know that Filipinos of today are no longer the foolish kind. If he wants to
maintain a seemingly clean image, he should instead, open his eyes to what are
happening right around where he works – the Senate. He should tell his staff to
research on the causes of unpopularity of lawmakers and make them as his basis
for his moves to avoid being further engulfed in the mire of corruption. He
need not look beyond the walls of the Senate and point an accusing finger at
the Filipino populace, as if the latter is the cause of corruption in the
country.
He should deliver a privilege speech in the
Senate and call on his colleagues, and in so doing, use the pronoun “we” while
quoting the pope in his call for the government to make a stop to graft and corruption
by not diverting the resources from the poor. It is that simple – a call with a
tinge of regret, and without washing of hands.
The Filipinos have enough of one Aquino at
the helm of the government who seemed naïve to their sufferings. Bam Aquino has
ears and eyes for him to know that his cousin president is not popular, and he
should be very careful about this matter. If he wants to further his political
career, he should tread the road of politics with much care, unless he will
join the bandwagon of graft and corruption by mumbling nonsensical and
hypocritical face-saving statements just like his colleagues in the Senate.
He should not wait for the day when his
name will be changed by political observers from “Bam Aquino” to “Ban Aquino”.
He should change his tactics. He should remember the pedestrian saying “less
talk, less mistake”.
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