“It’s official, It’s Noy-Mar,” a grinning active member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) told me just a few minutes ago this morning.

The member said that unlike in previous years when their leadership would announce the official bets to the congregation two nights before election day, this time INC’s choices for the nation’s two highest political office were released earlier to the media.

The member added that they expect the choices for senators to be announced to them by this weekend. I have no reason to doubt this source, who is very much apolitical and a strong religious devotee.

Hmmm. Could this be INC’s way of signaling to the dark forces now at work to stop the fraud, the cheating the extra-legal manipulations?

And what could this mean? Does this mean INC does not believe Sen. Noynoy is mentally ill and unfit for the presidency? Hmmmm.

The plot is just unfolding. Get ready for a political roller-coaster ride in the next few weeks.

My exclusive

By Raissa Robles

Ok, I couldn’t resist this scoop as a journalist.

But I’ve hesitated to write this for days because I did not want to be labeled a Noynoy supporter.

It pains me as a foreign correspondent, who has been trying to keep an open and dispassionate mind about the presidential candidates, to be branded as rooting for this one or that one.

But I realize, also as a journalist and Filipino citizen, that I do have the responsibility to disclose the truth no matter who benefits or gets hurt.

Ever since I wrote about Sen. Noynoy and autism on this blog last year, I’ve been receiving a stream of messages and comments on Sen. Noynoy’s mental state.

Many of them said they would never vote a lunatic to the presidency. One of them begged me to say whether Sen. Noynoy was crazy or not.

And then the first bogus psychiatric report came out, allegedly from Jesuit psychologist-priest Tito Caluag. Followed by a second bogus one, allegedly from Fr. Jaime Bulatao, whose students fondly called Fr. Bu.

A journalist’s job is to find out if such things are true. And from what I remember my best friend Tina telling me about her professor, Fr. Bu, he was better known for teaching astral projection than issuing psychiatric reports.

In between the two fake psychiatric reports, a letter allegedly from an Ateneo classmate named “Tomcat” also came out, alluding to Sen. Noynoy’s bizarre behavior in college.

When I saw that the “crazy” or “Abnoy” tag refused to die down, I thought it was time to dig out the truth. So I contacted one of those who had earlier left a comment on my blog entry on Sen. Noynoy and autism.

His name is Dr. Gary Samson and he told me he was Sen. Noynoy’s Ateneo classmate. He had commented on my blog that from his recollection, Noynoy was not autistic. Gary said he was open to being interviewed about Noynoy.

And so I e-mailed Gary last April 18,2010:

Dear Gary,

I think now the time has come for me to ask you about what you know about your old classmate, Noynoy.

You’ve probably heard about the fake psychiatric report that came out about him. Here’s another follow-up on that – written by another classmate named Tomcat.

And here’s the piece which came out in a column of Jojo Robles. Jojo is not at all related to me…

what I’d like to know is -

• Who is tomcat?
• Is his impression of Noynoy accurate?
• If so, why was Noynoy that way, do you think?
• I gather Tomcat was a classmate in college because he talks about Maam Gloria Arroyo who was a teacher in college.
• What do you think of the psychiatric report on Noynoy?

thanks.

P.S. I’d like to quote you by name in my blog. Pls. also tell me a little bit about yourself, your practice.

thanks again,

Raissa Robles

Here is Jojo Robles’ column:

Readers of this column know that I rarely surrender my space to others in the form of extensive passages quoted verbatim. But today I willingly cede my allotted quota of words, editing only for style considerations, to someone who calls himself “Tomcat,” who recently wrote the following open letter (via Facebook) to leading presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino:

Dear Noynoy:

We were classmates at the Ateneo and I have no doubt that you would remember me even if we were not close. Hint: I was one of those who ribbed you about the low grade that Father Kreutz gave you in math because you could never seem to get your fractions right. Remember going ballistic over that ribbing? [Reverend Wiliam “Bill” Kreutz, SJ, is a long-time Ateneo teacher from New York who founded the Jesuit Volunteers of the Philippines—JR. All subsequent bracketed phrases are mine.]

Anyway, reading the psychological report that was posted on the Internet a few days ago certainly made me remember you. I heard you say on the news that the report was fake but you did admit that there were some things in it that were true. “Part truths” I think were your exact words. It fascinated me enough to want to read the report carefully to check out which were those things that were true.

Obvious things first, those facts that any of our classmates can confirm if asked. One of these is, as the report says, you have a labile disorder. This is whole truth. Even Father Gorospe would be distracted by your drooling during our oral exams. [The late Reverend Vitaliano Gorospe, SJ, was connected for a long time with the Ateneo Theology Department.] Father Ferriols, who made a point of showing he didn’t like you, would make side comments about it that led your classmates to give you the nickname “Cooper,” a reference to Cupertino school where we would teach Catechism to retarded children. I, however, never called you Cooper. [Reverend Roque Ferriols, SJ, taught Filipino Philosophy at Ateneo.]

The report says that you have a “major depressive disorder.” Well, I honestly don’t know if that is true. What I do know is that in school you were very temperamental and had sudden mood swings. Isang minuto, nakikikain ka kay Brudda Francis, maya’t maya nagagalit ka na. Many of our classmates can attest to witnessing scenes like this.

The report said that you used to go with your mom to see Dr. Manuel Escudero. That is a whole truth. I remember seeing you at Tito Maning’s high-rise apartment on Roxas Boulevard when we were still kids. Tito Maning was a consultant with the WHO here in Manila but he was also a psychiatrist who treated only the high society people in Manila. Even Imelda Marcos was his patient. Unfortunately, so was my mom who suffered from insecurities due to my dad’s numerous infidelities.
Tito Maning’s wife, Tita Jo, was a very good artist who had a couple of exhibits of her work before they left Manila for good a few years after martial law was declared. They lived in Topeka, Kansas. After they left, I kept a correspondence for a while with their very cute daughter Nina who I am sure you remember. I had such a crush on her. Maybe you did too. She used to talk to us “little folk” in the sala of their apartment while the “big folk” would lock themselves in the room and discuss “big folk” matters. She wanted to go to ballet school or some dance school which she did, I think, and I eventually lost track of her.

About your smoking marijuana, I also can’t say if that is wholly true. What I do know is that you would try to tag along with a group of students that would hang out with Ma’am Gloria Arroyo. [Yes, President Arroyo herself.] Mga students niya sa Economics. She was always surrounded by bright and handsome students kaya hindi ka pinapansin. Pati si Ma’am Placer, she never gave you the time of day kasi people said you were “medyo weird” and your grades were mababa per her standards.

Pero, you still tried to hang out with those guys. Trying hard to belong ba. I know those guys would drink na kasama pa si Miss Rosales na pag lasing na, kumakanta ng Spanish songs in Spanish. They would drink dozens of bottles of beer at Shakey’s Katipunan because Mrs. Ramos (our Spanish teacher in case you don’t remember) owned the restaurant. This group was also known to also smoke joints in the college auditorium, up in the closed space where the spotlights were. So, if you were hanging out with them then, you were probably also smoking marijuana too.

The report said you had a flight attendant girlfriend. This is another whole truth. I will not mention her name here to protect her but she was a PAL stewardess. I found out about this because I was on a flight with Father Samson [probably Ateneo de Davao president Reverend Antonio S. Samson] once and she was the one who seated us. When she found out we were from Ateneo, she introduced herself and said she was the girl friend of an Atenean and mentioned your name. Father Samson then asked jokingly if you were a good boyfriend to her. She shrugged and said you were “okay” but she was bothered because you were “too conservative.” You didn’t even like to kiss her daw because you were saving her for the wedding night. And you insisted that she dress very conservatively. Jealous boyfriend ka daw. No wonder that relationship ended. Maybe that’s why you got so depressed over it.

About the report. I know that [Ateneo-based Jesuit psychologist Reverend] Tito Caluag is one of your best friends. His group of “friends” are some of the richest and most influential people in the country today. I know that you used to frequently visit his home. He hosts get-togethers where things that are too esoteric for me are the subjects of discussion. At one time, this group of yours even discussed the ousting of [Ateneo president] Father [Bienvenido] Nebres because Tito Caluag had his own ideas on how Ateneo should be run. Maybe your closeness to him is why he was the one you went to when you were depressed and why he was the one who handled your case and signed your psychological report. To keep things quiet.

But I confess I actually don’t know. I do know that Tito Caluag was at one time your sister Kris’ father confessor. He may not be a very trustworthy father confessor, though, because many have heard him say aloud that “walang ginawa si Kris Aquino dito sa Ateneo kundi habulin si Alvin Patrimonio at mag-emote sa quadrangle”.

Anyway, yun muna. Good luck on your presidential run. If you become president of the Philippines, that would be really something, huh? From “Cooper” to “Mr. President” when brighter and more scheming Ateneans like Mar Roxas and Dick Gordon have not been able to make it is an achievement that Ripley should feature.

Your old friend,

Tomcat

The next day, Gary e-mailed back.

Dear Raissa,

I am an adult Psychiatrist here in Sacramento & Yuba city California. I finished my training in 1994 at the St. Vincent’s Medical Center of New York City.

Regarding the psych report, Fr. Tito Caluag does not do psychology & he himself has denied signing the report.

Regarding Jojo Robles’ column, Tomcat’s narration of Noynoy is totally not true. The only thing correct were the names of the professors but everything else was made up (ie. ‘Cooper’ or coming from Cupertino was what we would tease one another after a stupid mistake. Personally, I do not recall Noynoy drooling nor anyone calling him ‘Cooper’ in all our years together. Noynoy was a batchmate from Prep to College, 1966-1981).

Truly yours,

Gary Samson MD

Gary must have contacted his other Ateneo schoolmates through his e-group and passed around my e-mail. He forwarded their replies to me.

And so I asked Gary:

Dear Gary,

I would like to reprint in full what you said and what I presume your classmates said.

I hope that would be alright.

thanks,

Raissa

His reply:

Ok

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

And so, without comment, I’m reprinting in full what Gary and Sen. Noynoy’s other schoolmates and one former teacher said:

This one is from Gene Manalastas:

Gary…Tomcat is fictitious character. This issue has been addressed with no less than the teacher Ms. Placer writing to the columnist refuting all allegations of this tomcat character. The batch was forewarned by Rene Almendras re: black propaganda against Noy & that the batch may be used in all these.

Gene Manalastas

This is one is from Tang Sison:

Is it possible to ask jojo robles the person of tomcat? His identifying tomcat could give credibility to his claims but if he refuses to give the person behind tomcat, then maybe you can tell jojo robles that these ‘personal recounts’ of tomcat are not valid. Because in our batch, we are all willing to lend our names to the testimonies because these are true testimonies.

I was a classmate of noy for 4 years in eco col’81.We were block mates for a long while but i never saw him drool or lose his temper during class. I used to have short chats with him in the bench in front of the cafeteria. But i have never experienced him losing his temper during our chats. We used to discuss many things under the sun, including the sate of the nation at that time and sometimes, but very seldom, about the situation of his dad. I asked him once about how he feels, what his dad was fighting for and how much they ( him and his
family ) had to undergo and asked him if these were all worth it? He said yes and explained to me why. Noy was always very logical and contained. Sometimes we would debate over some issues and often times, he would come out with flying colors in our chats.

tang antonio-singson

eco col’81

This one is from Robin Tong:

tomkat is obviously a fake classmates as his email mixes innocent facts with patently false claims and insinuations. classmates’ real testimonies are the best answer. another black prop special that will backfire. latest mla std

ratings daw: noy 36 villar 22 erap 20.

This one is from Tony del Prado:

manila standard, until as late as last week, was owned by enrique razon. now you can draw your own conclusions.

This one is from Daniel Guerrero:

Gary,

Very interesting bit of bitterness, it seems, from this guy who is not man enough to even state his name!

Anyway, what caught my attention is about the “stewardess” girlfriend. She happens to be my sis-in-law and knowing her how I do, it seems very far-fetched to me that she even mentioned the “intimacies” of their relationship!

Thought I’d share this w/ you. I wonder who this guy is??? Take care, man.

Dani

Gene also forwarded an e-mail from Maizie Frances SyCip-Qua, who forwarded a letter that their ex-professor, Salvacion Placer Angtuaco had sent her:

I sent this letter to Mr. Jojo A. Robles of Manila Standard Today who published a letter from somebody named “Tomcat”. Mr. Tomcat attributed something to me, but I never said such words. I don’t even know who Mr. Tomcat is.

I am sending this to you so you may know in case they ( Manila
Standard) will not publish my letter.

For his complete column, follow the link:
http://www.manilast andardtoday. com/insideOpinio n.htm?f=2010/ april/16/ jojorobles. isx&d=2010/april/ 16

Please tell your friends about this.

Thank you,

Baby

To: Mr. Jojo A. Robles

Lowdown

Manila Standard Today:

On April 16, 2010, a Friday, you agreed to give space to somebody who hides behind a name as “Tomcat”. Why? Why did you waste your space? If Mr. Tomcat really stands by what he says, then he should have been man enough to state out his name in full and be proud of what he says.

I just wish to point out that I never talked to anybody named Tomcat. So I don’t know how Mr. Tomcat came up with a statement such as the following:

“Pati si Ma’am Placer, she never gave you the time of day kasi people said you were “medyo weird” and your grades were mababa per her standards.”

I take it that I am the “Ma’am Placer” that is being mentioned in his letter. I admit, Noynoy Aquino was my student in college but what is quoted there definitely did not come from me. I never said that Noynoy’s grades “were mababa” per my standard or that I saw him as “medyo weird”.

Let me put it on record. Noynoy Aquino was my student in college and I am very proud and happy that he was. I always mention this with pride to anybody who asks me. Noynoy was a bright and humble student. I can attest to that.

So Mr. Tomcat, whoever you are, come out in the open and don’t use other people’s name to give credence to your lies and below the belt allegations.

Mr. Robles, I hope that you will also give as much space to this
letter as you gave space to somebody who hides behind an alias such as “Tomcat”. He maligns people and hides behind an alias. That is not fair at all. He also name drops to give credence to his story.

Well, I will not allow my name to be used by anybody, especially for malicious items like his letter. Please be fair.

Sincerely,

Salvacion Placer Angtuaco (Ma’am Placer)

Associate Professor (Retired)

Ateneo de Manila University

But the story of Noynoy’s alleged lunacy does not stop there.

Carmen Navarro-Pedrosa, whose tell-all on Imelda Marcos is one of my treasured books, recently wrote on Sen. Noynoy’s alleged unstable mind. She wrote that a source told her this:

She is connecting a story many years ago when Noynoy was a young boy in Boston, not a presidential candidate but as the well-loved only son of a father frustrated that he will not be able to carry on with his legacy.

First off, Mrs Pedrosa’s source mistakes Noynoy as “a young boy” in Boston. When his family went to Boston, Noynoy was already 20 years old.

Mrs Pedrosa went on:

My source said that when she read about Tomcat’s (a classmate in Ateneo) letter and other stories about Noynoy’s mental problem her mind clicked and related it to Boston days. “Ay totoo pala yung sinabi sa akin many years ago.”

Mrs Pedrosa added:

Ninoy sought the doctor and his exact words to him were: “Tingnan niyo nga si Noynoy, walang ka-drive drive (for a young boy he was lethargic). He must have a problem.” The doctor told the story to some close friends among them, the source of this story. When Tomcat’s letter came out in Manila and with Noynoy a leading presidential candidate, she thought her story ought to be known. She is not a politician. She is not indulging in malicious rumors or black propaganda. She is recalling a story told to her and a circle of friends in Boston.

Please do not take what I’m going to say next personally, Mrs Pedrosa. If your father was awaiting execution by firing squad and he suddenly needed a delicate heart bypass, would you have the drive in life? Would you not be lethargic?

Mrs Pedrosa, Alan and I were wondering yesterday at the breakfast table why all these speculations on Noynoy’s mental health persisted. Alan pointed out that maybe, it’s because they could not find the usual mud to throw at him. Noynoy is not a womanizer, he has no hidden wealth, no shenanigans in public life that can be pinned directly on him.

Therefore, Alan said, to his political enemies he must be crazy.

Personally, I believe that anyone who seeks to be president of this benighted country must be a litte crazy.

ADDENDUM – written April 30, 2010

Today, Alcuin Papa and Gil Cabacangan wrote in the Philippine Daily Inquirer the following report:

Take psycho test, citizens group tells Aquino

By Alcuin Papa, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:44:00 04/30/2010

MANILA, Philippines—A new “citizens group” led by columnist Carmen Pedrosa has called on Liberal Party standard-bearer Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to submit to a psychological exam.

In a press conference Thursday, the Citizens for Right of Information (CFRI) said “the people have a right to know” about those running for president.

“Like countless others, we strongly feel it is only fair that all presidential aspirants undergo this important evaluation. Denial is the weakest defense,” CFRI said.

Pedrosa said she found unacceptable Aquino’s recent statement that he would not reply to questions on his mental health because it is a “private matter.”

“When you present yourself as a candidate for president, the people have a right to know if you are competent to be president,” she said.

Aquino, meanwhile, yesterday admitted feeling depressed and thinking of avenging his father, the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., but it never got to the point where he needed medical help.

In view of this, I am presenting this challenge to the professors and students of Ateneo de Manila University,  as well as friends, enemies and relatives of the Aquino and Cojuangco families,  who have known Sen. Noynoy at one time or another.

I would like to ask you all the following questions and I am opening my blog to any of your answers, either negative or positive. I will not edit any of the answers.

1. At any time, did you see Sen. Noynoy drool or act weirdly?
2. Did he ever smoke marijuana or take any prohibited drug or psychotropic drug? And why?
3. What anecdote or personal encounter with Sen. Noynoy do you remember that would shed light on his character?
4. Knowing Sen. Noynoy then as you did, did you ever think he would run for president someday?
5. Did he ever tell anyone of you what he wanted to accomplish in life? Did he ever express any dream or ambition to become president someday, seeing how his own father came so close to being one?

You do have the responsibility to shed life on the hidden life of Noynoy.

Thanks in advance,

Raissa

Nearly eight years ago I asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,  “I’m sure a lot of women are dying to ask you this question.”

“And since you are not a widow, they would like to ask you this question. You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but a lot of women are dying to know – do you still have sex?”

The 55-year-old mother of three replied  “Plenty” – and gave a toothy smile.

Last January 22, when she hosted a a surprise dinner for 23 officers and members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) I asked her a milder personal question about her hair. Now I’m not so sure if her reluctant reply pertained to my question eight years ago or two Fridays ago.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and FOCAP

During the hour-long dinner, Mrs Arroyo was at her gracious best but she was not all that candid. I must say, it took all of our reportorial skills  to get her to talk about her former college student and now leading presidential contender Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. She refused to talk about her party’s presidential standard bearer Gilbert Teodoro or about her feelings towards the Ampatuans – her long-time allies now accused of murdering 57 people including 30 journalists.

The ease with which she talked to reporters vanished in 2005 when wiretapped tapes of her, suggesting she was trying to rig her 2004 poll victory by a million votes, leaked out.

During her dinner some of that ease returned as she talked about the presidential palace, her girlhood and her Palace chef. Only to vanish when she refused to answer many questions she deemed “political” or which asked about her “feelings”.

Still, the occasion gave me a momentary glimpse of the power and the pomp of the presidency, its lonely isolation, and the woman who was determined to hold on to it for as long as she could.

I did not get any hint she was ready to clear out her desk by June 30 when her term ends.

At short notice. An invitation to dine with her, even at several hours’ notice, was highly unusual and one I seized at a moment’s notice. She had not seen FOCAP since 2007. A press conference in 2008 was abruptly canceled after we were told she would only talk about the economy and would not entertain political questions.

I was curious why the President wanted to meet us on the same day she waved goodbye to the remains of her press secretary, Cerge Remonde.

Her terms for engaging the foreign press quickly became evident. At the entrance to the presidential palace, the guards impounded all tape recorders and cameras on orders of the palace media relations office. It was a first for many of the journalists, including me, who have covered Palace events in three previous presidencies.

The media handlers later explained that no tape recorders and cameras were allowed because it was a strictly social event. A Palace photographer would snap photos. The confiscation disoriented me somewhat because we were informed earlier that while there was no formal Q and A, the President “may answer questions”.

Didn’t she want to be quoted correctly? And it would have been bad manners for us to scribble throughout the meal.

It turned out alright in the end, because someone else, who asked to remain unnamed, enabled me to put together almost the entire dinner conversation. Besides, Mrs Arroyo never told us it was off the record.

(more…)

Now he gives her failing marks for bad economics

By Raissa Robles

It was a brief incident lasting only minutes that somehow gave Senator
Benigno Aquino III that amazing power to bewitch a crowd, which he is
now harnessing to win the presidency.

Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III during his first press conference at Club Filipino to announce he was considering a presidential run - Photo by Raissa Robles ©

The incident happened in the dead of night when President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo paid her last respects before the bier of President
Corazon Aquino, the woman who was once her role model until Mrs.
Aquino demanded she resign over leaked wiretapped tapes suggesting she
cheated in the 2004 polls.

Mrs. Aquino’s senator-son steeled himself to face Arroyo with polite
courtesy. The statesmanlike gesture impressed many since he had
earlier said he was not looking forward to such an encounter. But he
said she would be received politely since his parents taught them
well.

Unknown to the public, the meeting was also a rare encounter between a
former teacher and her student. “I was trained by GMA (as an
economist), she was my professor” in microeconomics at the Ateneo de
Manila University, Aquino said in an ambush interview.

“She gave me a B+,” he said smiling. “She was a brilliant teacher, she
communicated well…I think she taught us very sound fundamentals.”

“I never thought she’d turn out this way…her governance is primarily
for political survival,” he added.

Aquino has made no bones why he wants to replace his former teacher.
His presidential campaign website www.noynoy.ph states: “Tanggalin ang
tiwali. Itama ang mali.” (Remove the corrupt. Correct the wrong.)

He said his teacher had apparently forgotten her own lectures on the
importance of matching unlimited wants with limited resources.

Switching to lecture mode himself, Aquino said: “You take a project
like North Rail and contrast it to South Rail by the Koreans. Koreans
will build a 34 kilometer-narrow gauge railway system for US$50
million.”

“The first phase of North Rail is US$503 million for 32 kilometers
that will be made by China, (while the) 34 kilometers of South Rail
(is) US$50 million.”

“In China the wages are lower than they are in Korea; the equipment,
same thing; consultants, same thing. Why is it that the cost of the
Korean project is only 10% of North Rail?”

He then noted that “there is a comparable railway system in Australia,
not less than 1000 kilometers (in length), standard gauge (tracks),
double decker (coaches). Its rolling stock is faster” and the entire
thing cost a total of US$1 billion. “Ours is 32 kilometers at US$503
million dollars.”

“So, as an economist, where is the matching (of) the needs and the
wants? Where is the maximum utilization of resources” which Arroyo,
his former professor, used to drum into their heads as students.

He criticized the North Rail transport system that Arroyo was pushing
as an example of “less bang for the buck.”

If he becomes president, he said he would like the government to get to the bottom of the scandals that have long hounded President Arroyo:

• the fertilizer scam;
• the scuttled telecommunications deal between the government and ZTE Corporation of China;
• and of course the wiretapped tapes where a voice sounding very much like Arroyo asked election official Virgilio “Garci” Garcillano if she would win by a million votes in the 2004 polls. At one point, Garcillano recommended that a poll officer be kidnapped to prevent her from speaking out, and the voice that sounded like Arroyo said nothing against the suggestion.

“Those issues are unresolved and I want them resolved,” Aquino said.

As for those accusing him of engaging in the politics of vengeance, he
said he was just being consistent: “Hey, I was participant to so many
impeachments (filed in Congress against her) that never even got to
the stage of accepting the evidence.”

“We (the Liberal Party) supported impeachment moves but we were always
thwarted. We were trying to uncover some allegations.” He paid dearly
for publicly backing calls for Arroyo’s resignation over the Garci
scandal. Arroyo’s ruling party sacked him from the deputy speaker
post.

If his past action is any indication, his former economics professor
can expect to be given her day in court. When Aquino ran for the
Senate in 2007, among his rivals was Gregorio Honasan, a colonel whose
men nearly killed Aquino when they tried to take over Malacanang
Palace during a military coup attempt against his mother on August 28,
1987.

On the way to the palace, Honasan’s men fired at Aquino’s convoy.
Three of his bodyguards were killed and the fourth was wounded. Five
bullets hit Aquino and all but one was removed. Doctors told him it
was lodged too near the carotid artery and nerve bundle that controls
facial expressions. It was too risky to take out. He said it does not
affect his thinking or his health, but it has twinged at times in the
cold.

Despite what had happened, Aquino supported Honasan’s request for bail
in 2007 to enable the latter to campaign for his Senate re-election.
Honasan was then in detention over his alleged role as mastermind of
the 2003 coup attempt against Arroyo.

Aquino, whose boyhood dream was to become a soldier, said he wanted an
even fight with Honasan. “I was hit by bullets from Honasan’s men in
the neck and hips, but that’s past now. The principle of my father was
`respect the rights even of your enemies… genuine reconciliation is
democracy in action’.”

Both won, but Aquino had a three million vote edge over Honasan.

For Aquino, holding Arroyo accountable is part of his personal
advocacy to make democracy work. He said the “diminishing democratic
space that we’re experiencing now is reverting us back to an
authoritarian type of rule.” As president, he wants “to prove that
democracy works for everybody in the country, regardless of your
strata.”

“My advocacy is centered in making the institutions of democratic governance work so that it takes root and serves the interests of the many as against those of the few and powerful,” he posted on his website when he for senator in 2007. “In a working democracy the government exists to ensure the equitable distribution of opportunities and resources. Democracy will be the solid foundation on which economic progress would be based.”

The statements are an indictment of his brilliant professor whose
tenure as president has been marked with scandals involving the
alleged use of high connections to corner fat government contracts.

But Prof. Arroyo apparently judged Aquino to be just average. He never
joined her cabinet like her brilliant students did. He never made
waves as a lawmaker and, according to Ateneo-based political analyst
Benito Lim, Aquino would not have won as congressman and senator if
his mother, Corazon, had not campaigned for him.

Here lies the core of the criticisms against Sen. Aquino – he has not
accomplished enough to deserve the presidency and he is banking on the
emotional wellspring of goodwill and sympathy towards his dead
parents.

Almost 250,000 people went to his mother’s funeral. Shortly before she
was entombed, a number of Filipinos already started posting messages
on the social networking site Facebook that they felt orphaned by the
death and wanted the son to fill the void and continue his mother’s
fight for democracy by running for president.

The next day, “people brought yellow ribbons to Aquino’s house on
Times Street and a streamer – Noynoy for president,” Prof. Lim noted.
“It’s very clear they wanted to ride on the popularity of the mother,
the Cory magic.” Other politicians had started doing this, so “why not
the son?”

Even if the son looked and sounded anything but a politician – at 49,
he was slightly stooped and balding and looked professorial. His
speech announcing h would run for the presidency sounded like a priestly
homily.

During the brief interview, Aquino rejected the notion that he had
accomplished very little and he was not his own man. “I have
difficulty self promoting, self aggrandizing,” said the lawmaker who
served nine years in the House and two years in the Senate.

Of the nine Senate bills he has filed, two promote workers’ rights and four
try to curb the powers of the post which he aspires for. Much of his
time is taken up with holding Arroyo accountable for alleged
presidential misdeeds, which is part of a senator’s job under the Constitution.

One legacy his mother left which could prove to be a liability is the
clan’s continued control of vast landholdings in Hacienda Luisita.
Aquino said the matter was awaiting court resolution and he appeared
reluctant to talk about it.

Aquino has demonstrated he does not easily cut compromise deals. A
year ago, he voted (along with another presidential candidate Senator
Francis Escudero) against ratifying the Japan-Philippine Economic
Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) because he was holding out for “a better
negotiated and mutually beneficial treaty.”

Senator Mar Roxas, his vice-presidential running mate now, voted “yes” even if he said he believed it was lopsided. It was the best deal that could be cut, he said.

Last September 2009, Aquino as chair of the Senate committee on local
governments was supposed to sponsor a measure creating a new
congressional district in Camarines Sur tailor-made for President
Arroyo’s son, Congressman Diosdado Macapagal Arroyo.

Aquino refused to sponsor it, leaving administration Senator Joker Arroyo, who is unrelated to the president, to defend the measure. In a nearly empty Senate session hall, the young Aquino verbally sparred with Sen. Arroyo who had once defended his father, Senator Benigno Jr., before a military court.

Arroyo urged his former client’s son to pass the bill “then let the Supreme Court decide.” As if to assuage the younger man, Arroyo closed his end of the argument with a surprising show of support. He said, “Noynoy, good luck on your presidency.”

The following month after the bill became law, Aquino personally took the matter to the Supreme Court and asked the body to declare it unconstitutional. The matter remains pending.

Unlike President Arroyo’s eldest son Juan Miguel, who became a
politician on his mother’s first year in the presidential palace,
Aquino was a late-starter. He only ran for office at age 38 and when
his mother was six years out of power.

Although much has been written about Aquino’s famous parents, very
little is known about him and why he remains single to this day. Asked
why he wasn’t married, he narrated an incident in his youth when his
family visited his detained father who was in the military stockade.

He said he noticed a young male detainee also being visited by his
young wife. Then suddenly she stopped coming and they never saw her
again.

“It was as if she had said to her husband she couldn’t love him for
better or for worse.” He said it made him examine the life of his own
family – “our life was perhaps not easy and was not going to be easy.
That would make you pause and think, maybe this would also be part of
my fate.”

“Maybe God has not given (me a life partner) because there are still
many things he’s asking to be done, so that no one else will be
involved in the pain.” (This feature first appeared in Asian Dragon magazine,  which allowed me to post it on my blog.)

I was pleasantly surprised on turning to the Inquirer opinion section of November 18 that political columnist Manolo Quezon had mentioned my blog entry about autism and Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.

Manolo Quezon takes a long view on politics and autism

It’s not everyday an ordinary reporter gets mentioned in a national daily. I guess it’s also not everyday a prominent politician is tagged autistic.

Before I drop this matter altogether, let me just say that having lived with a person belonging to the autism spectrum it has oftentimes struck me that Philippine society on the whole seems to be metaphorically afflicted with the same disorder when it comes to the political sphere for the following reasons:

• We exhibit lack of affect or emotions of outrage whenever government officials commit wrongdoing;
• We cannot look government officials in the eye and say – you liar or you thief;
• We have difficulty focusing on what’s really important, the big picture,  like poverty and corruption and tend to get lost in details;
• We have difficulty processing events and exhibit sensory overload;
• We perseverate or repeat the same actions again and again, actions that don’t work but we somehow find comforting.

But this is just my opinion.