FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio


GOD KNOWS BEST!


Judging from the manner he came from nowhere compared to other presidential candidates who expressed their intent to run for president much, much earlier, Benigno“Noynoy” Aquino III, may be called as the Philippines’ Barack Obama.

At age 50 on the day of his inauguration on June 30 this year, Noynoy is only two years older than the American president whom many Americans particularly the media did not expect to win the White House in 2008. \

The media described Obama as a political lightweight with no chance of winning the American presidency for having been U.S. senator only for 2 years and carrying a name that somewhat sounds like Osama the terrorist.

As the saying goes, “God works in mysterious ways.” Noynoy’s and Barack’s election to the highest office of their respective countries is truly miraculous. When I predicted in one of my columns that the name of the next American president ends in a vowel, I was really thinking of Giuliani or Huckabee who both lost.

Out of these two miraculous political events, there is a lesson being revealed to mortals like us: No amount of money, powerful political machines, or an expensive all-out media blitz can derail what has been predestined. On this point, I may say that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Corruptible, was predestined to rule the Filipino people over the late Fernando Poe, Jr., the movie actor. I don’t need to question why but God in Heaven has His own reason.

Now, the American people have Barack Obama, definitely a weird name for an American president, as their leader for 2 more years. As he himself remarked, President Obama during the campaign told his audience, presumably because of his African American looks, his White Caucasian opponents would say: “You know, he doesn’t look like those American presidents on those dollar bills, you know.”

Now, the Filipino people have Noynoy Aquino as their leader for six years. Just imagine those nasty things his opponents said about him to the extent of pressuring him to get a psychological test. How much amazed were these people when he intelligently and firmly answered questions from the media immediately after his proclamation.

This is my belief: GOD KNOWS BEST.