I?ve got a couple more reasons why I believe Noynoy should run for president. It comes from what I?ve been hearing people say for some time.

The first is the answer I get when I ask people whom they?ll vote for as president. It is, ?I don?t know,? or ?I don?t care.? Some go on to say, ?I probably won?t vote this year.? Or among those who will vote for the first time, ?I probably won?t register.?

I myself, when asked that question, which I repeatedly was in the US last June, say: ?I?m not there yet. Before I can even think of that question, I have to think of two others, which are: One, are we going to have (presidential) elections? And, two, will the votes be counted? Only then can I ask myself whom to vote for. But if you press me, I absolutely do not know. The deserving have little following and have no common candidate. The undeserving have only more money and are, well, little deserving. I don?t know whom to support. I don?t even know if I?ll vote this year.?

Noynoy for president solves all those problems.

It assures elections will push through. Or specifically presidential elections will push through. Malacañang tries to derail it by any ruse, the public will see it as a disenfranchisement of Cory?s son. That presumes of course Noynoy will win. Of course he will: I have no doubt about it. Malacañang stops, defers or messes around with the elections, and it will resurrect the People Power shown at Cory?s funeral. Heaven had no sorrow than the Filipino Joan of Arc laid to rest. Hell will have no fury than the son of the Filipino Joan of Arc mugged.

Same principle with massive cheating, which the Smartmatic machines threaten to wreak, as demonstrated by Gus Lagman et al. The one thing that summoned the first People Power was cheating?at the snap elections of 1986. Three weeks after it happened, People Power arose, willed to existence by the pent-up fury of a people. Forget the military rebels, they merely lit the fuse. The cheating was the final straw that broke Marcos? back. Or to mix metaphors some more, it was the alchemy that turned the words, ?tama na, sobra na, palitan na,? into a trumpet blast that brought the walls of Malacañang tumbling down.

No other candidate today can spark that. No other candidate today can bring the public to give a damn that he or she has been cheated. Noynoy can. Malacañang cheats, and the public will see it as spitting on Cory?s grave. Malacañang cheats, and it will repeat history.

But more than these, Noynoy for president animates these elections, energizes these elections, electrifies these elections. Noynoy runs and this country will have reason to be enthusiastic about the elections?the youth particularly who haven?t been given any real choices. Noynoy runs and this country?s youth in particular will be galvanized into action, a wondrous sight we have not seen since the days of love and activism. He is the one reason the youth will vote, he is the one reason the aged will vote, he is the one reason the idealistic and pessimistic, the hopeful and cynical, will vote. He is the Cory we?ve been waiting for, he is the Obama we?ve been waiting for. He is the Good that will do battle against Arroyo?s Evil.

The other thing I?ve been hearing of late is people telling me about the euphoria they felt again last week. A friend of mine, Pancho Lara, said he felt like he had been thrust back to the days of EDSA, specifically the aftermath of the ousting of Marcos, when you felt good to be a Filipino. Indeed, when you were proud to be a Filipino. A thing affirmed, confirmed and firmed up when you appeared before the Immigration authorities abroad. ?You?re Filipino?? they would say, after looking at your passport. ?Congratulations!? Today, they ask, ?You?re Filipino?? after looking at your passport, and demand only to know what you?re doing there. If not indeed what you?re doing existing.

Being proud to be Filipino was what many Filipinos felt again last week. But being ashamed to be Filipino was also what they felt alongside it. Specifically at being Filipino at the time of cholera and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It?s not true, as Arroyo?s hacks tried to make it out, that the throng that gathered for Cory merely represented an explosion of love for her. In fact, it was also an explosion of hate for the opposite of Cory. Cory was alive even in death, the opposite of Cory is dead even while alive. The sudden sensation of being proud to be Filipino once more went hand in hand with a sinking feeling of being ashamed, disgusted and oppressed at being so in this time and place. The sudden joy at what we once were, and could be again, went hand in hand with a fury at what we are now, and will continue to be, unless we do something about it.

The resurrection of People Power by Cory?s death has given us a second chance. If you?re religious, you?ll probably say it?s an act of God, there?s no other way to explain it. The Great Scriptwriter in the Sky must be busy burning the midnight oil. If you?re not, you?ll say history has offered a crack, a hole, a fissure for us to squeeze out of the rubble. Desperation bids us take it.

I can only hope inspiration bids Noynoy take it. I know I put the weight of the world on his shoulders when I say that. But the possibility of ending a foul and brutish regime, where cruelty reigns and decency languishes in Death Row, is too precious to let pass. The possibility of raising a good and just order, where the exalted are humbled and the humbled exalted, is too sacred to turn away from. Maybe it?s not always that those who do not heed history are cursed to repeat it. Maybe it?s also that those who do heed history are blessed to repeat it.

Noynoy for president. Noynoy for survival.