I’ve been asked what I thought of the brickbats thrown Noynoy Aquino’s way by friends and foes of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo alike. Specifically about his fitness to run for president. Or lack of it, which ranges from lack of preparedness to lack of ability. Cardinal Ricardo Vidal himself came out recently to say Noynoy should get out of his parents’ shadow and do great things first before he runs for president.

What can I say? I’m terribly glad they’re saying those things. At the very least, as Nietzsche said, what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger. All those barbs can only toughen him and give him character.

At the very most, that may just be what the doctor ordered. It’s those put-downs that may finally push Noynoy to run for president, which he hesitates to do even now. Certainly, it may be the thing to finally convince his sisters—they’re constantly being cited as the ultimate reason why he shouldn’t run, being presumably against it—to themselves insist he do. Nothing like being called “walang alam” to do the trick. Better than a signature campaign.

First, the sneers of Arroyo’s paid hacks, or looking-to-be-paid hacks. Noynoy doesn’t deserve to be president? As opposed to whom? Arroyo?

That can only be a joke made in hell. Or a déjà vu made in heaven. It brings us back to the days when Ferdinand Marcos, strutting and fretting his hour upon the stage in a tale told by an idiot, or parading an erudition of his imagining, dismissed Cory as walang alam. Arroyo harbors the same delusions of grandeur. Look at her and Marcos’ SONAs (State of the Nation Addresses), specifically in their twilight days—they’re identical. Moral pygmies will always try to look like historical giants.

Arroyo deserves to be president? Only if you call a talent for theft—even of the vote—a natural qualification for it.

Now, to the others.

Clearly Cardinal Vidal is not Cardinal Sin. Sin at least was filled with Grace, Vidal is filled only with Pidal. His view of what is right and wrong, or what should happen and what should not, we saw in his and his tribe’s refusal to goodbye Gloria after she helloed Garci.

All of them in any case presume these are normal times and these are normal elections. The kind where you can sit back and relax while being raped, or while comparing the relative merits of the candidates. That’s epic folly. My reference to Marcos is neither accidental nor incidental, it is deliberate and to the point. What we have today is not nothing like the regular elections of 1992 and 1998. What we have today is everything like the irregular elections of 1986. The choice is not between the “presidentiables,” it is between the candidates and Arroyo. The choice is not between Noli and Erap, Manny and Chiz, Mar and Loren; it is between Good and Evil. Or should be.

This is by no means a peaceful transition. This a fitful one. We don’t even know if we’ll have elections or if the votes will be counted. Lest we forget, we have an illegitimate president today. One who will not give up power without a fight, without a ruse, possibly even without bloodshed. Arroyo remains in the middle of the equation, or at the center of the web. A tangled web of lies and deceit. What happened in 2004 can, and will, happen again. What happened in 1986 can, and will, happen again.

What happens if the Smartmatic machines make Gilbert Teodoro the smart choice and ’matic winner of the elections? Will you take to the streets for Noli or Erap, Manny or Chiz, Mar or Loren? You did so for Cory in 1986, you will do so for the son of Cory in 2010. At least it helps to have People Power in tow, ready to spring into action. If only for that, Noynoy not only deserves to run for president, he is the only one who does.

Now, for the more intrinsic reasons: What are his detractors saying? He doesn’t deserve to be president? As opposed to whom? Noli, Erap, Manny, Chiz, Mar and Loren? What startling things have they done? You’d think these elections were an embarrassment of riches we’re racking our brains trying to choose between visionary titans or titanic visionaries. When in fact any fool can pad his, or her, CV or campaign pamphlets with tons of accomplishment, real or imagined. The thicker, the more imagined.

In a time of universal deceit, said George Orwell, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. In a time of universal crookedness, standing upright is a heroic act. Noynoy has not lied, has not cheated, has not stolen. He hasn’t killed anyone. He hasn’t yielded to temptation, to compromise or to cowardice. He hasn’t gone under false pretenses. He hasn’t grabbed power at every turn. He won’t even grab the chance to be president when it’s there for the taking. In a time of universal wrongdoing, not doing wrong is a frenetic act.

Virtue is defined by time and place. Right now, he’s the only one who can unite the country in more ways than Manny Pacquiao. Not any of the “presidentiables.” Not any of the evangelists. Not any of the alternative candidates. Nobody has been interested in these elections until now. Of course the prospect of Arroyo not being there, regardless of whoever replaces her, offers no small amount of relief. People who have a particularly nasty fishbone stuck in their throat will always yelp with joy after it is taken out. It’s quite another sensation, or dimension of joy, and a far deeper one, to glimpse the hope of being cured of cancer. Noynoy offers that hope.

To whom much is given, much is expected.

The people do know enough to know who really knows. In the end, they gave Cory a flood of tears to carry her to her final resting place. In the end, they sent Marcos a flood of curses to flush him down the sewer. A fate that awaits his clone.

Sometimes, as Cool Hand Luke puts it, nothing can be a pretty cool hand.

“Walang Alam” for president.