The end and beginning of power

A FAVORITE quotation among political writers is the famous remark by Lord John Edward Acton, the English Catholic historian and moralist, and proponent of the Christian liberal ethic: “All power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

My own favorite is a variation of the Lord Acton aphorism. It is a popular saying in my home base in the Cordillera, coined according to legend by an Ifugao village philosopher: “Immense power intoxicates, diminutive power deranges.”

The two sayings come to mind as I contemplate the reality that, more often than not, most of us ignore or don’t give much importance to: that power is transitory, that it has an end, as everything else in this world has an end.

The truth is no more eloquently expressed than by the motto I saw on the wall of the plush office of a businessman who wallows in power and wealth: “Sic transit gloria mundi.” Thus passes the glory of the world.

Next month Benigno Aquino III will shed the mantle of power he has worn for six long years. He will be out of Malacañang, from where he has dispensed munificence to allies and friends, and hurled thunderbolts to perceived enemies and nonconformists to his acts and policies. It will be the end of power for him. Sic transit gloria mundi.

P-Noy did not do so badly as president, contrary to the bellyaching of professional critics. He has major achievements, all of which can be accessed by anyone interested and has the energy and time to pore over official records.

But judging P-Noy’s presidency is not the object of this piece. I leave that to political analysts, self-proclaimed and otherwise, of whom we have an oversupply. I choose to talk here about the evanescence or transitoriness and negatives of power because we just elected a new team which will wield power over us all for the next six years. I think it won’t hurt if the team, which I imagine is now besieged by a multitude wanting to be part of it, is given a perspective it might have overlooked in the euphoria of its electoral victory.

The Ifugao’s thought about power was born out of close observation of human nature. When one holds in one’s hands immense power, one really will have the tendency to behave like one is under the influence. One becomes irrational and dictatorial, caring little or not at all about convention and ethics. One will do what one damn well pleases because: “What do I have immense power for?”

It’s despicable behavior, but not as disgusting as the behavior of one who holds minuscule power. One who wields a small stick but who thinks and acts as though one brandishes a big bat has a psychological, if not psychiatric, issue. It is called derangement. A deranged person thinks of oneself far higher than what one actually is, and thus acts in a way that either flabbergasts or amuses those around one.

The good news about the team poised to take power in a month’s time is that it is commanded by a man who oozes with great stoic power, against whom tons of garbage were thrown by opponents in the election campaign but who now reveals himself as not just a tough-talking leader who means business but also that behind this facade is a person of great humility and humanity, and who, moreover, is bound by the conservative upbringing by his forebears.

Like many, I felt unsure about a Duterte presidency. He is so different from all the presidentiables we have had since the birth of our republic—in countenance, in attitude, in language, in all things and manner we think one aspiring to be president of the country should possess.

Then I saw the guy on TV bawling like a child before his parents’ resting place, after it became clear that he had won the election, begging them to guide him in his new challenge. I was convinced. The guy is a real deal. He’ll do what he pledged to do when elected, even if it kills him. This is fair warning not only to the drug lords and crime syndicate bosses whom he vowed to eradicate, but also to the persons orbiting around him humming “Happy Days are Here Again.” The guy also said he detests corruption, especially by people with whom he will share power. For the corrupt, then, it will be the end of power even before it has begun to be enjoyed lustily.

I don’t know, but I feel great things, things sadly left undone by the exiting administration, will happen in the first six months of the Duterte era. I am keeping my fingers tightly crossed. And praying that my gut feel and hope that President Duterte will deliver as he had pledged comes to pass.

Gualberto B. Lumauig ([email protected]) is past president of the UST Philosophy and Letters Foundation and former governor/congressman of Ifugao.