Politicians shouldn’t be grumpy

By Alex P. Vidal

“Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.”—Charles de Gaulle

SOME politicians—local and national—who easily react adversely to the critical press and negative remarks from netizens in social media, are not only wasting their time, they are also crybabies who should resign immediately and find employment in the private sector.

As private employees, they will no longer have public accountability and their performances and activities will be scrutinized only by their managers or supervisors.

Taxpayers Juan de la Cruz and Lorena Ramos can’t just barge inside their offices and coax them to observe transparency in their dealings with the public, and demand time while the taxpayers air their grievances.

Politicians, as public servants, aren’t paid by the taxpayers to become onion-skinned and to feel important or demand special treatment.

Being constantly bludgeoned by criticism constructively is part and parcel of their mandate as “servants of the people.”

They were elected to serve, not to be served and placed on a pedestal to be lionized like demigods Orpheus, Perseus and Theseus.

Senator Win Gatchalian and recently Senator Joel Villanueva should always remember this.

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Several years ago, when most Filipino politicians were still imbued with a strong sense of patriotism and were taking their job seriously, criticism from the press was music to their ears, so to speak.

A “bobo”(dumb) and “wala pulos” (good for nothing) politician didn’t immediately go to court to sue his tormentor or tormentors from the press for libel.

He went to the rostrum, delivered a scholarly speech and proved to his accusers he wasn’t what the accusers were trying to paint him in public.

A House speaker from the fifth district of Iloilo was even rumored to have paid some broadcasters to lambast him on air.

Criticism—good and bad—is publicity.

Free publicity is every politician’s Shangri-la.

If they became the subjects of discussions and debates in the press, some politicians in the 50s, 60s and even 70s (despite the Martial Law) believed they weren’t irrelevant, they could still knock the petals of the daffodil, and they won’t be forgotten by their constituents in the next election.

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I received an email invitation from New York Governor Kathy Hochul to view a live broadcast of the 2022 State of the State Address on January 5, Wednesday.

Kathy Hochul is the 57th and first female Governor of New York State.

Governor Hochul began her career in public service on her local Town Board before serving as Erie County Clerk, and then as a member of Congress for New York’s 26th Congressional District.

She more recently served in statewide office as Lieutenant Governor and now as the first female Governor of the State of New York.

“Alex, Since day one as Governor, I said I would listen to New Yorkers, work collaboratively with others and make every decision based through one lens: what is best for New Yorkers. That’s exactly what I’ve done since being sworn in, and we are now approaching a moment of great possibility.

As we enter this New Year, New York is due for a comeback the likes of which this country has never seen. Together, we will lead that comeback.

Tomorrow, January 5, at 1:00 pm, I will deliver my 2022 State of the State address and will lay out our administration’s vision to propel New York into a brighter future. Join me live at governor.ny.gov. Ever Upward, Governor Kathy Hochul”

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For the first time in three years since I used an iPad Pro to write on Microsoft Word, I lost an article, which should have been published on January 6, 2022.

I thought my Microsoft Office subscription was the culprit. It couldn’t be, I told myself later after I accidentally discovered that I had two old “subscriptions” automatically renewed yearly (in fact three, the third one was from the T-Mobile I cancelled on January 5, 2022, as confirmed in the notice I received via email from Google Play that stated: “Your Microsoft Office: Edit & Share subscription from Microsoft Corporation on Google Play will be canceled on Feb 5, 2022. No refunds will be issued”). I probably goofed when I was about to conclude the article late past midnight and failed to save it. My apologies.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)