Some Thoughts On "PNoy Resign"

Ah, the dreaded "R word". It seems that every President in my lifetime, save Ramos ( I was too young to remember though he probably had his own calls), has and will always endure calls for his or her resignation. "Erap resign!" was once the call but then came "Gloria, resign!". Now it's "PNoy resign!". It's either a sign of our malfunctioning democracy or of a vibrant one, depending on who you ask.

There seems to be a fear that PNoy's resignation will cause chaos in our country. I don't think so. A president voluntarily resigning isn't as cataclysmic an event as the media makes it out to be. Our constitution has provisions dealing with the matter of succession. An event like this was foreseen long ago. The framers of our constitution may have been meddlers but they weren't stupid. A smooth and orderly transition is quite possible.

The ones we should fear are those calling for special "transitional bodies" or whatever kind of committee they want to take over, when the President steps down. Let's just follow the constitution at least once in our lives, OK? One who talks of a succession order other than the one provided for in the constitution betrays his secret motives.

The calls for PNoy's resignation aren't as strong as you would expect in relation to his abysmal approval numbers. Lawmakers are noticeably hesitant as well and are wish-washy when it comes to exercising their power of impeachment. The reason is obvious. PNoy's resignation would mean that Vice-President Binay would temporarily take the reins. Binay is the strongest contender for the next presidential election. He has many rivals and it's reasonable to believe that they fear giving Binay such powers if only for a while. Binay temporarily exercising the powers of the President would allow him to consolidate his advantage over others. This is a political calculation which, I believe, is saving PNoy from being booted out right quick. It's ironic to me that if Mar Roxas had been the Vice-President, there would have been no such deterrent since nobody is scared of him.

Personally, I don't feel strongly either way about the issue. If PNoy resigns, then that's OK by me. If he doesn't, then that's fine too. It will be a source of humor at least, to wonder how he'll screw up next and how badly. At least I'll have something to write about.

God save our republic.