JGL Eye

By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

Noynoy, a President By Committee?

C HICAGO (JGLi) – Amid allegations questioning the state of mind of front-running presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino are naughty insinuations that if he wins the elections on Tuesday, May 10, the “power behind the throne” will be composed of a collegial body led by Vice President Mar Roxas, his sister Kris Aquino and other senior advisers and close relatives (Kamag-Anak, Inc.).

When I brought this matter up to Atty. Loida Nicolas Lewis, an Aquino supporter, she snapped, “When Noynoy decided to support the RH bill, Noynoy did not ask anybody how to decide on the issue. He just opposed it without consulting with anybody. He was his own man.”

The RH bill is the Reproductive Health measure that is designed to rein in the Philippine population explosion, which is the cause of poverty

The problem with this bill is how it is going to be promoted. One of them is the introduction of sex education at Grade 5. The Catholic Church believes parents are responsible for teaching their children sex education.

The problem with the stand of the Church is that it is awkward for parents to teach sex education to their children, who usually learn about it thru their friends or strangers thru the mass media or racy or x-rated magazines.

Instead of letting friends and strangers do the sex education to children, why not let the schools under RH bill teach sex education? The schools can introduce the use of contraceptive devices like condoms to the students. At least, the state or the government can pin the responsibility of sex “miseducation” on schools, not on friends or strangers.

PARENTS PROMOTING INCEST?

W  hile the Church looks at the distribution of condoms by schools as promoting promiscuity, it doesn’t see parents teaching children sex education as promoting incest.

I believe the schools are in a better position to teach sex education than parents because the children will learn that the misuse of condoms and other devices could result in unwanted pregnancy that contributes to population explosion and poverty.

As a Catholic, I agree with Noynoy’s stand that the government should not restrict the public’s choice only to natural family planning, the only method approved by the Church.

The Catholic Church has been promoting natural family planning in the Philippines for a long time. But the population has never come down to size, contributing to widespread poverty. Why not give sex education a chance to be taught in schools?

Another issue that gives me reason to vote for Mr. Aquino as the 15th Philippine president is his promise to set up a commission in his first 100 days in office that will go after the alleged crimes of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

He wants to have some closure for such crimes as `Hello Garci,' the fertilizer fund scam and the ZTE (Broadband) scandal.

Like President Barack Obama, Noynoy also plans to quit smoking.

I hope Noynoy will not be a jet setter either, like Arroyo.

NO KID GLOVES FOR SENATOR LACSON

W hat makes me strong believer of Noynoy was his denial of reports that he was going to give Sen. Panfilo Lacson kid gloves treatment on the Dacer-Corbito murders despite the fact that his girlfriend, Valenzuela City Councilor Shalani Soledad, was Mr. Lacson’s subordinate in his Senate office.

These murders are one of my main reasons I wavered in supporting my friend, former President Joseph Estrada, in these elections because of Mr. Estrada’s mishandling of the case.

Since the murders happened under President Estrada’s watch, Mr. Estrada should have been proactive on the case by ordering an investigation of the murders and by jailing the suspected perpetrators. Mr. Estrada should have apologized to the families of the victims and the Filipino people at once because the crimes happened under his watch. Such crimes can happen under any Administration.

But instead, he went on defensive and went on a state of denial on the case, which were the last things that he should have done if he wanted to gain credibility and sympathy of the Filipino people.

Noynoy can also put one over his rivals by including in the commission that he wants to pattern after the Presidential Commission on Good Government the investigation on how the 6,443-hectare Hacienda Luisita was acquired. He should set the ground works this early on what and how the farmers will get as their share from the estate even if the distribution is set on 2014.

CAN NOYNOY UPSTAGE HIS MOM?

N oynoy can even top the administration of his mother, President Corazon Aquino, if he can revive the investigation of his father’s assassination, something his mother failed to do. The commission can find out once and for all if his uncle Ambassador Danding Cojuangco has anything to do with the murder of his father as alleged in newspaper reports.

And Noynoy should keep an arms-length distance from the military, as opposed to his predecessor, Mrs. Arroyo, who appointed military officers and former military officers to sensitive positions in her Cabinet, in the Foreign Service and other juicy posts to curry favor from them.

If Noynoy can undo the key military appointments of Mrs. Arroyo in the first 100 days, he will regain the trust and confidence of the officers, who were bypassed in seniority just because they don’t belong to the PMA Class of 1978 that adopted Mrs. Arroyo as its member.

And one other thing that I want Noynoy to do is to be transparent in his administration by holding a weekly, repeat weekly press conference that was started by former President Fidel V. Ramos. The weekly press conference would become a relic under the Estrada and Arroyo Administrations.

Godspeed, Mr. President Noynoy Aquino! (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net) # # #