President Aquino - Hypocrisy & hubris at its worst? Road to perfidy & infamy

FOR the past week, the speech of President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd in Malacañang has been the talk of the town. President Aquino has been excoriated in both mainstream and social media for his speech last Friday that criticized the Catholic Clergy in front of His Holiness, Pope Francis.

President B. S. Aquino 3rd has been pilloried in the press for his lack of breeding or being BASTOS (rud e) and for not telling the truth about the many in the clergy who suddenly became silent with the abuses of the Arroyo administration. President Aquino has been called an “ÏDIOT” for what he did and does not deserve to be President of the Philippines, a country of 100 Million people.

What made headlines in the national and international news was when he said “many members of the Church, once advocates for the poor, the marginalized, and the helpless, suddenly became silent in the face of the previous administration’s abuses.” The reference clearly was to former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo whose administration the puerile and pathetic president still continues to criticize until today.

It is rather obvious that PNoy took a personal affront when he added: “In contrast to their previous silence, some members of the clergy now seem to think that the way to be true to the faith means finding something to criticize, even to the extent that one prelate admonished me to do something about my hair, as if it were a mortal sin.” For PNoy to even mention about his hair in his speech is truly immature coming from a child-president!

Atty. Dodo Dulay wrote an insightful article his column last Wednesday, 21 January 2015 entitled “A crude and ill-mannered president.” Atty. Dulay observed that President B. S. Aquino 3rd “made no mention in his speech of the plight of our countrymen devastated by the typhoon and the earthquake that hit the Visayas, which was the main purpose of Pope Francis’ trip to the country – the first papal visit in 20 years.”

I concur with my fellow columnist that “PNoy’s remarks were impolite and uncalled for” and he is “just being true to his rude and ill-mannered character.” Atty. Dodo Dulay articulated what was on the minds of millions of Filipinos and foreigners alike: “hasn’t he learned it’s bad etiquette to be discourteous to a guest you invited into your house?” I believe that it is much more than “bad etiquette” to do so to the Supreme Pontiff.

Indeed, it is “public knowledge,” as Atty. Dulay calls it, the penchant or proclivity of President Aquino for insulting members of his audience to their faces. He cited several instances when PNoy shamelessly showed his apparent lack of breeding in spite of his claim to contrary.

The silence of President B. S. Aquino 3rd

Let us re-visit the statement of President Aquino on the “many members of the Church, once advocates for the poor, the marginalized, and the helpless, suddenly became silent in the face of the previous administration’s abuses.” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda even tried to defend the diatribe of his boss arguing that “one spoke of fighting corruption, the other spoke of the silence of the church in the face of corruption.”

Yet who has really been silent “in the face of corruption?” I recall what Atty. Dulay pointed out in his column that then Tarlac Representative Benigno S. Aquino 3rd was one of the congressmen who voted against playing the “Hello Garci” tapes in Congress in 2005.
Likewise, PNoy has been silent on Liberal Party members and political allies who have been implicated in the PDAF scam!

Until today, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has not filed the third batch of complaints with the Office of the Ombudsman that involve the administration allies of President B.S. Aquino 3rd. The filing of the complaints has been awaited since late April or early May 2014, as reported in the press, but it has not happened. This shows the sheer hypocrisy of the Aquino presidency.

The first batch was filed in mid-September 2013 that included Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada, among others, and the three senators have been in jail since late last year. The second batch was filed in late November 2013 with two former congressmen implicated that included then Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, who finally resigned after all!

On the alleged $30 Million extortion attempt on the supply of coaches for MRT 3 exposed by the Ambassador of the Czech Repubic in July 2013, the DoJ has not released the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on their probe on MRT General Manager Vitangcol. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said they are still waiting for the approval of President Aquino. Mr. Vitangcol just resigned last year and is now scot-free.

It is important to point out that former president Corazon C, Aquino and her son Congressman Benigno S. Aquino 3rd were quiet and not critical in the first five years (2001-2005) of the Arroyo administration. Why? Because the Cojuangco-Aquino family benefited from the same president that they would later condemn.

They were beneficiaries of the interchange at Hacienda Luisita along Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) that cost several hundred million pesos built by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA). Hacienda Luisita, the 6,000-hectare ancestral property of the Cojuangcos, greatly benefited from the said interchange infrastructure. BCDA constructed the interchange/exit along SLEX even when it was not really needed.

It is obvious that the interchange at Hacienda Luisita was an accommodation to the Cojuangcos. First, it is just a few kms before the end of the SCTEX in Tarlac, Tarlac. Second, you will notice that the BCDA did not put a road and exit booth from Hacienda Luisita going to the end of the SCTEX going North because there is simply no reason to!

If you are in the vicinity of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, Tarlac, it is easier and faster for you to take the free MacArthur Highway (Manila North Road) going North. And if you want to go to Nueva Ecija like Cabanatuan or Cagayan Valley, just turn right to the Tarlac-Sta. Rosa Road where the SCTEX ends.

However, what was worse was that the Cojuangco family even asked for compensation of the land affected by the interchange/exit that amounted to hundreds of millions of pesos. The worst, as revealed during the 2010 presidential campaign, was that the land sold by the Cojuangcos was appraised at a much higher price than its real value.

It is amazing how a beneficiary of the Arroyo administration is now portraying how bad were the years of the previous administration when they were also quiet before.

Going back to PNoy’s speech, it is not in our culture as Filipinos to be BASTOS (rude), especially to our guests. What PNoy did to Pope Francis was very much UN-FILIPINO! It is something that even imbeciles and idiots won’t do.

It takes a person of extreme Hubris and Hypocrisy to do what President B.S. Aquino 3rd did. What PNoy did was shameful and an embarrassment to the Filipino people. He is a disgrace to the human race; he is a poor excuse for a human being.

Rick Ramos