P-Noy can save himself from further anguish

If I were President Benigno Aquino III, to be more realistic, with only a year left before the end of my term, I would face reality and not insist on Interior Secretary Mar Roxas being chosen as the Liberal Party’s official candidate for president.

The fact is, the President’s popularity is fast declining in view of the so many controversial issues confronting his leadership, the most recent of which was the massacre of 44 Special Action Force commandos of the Philippine National Police.

Under the Constitution, if the president resigns, the vice president takes over. I know resignation would be a big sacrifice for President Aquino who, we can presume, must be aching to redeem himself from the situation he is now in, but it would be a much bigger sacrifice for him to continue to suffer further mental anguish over the Mamasapano catastrophe.

It may be noted that no Philippine president has ever resigned from office, but President Aquino may now establish a precedent.

—ARTURO M. TOPACIO JR., Topacio Law Office, Cavite City