Pedigree

It’s a good thing Noynoy Aquino’s handlers have rewritten his biography in his official website. The original one claimed that the Philippine presidency was in his bloodline, being the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. It made him like a horse or a dog, carrying a presidential pedigree, a thoroughbred for the highest office. Ugh!

Not even Bongbong Marcos would dare make such a claim. Yet Nonynoy’s handlers stood pat and even defended this claim, until someone had enough sense to see through the stupidity.

This time they’ve spun it as his commitment to live up to the legacy of his parents. Pwede na rin. But as hard as they try they haven’t been able to convincingly address issues against him, like his lack of performance in his political career and the continued existence of Hacienda Luisita.

In the current website it tries to explain that Noynoy was indeed active when he was a congressman and as a senator, having co-authored so many bills and holding certain positions within the legislature and speaking out on certain anomalies before the legislature.

But the bottomline in the legislature is that if one has been able to successfully champion a law that will impact Filipinos, make their lives better. Nonoy has none.

In fact, Nonoy’s achievement claims (I won’t list them here, go to his website) can be said of any of the 200 plus representatives in the Lower House and 24 senators in the upper chamber. Everybody has had his say on the record at one time or another. Everybody has co-authored or co-sponsored a bill or two after affixing their John Hancock on the tons of paper that go through their office. Everybody has had the chance to hold one position or another, head a committee, sub-committee, etc etc.

In both the House and Senate, Noynoy was just… THERE. He was a member, he showed up, he was just… there. How did he impact his constituents directly? One draws a blank. If ever he did anything, it was no different from the rest of his colleagues, save for Jules Ledesma who has not attended any House business but collects his pay.

As for Hacienda Luisita, I don’t think he gets how this impacts his campaign. It is a symbol of everything bad his family has bestowed on the ordinary folk. And for his presidency, it represents how family members and family matters will take precedence over national interest.

Noynoy saying that he holds a minor stake in Hacienda Luisita – and even is he says he will fully divest and severe all ties to it – will not appease anybody. Here’s why:

Hacienda Luisita’s history is one of injustice and corruption. From its founding by Nonoy’s ancestor who acquired it using money the Philippine revolution entrusted to her for safekeeping, to the years of  prosperity built on the backs of the poor sugar land workers (at least, that’s what the Left loves to claim).

Hacienda Luisita also brings back memories of Kamaganak Inc, that wonderful term coined during the Cory presidency where the family stalwarts simply took over the rackets after the fall of Marcos and his cronies.

Take for example the Philippine Ports Authority. When Cory became president, the kamaganaks moved into controlling the ports, including a seemingly harmless business of supplying water to the ships that park there.

Here’s that Kamaganak Inc racket: because of their control of PPA by virtue of the kamaganak in the Palace who was convinced that the family would help her in running the intricate and confusing maze that is the bureaucracy, the water supply contract cornered.

The company under Kamaganak Inc would stick a pipe into the NAWASA system and buy the water for, say, one peso per cubic meter and then stick the other end of the hose into a parked ship and sell the water for P10.00. Of course, this cost impacts on the ship’s operating costs which are passed on to the products shipped through these vessels which in turn are paid for by… guess who… us, the consumers.

This was replicated in various government asset sales like real estate etc etc. Kamaganak Inc made its mark ups and commissions, all under the guise of helping the Tita run the government as among the hundred advisors she gingerly announced would help her.

In the past few years the Luisita coffers have been hemorrhaging. Nothing has worked to make it pay, save for the sale of parcels of land such as those for the SCTEX construction. Everything has failed, including the industrial complex, mall, golf course and other attempts to make money. So bad that even family stalwart Peping Cojuangco has had to hang on for dear life to the menial job of Philippine Olympic Committee head to stay relevant.

Kamaganak Inc is just salivating for the renaissance of Hacienda Luisita, just like it had when the Tita took office.