Only a heartbeat away from the Presidency, the Vice-President is disliked if not despised by the press which either

damns him outright or damns itself by silence over his questionable acts. Worse, even his friends . . . October 3, 1987YET he had yielded in favor of Cory as presidential candidate of the opposition then and agreed to be second to her. The Presidency had been Doys life ambition. His father was President, albeit only by appointment by the Japanese invaders in World War II, and faced trial for treasonable collaboration with the enemy after the war. (Together with Claro M. Recto, who had served as secretary of foreign affairs, and Benigno Aquino, Sr., who was Speaker in the made-in-Japan government.) Lorenzo Taada headed the Peoples Court that would have tried them but for the grant of amnesty by then Pres. Manuel Roxas. Laurel Sr. went on to run for President against then Pres. Elpidio Quirino and would have won and been a truly elected President of the Republic if he had not been so grossly cheated in that 1949 election by the First Great Ilocanos political gang. What his father was cheated of, Doy would win and be President despite the predictable resort by the Worst Ilocano to mass vote-buying (with billions from the Jobo-headed Central Bank) plus fraud (with his Commission on Fake Elections) and, of course, plain terrorism as events bloodily proved. He, Doy, should be the oppositions presidential candidate, not Cory, a mere housewife. Didnt his UNIDO pit candidates for the Batasan against the Dictators candidates and win yes, not many seats but at least some? Pit a politician against a politician. But all but Doy at least initiallycould see that he could not win against Marcos. He was the ideal candidate of the opposition as far as the Dictator was concerned. He could lick Doy even in a clean election, he was assured by his cohorts and himself. In the end, sense prevailed and Doy agreed to run for Vice-President to Corys President. And won with her. Or, to be precise, lost with her. Marcos was proclaimed duly reelected President and his runningmate, Arturo Tolentino, elected Vice President, after a scandalously false count of votes by his Commission on Fake Elections, by the bats (political birds that flew in the night) in his Batasan. Marcos was still President under his fake Constitution. (One never approved by the people in a plebiscite as it provides before it could become The Law.) Under that charter under which Cory and Doy had run they had both lost. But they won just the same after the People Revolution of Corys faithful proclaimed her the truly elected President of the Philippines and Doy the Vice-President. It was not by virtue of Marcoss Constitution that Cory assumed the Presidency and Doy the Vice-Presidency but by the Will of the People. As expressed in an unprecedented revolution one not stained by blood. And that Will was expressed again in the February plebiscite that ratified her Constitution replacing the Freedom Constitution which was also hers. More than two-thirds of the electorate voted for the charter, not because they had read it most did not bother but because it was hers. And the Will was reaffirmed in the May congressional election in which 22 out of 24 senatorial candidates came out as winners mainly because they were her candidates. Most of the voters did not know most of the winning senatorial candidates administration from Adam. One won despite what people knew or thought of him because he was Corys candidate.

Corazon C. Aquino is the elected President of the Philippines and Salvador Laurel the Vice President by the Will of the Filipino People, not by virtue of the Marcos fake Constitution but by the People Power revolution and the overwhelming reaffirmation of confidence in her presidency in the February plebiscite and May election this year. Reward For his political collaboration with Cory, Doy was rewarded with the position of premier, which went out of existence with the Batasan under the Freedom Constitution, and secretary of foreign affairs. Under the American system, the Vice-President is just a spare tire. Hes nobody until the President dies, naturally or by assassination, or becomes incompetent to discharge the duties of his officeor impeached, as Nixon nearly was because of Watergate, saving himself from that shameful rejection through resignation. Leaving with his tail between his hind legs, as then American President Johnson said the United States would never do in Vietnam. A terrific musical comedy of Pre-World War II vintage, Of Thee I Sing, with words and music by George and Ira Gershwin, had a bewildered man as Vice-President of the United States or candidate for that position. He didnt want it. Maybe he was a nobody, but he did not want it to be made official. As it was, nobody could remember his name. Of thee I sing, baby . . . went the song, but how could anybody sing the Vice-Presidential bets name if nobody knew it? Who he? To compensate the American Vice-President for his sorry but expectant position in political life, he is designated presiding officer of the Senate, rescuing him from total anonymity. Such is George Bush, who has proven his fitness for removal from public memory by hailing Marcoss devotion to democratic principles or such bull as that.