Aquino’s ‘no choice’ choice

Unless one is a complete idiot, or a virtual gun is held to one’s head, the fairly intelligent will not likely pick a born loser over an undeniably certifiable winner as his successor. What traditional politician picks a candidate that the electorate has several times rejected because they just do not like him? The character flaws are too obvious.

The attitude, abrasive. The self-image, entitled.

The persona, plastic.

So, who bets on an old and plodding nag better suited for the glue factory versus a popular and pedigreed winning thoroughbred? Especially important is the question of choice where the position that one is bequeathing to an anointed is a chance, whether good, bad or remote, at winning the highest office in the land.

Granted that the “winnability” criterion is simplistic, even for armchair analysts, the term is critical, if not sine qua non in any electoral exercise.

More so in 2016. In the case of a chief executive whose governance has been the subject of accusations of fomenting, nurturing and now, once more, resuscitating under various guises the rejected criminal pork-barrel system and a heinous mutation that transfers preprogramed funds to the control of political allies, the criticality of survival outside prison cannot be underestimated. For a leadership whose post-administration survival outside a jail cell might be dependent on the forgiving gratitude or mercy of a successor who might well disregard the statutes for the sake political expediency and friendship, the choice is necessarily self-focused.

For Benigno Aquino III, whose presidency and the critical bureaucracy under it is sadly characterized by personal, albeit unprofessional, choices highly influenced by his signature KKK (kaibigan, kaklase at kabarilan) criterion, choosing from the coterie is expected.

The pork-barrel issues and the Disbursement Acceleration Program that characterized his governance have been issues of political patronage and personality politics, both of which the current leadership is apparently an advocate of. If he based his decision to anoint on the same criteria he has followed during his incumbency, then we can understand the predicament of the last weeks, where options included an outsider.

Political expediency and friendships is the rule for Aquino and, thus, the choices for a likely successor, or anointing an official administration candidate, will be a function of culpability when immunities wear off in 2016.

The decision is even made more critical when we consider that the choice to anoint a partymate over an independent implies the blessings of a party campaign and electoral machinery, its network of underground operators and influence peddlers, and, perhaps, most important, the millions in funding hoarded over several years of party rule. Among politicians, nothing attracts more than money and the prospect of millions at their command.

Let us analyze recent events and see whether the President’s choice of the anointed was, as it should have been, founded on an analysis of costs and benefits, merits and demerits culled from competing, albeit similarly qualified, alternatives. Or was it, as we look beneath the veneer and yonder beyond the spin, a decision compelled by the stark absence of choice?

The events leading up to the announcement of the ruling party’s candidacy provide excellent fodder for analysis. The facts speak eloquently for themselves.

Several meetings between Aquino and Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares with Aquino’s anointed to be and her presumptive vice presidential partner and political mentor had, so far, failed to convince her to run as the Liberal Party’s vice presidential candidate. Had she agreed, she might have boosted a sorry loser’s chances with her vicarious sheen.

She also would be out of contention for the presidency and, thus, the contest would have been a grudge match between the ruling party and the opposition.

It is easy to see from this that Aquino had no choice. It is his misfortune that he now has to go with a loser and face the prospect of criminal indictments under a post-Aquino administration.