It’s a free country, of course, and most people can say what they think or feel, in the manner they deem most appropriate.
But when you are the second most powerful person in the land, you are expected to at least be circumspect about what you say and how you say it.
Given numerous opportunities to answer valid and commonsensical questions regarding her use – or misuse – of public funds, the Vice President has opted to either turn the hearings into opportunities to cry persecution, or to skip them altogether.
Asked about a so-called children’s book that featured her as author and that was supposed to be distributed to children across the country, she said she was politically played.
On one occasion, she refused to take an oath saying oaths were for witnesses when she was a mere resource person.
But on Friday the Vice President has some choice words for her political opponent with whom she once felt united. She exposed the partnership for what many people had known all along: a temporary union for political expediency.
“It’s not my fault that we are on this road to hell,” said the Vice President in a press conference which she had called. “The one in charge does not know how to be President.”
But this is lame compared to her confessions of daydreaming about cutting off the President’s head.
She also threatened to dig up the body of her foes’ father – it was her own father who had allowed the burial of the elder Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani – and toss it into the sea.
Friday’s show was reminiscent of the aimless press conferences and the incredible rants of the Vice President’s father in recent years. This same father is now embroiled in a crisis of his own doing in reference to his bloody war against illegal drugs. But he is still talking tough.
As his daughter is, even as this is a distinct crisis she has carved for herself.
Some people continue to make excuses for the foul-mouthed, saying they were probably overcome with emotion, or were joking, or were exaggerating to prove a point. But more know better now – that foul words, rude acts, and uncouth behavior are not adorable quirks. They are an indication of something rotten somewhere inside.
It is only reasonable to demand that the Vice President answer questions, which have been asked repeatedly in a civil manner. These are questions that an ordinary taxpayer would want to know. People deserve plain, direct answers without fanfare. Anything else is histrionics.
