After reading my column “Ph blessed to have BS Aquino as prexy”(MT, Sept. 25, 2013), “Innocent” asked: “Does that mean BS Aquino will be a saint ahead of his mother Cory?” Come to think of it, why not? One does not become a saint unless it could be proved that he had performed at least one miracle. President Cory, while unquestionably pious, had only her magic to call on, and “Cory Magic” would not fall under “miracles.” On the other hand, BS Aquino has already wrought numerous miracles—miracles because they defy comprehension, or logic or the natural order of things. Miracle of the diminishing bread According to the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Jesus fed 4,000 men, besides women and children, when he divided seven loaves and fishes. That’s not all, when all the men had eaten, Jesus’ disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces of bread that were left over. Well, our candidate for sainthood has performed a comparable miracle. BS Aquino has poured billions of pesos for his conditional cash transfer program in a bid to minimize poverty and hunger and enhance education and health services. As a result of the administration’s concerted effort, poverty and hunger were enhanced while education and health services were minimized. The administration should not feel humble and instead take a bow for accomplishing this miraculous feat. You might question why the increase in poverty and hunger should be considered a miracle. Well, the real miracle is not in the fewer number of people getting fed or in more people getting poorer but in the reported growth rate of our economy. Imagine, there is now more joblessness, more hunger, more poverty and more smuggling, yet, our country’s economy is out-performing our neighbors’! In other countries, those indicators would have stunted their economic growth, but not in this country, not with our beloved president in Malacanang. Our economic growth is a miracle by any standard, thanks to BS Aquino, a heaven-sent leader to the Philippines. With the sunny rating by the Asian Development Bank and Moody’s, the Philippines now has the enviable status of being able to borrow more at lower interest rate. That’s how fortunate we are under the Aquinomics of the administration. But, will that result in more foreign investments in the country? Hey, hey, let’s count our blessings rather than the birds that got away, shall we? Let’s think positive, as Malacanang always wants to say, especially to the media. Incorruptibility One of the miracles wrought by BS Aquino is his continuing incorruptibility. Imagine, here’s a leader with corruption all around and yet he has remained spotlessly clean! Only a saint or a candidate for sainthood could do that. As reported by Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao and reiterated by former Secretary Ricardo Saludo, both noted former newsmen, smuggling under BS Aquino averaged $19.6 billion a year, compared to $3.1 billion a year under President Joseph Estrada and $3.8 billion under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Pork barrel, a major source of graft and corruption involving legislators, has also trebled under the current administration. Yet, very few in mainstream media link the president to such corruption. Sure, there were charges that oodles of pork were released during and after the impeachment trial of former CJ Renato Corona. However, Malacanang has cited laws justifying such releases and denying that it was linked to the Corona case. That only those who toed the Malacanang stand against Corona got the additional pork was merely coincidental. Now, there are talks of impeaching BS Aquino for allegedly bribing legislators to ensure the impeachment of Corona. How can you impeach our next candidate for sainthood? Of course, it will be merely coincidental as well if our congressmen will suddenly get additional pork barrel should an impeachment complaint be filed and is dismissed post-haste. As regards Malacanang’s justifications on the pork releases during and after the Corona trial, fellow MT columnist Erwin Tulfo intoned: “Mr. President, we know that you are not corrupt but at least be honest.” Ouch, that hurts! But then, is honesty a requirement for sainthood? It isn’t, and neither is celibacy, assuming that our bachelor president is not a celibate considering that he has had a number of girlfriends/flings. The biggest miracle wrought by BS Aquino to our beloved country is this: he gave us the distinction of being the only country in the whole world with a real BS for president. No other country can claim such a distinction. So, there, Mr. “Innocent,” I hope I’ve answered your question. There should be no obstacle in making BS Aquino our next Filipino saint what with the many miracles attributable to him. Fortunately or unfortunately, only the dead could qualify for sainthood.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 04:18:31 +0000
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