Polarize: Binay's only way

Polarize: Binay's only way
(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 11-05-2014 WED)

In an arrogant jab at his erstwhile "guardian" back when he, as an
Armalite-toting teenager, was on the lookout for coup plotters against
his sainted mother, BS Aquino retorted to a plaintive expression of
frustration from beleaguered Vice President Jejomar Binay with this
dare: "You are free to leave the Cabinet."

Bedeviled by charges of corruption and ownership of unimaginable
illicit wealth, the VP has seen his popularity ratings slide from the
unprecedented high of any potential candidate, amid threats of even
more lethal attacks as the 2016 election year nears. A subsequent
appeal to his "ward" apparently fell on deaf ears; hence, the present
falling out.

BS Aquino was reacting to what some press reports described as "a
barely veiled attack on (his) administration" by Vice President
Jejomar Binay two Saturdays ago at a Lions' district meeting at the
Manila Hotel, where the latter enumerated complaints of the public, to
wit: "There is a power crisis, (together with) the rising prices of
oil and other commodities, the rampant crimes plaguing the country,
the hellish traffic jams, unsafe MRT and LRT, the recurrent flooding
and the wrath of nature that we must all prepare for... But instead of
giving all their time and thoughts to achieve solutions to these
problems, they chose to advance their own interests by destroying my
name and those of my loved ones..."

At that speech the electrical charge that would have polarized the
nation's pressing problems into genuine people's issues against the
public utilities privatization price abuse, alongside national
government incompetence versus the triviality of the corruption issue,
flashed for a moment.

Having initiated that charge, it would have been ideal if Binay had
waged thereon an unrelenting, fight-to-the-finish polarization to
serve as a turning point in a long political war, where he has
suffered constant reversals due to very nature of the political system
he is in.

Binay's enemies are by no means the frontline political warriors or
soldiers in the phalanx. They are part of the same ilk who will be
called into account in the Yellows' Winter of Discontent--a fear that
compels them to want to ensure their perpetuation beyond the life span
of their self-generated People Power myth.

The people's cries embodied in the issues Binay lined up before the
Lions, if repeated with a growing lion's roar, would easily drown out
all the accusations hurled against him by the sheer fury a nation deep
in poverty, hunger, and hopelessness.

Just imagine the resounding impact on the people from Batanes to Jolo:
"Power crisis, the rising prices of oil and other commodities, the
rampant crimes plaguing the country... the wrath of nature." Just think
of the gut issues affecting the nation's capital: "The hellish traffic
jams, unsafe MRT and LRT, the recurrent flooding."

Unfortunately for Binay (though we hope it's not too late for him), he
decided to turn the other cheek by claiming, "I have the highest
respect for President Aquino and I will continue to be a team player."
And to think that it is the same team whom the VP accuses of choosing
"to advance their own interests" instead of looking for solutions.

Binay, it seems, chooses to still put his fate in the hands of the
very people who are skinning him alive. How then will half the
people, who had seen their faith in him as a champion of the poor and
downtrodden flounder, be restored in their faith now?

With the way the battle is being waged, we will see no great
turnaround for the besieged to become a victor, unless he charges on
as the Greeks at Marathon turned a lost cause into victory against an
enemy that outnumbered them 20 to one.

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