People Power fatigue

What’s this I hear about two bishops and a Presidential uncle who have been calling for graduating president Noynoy Aquino to step down to be replaced by some constitutionally ambiguous transitional council?

Is anybody actually taking these people seriously?

I know that Noynoy has really dropped the ball, especially with regards to his involvement and culpability as commander-in-chief in the Mamasapano massacre, and the subsequent bungled response of his administration, but is that really enough reason to mount another people power revolution?

Is that how low the emotional and intelligence quotient of Filipinos are?

Do the people who think this is a good idea because the moniker “PNoy” rhymes with “Abnoy,” even know who will be in that transition council that is supposed to save our country from the depths of despair with a little more than one year to go before the next elections?

Will that new government get us another credit rating upgrade? Will the soaring Philippine Stock Exchange break new records because of them? Will they put more corrupt senators and congressmen in jail? Will they get the Spratly islands back from the regional land grabbing bully? Will they drop a nuclear bomb over the Bangsamoro territory to end decades of war, and bring everlasting peace to the southern land of promise?

Will the support of powerful men of the cloth give it the legitimacy it desperately needs if it wants to replace a constitutionally elected president? Will they work miracles on the decrepit state of the MRT and the seemingly unsolvable congestion at the NAIA? Will their blessings give the stuck PPP programs of PNoy a boost?

Will they bring justice to the SAF 44? Do they have a better solution to peace in Mindanao than the Aquino administration’s Bangsamoro Basic Law, or will they simply copy and paste most of it, add a few flowery paragraphs, embellish it with another set of acronyms and righteously declare their version of this country’s best chance to win a Nobel Peace Prize?

Did we learn nothing from the people power movements that ousted the plundering dictator, and the mustachioed hedonist? If Noynoy Aquino is their premise for proving that kicking those two bad presidents out achieved nothing of significance, then what exactly will kicking out an outgoing president that neither meets their lofty expectations nor supports their own selfish agenda achieve?

Why not instead take advantage of the low interest rates to start a business and employ more people, instead of complaining that the government’s efforts to improve that economy are only good on paper because whatever gains the economy is making isn’t inclusive enough?

Why not take the time to educate more voters within your spheres of influence so that when the elections come in 15 months they know better? Instead of complaining on social media, try talking to five voters in your household or workplace, figure out what makes them tick, and find a way to help them make more informed choices next May.

Remember that all the likes and comments supporting your views and frustrations with the current president come from people who already think like you, and that means, aside from getting a pat on the back, you aren’t really changing anything. Educate a few voters instead, preferably without resorting to name-calling, and you might be doing your beloved country a favor.

Those who have been too focused on PNoy’s faults may have missed the forest for the ugly trees, but whether you like him or not, it is during this last coup and people power free decade that our country’s economy has been taking off. It may not have been felt by everyone yet, but it is improving and any instability caused by the impractical impatience of the malcontent will most likely destroy any gains that have been made and set us back another decade or so.

If you come to think of it, your preferred savior, whether that genius may be Miriam, Duterte, Gibo or a reincarnation of Jose Rizal; will be able to outshine PNoy better if this country wasn’t allowed to descend into chaos in the final stretch of his six-year-term. Allow Noynoy to finish his term, work your butt off to get a proper president elected, and watch that supposedly better president do better than Noynoy’s supposedly incompetent administration.

Wouldn’t that make for a better Philippines one month after the 2016 elections?

If it doesn’t, then we can always screw democracy once again and toy with the idea of people power every time our duly elected leader doesn’t do what we imagine we can do better.*

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