President Aquino has the exasperating habit of portraying himself as a victim to minimize his liability for the things he should be responsible for.
In his belated statement following the beheading of Canadian John Ridsdel by the Abu Sayyaf, Mr. Aquino said one of the bandit group’s leaders, Isnilon Hapilon, was trying to gain favor with international terror group ISIS and that among the plans was to kidnap his own sister or either of her children.
The same garrulous sister had been criticized lately for using the presidential helicopter campaigning for the administration’s presidential bet, and her brother defended her by saying she had a right to take the official ride because she was one of the country’s biggest taxpayers. The sister later complained about the “violence” that she had been receiving over social media.
Even he had threats to his own life, Mr. Aquino said.
This is not the first time. Taking a full week to speak about the killing of 18 soldiers in Sulu earlier this month, Mr. Aquino said he was not able to act immediately because he had been sick; such was the toll his difficult job was taking on his health.
When 44 members of the Special Action Force were killed in a doomed mission to arrest a Malaysian terrorist, Mr. Aquino reminded their grieving families that he, too, knew what it felt like to lose a loved one because his father was assassinated.
Critics are not objective observers of the nation’s affairs. Members of the media who do not see things his way are out to sabotage the “daang matuwid,” bring him down because of his crusade, and wish to revert to the old, dark ways at the expense of the people.
Even the still-unresolved bullet-planting scandal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has been attributed by his alter ego, Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas, to a plot to mar the administration’s image ahead of the May 9 elections. The scam’s most recent victims were a couple in their 70s who were told they should pay P50,000 so they could board their flight to the United States after a bullet had been found in their luggage.
The same pattern emerges when we look back to all other issues, big or small, that the Aquino administration has failed to resolve. Somebody else is always at fault, and the President is always helpless in the face of evil forces conspiring to bring him down.
With a leader always playing the victim instead of taking charge, it is hardly surprising that nothing much has been accomplished under Mr. Aquino’s watch. What a relief that will soon be over in a few weeks.