The German word Schadenfreude is defined as the feeling of pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. They say that the lower the person’s self-esteem, the more he or she tends to enjoy someone else’s misfortune. According to a recent study by scientists in Leiden University, the Netherlands, “when you have low self-esteem, you will do almost anything to feel better, and when you’re confronted with the misfortune of others, you’ll feel schandenfreude.”
Based on the above definitions, it can be said that President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) and his supporters must have low self-esteem because it seems like they feel a strong sense of schandenfreude or pleasure at seeing their political opponents suffer. There have been many occasions when the incumbent President has shown his habit of dwelling with enjoyment on negative thoughts. PNoy would often try to humiliate and vilify his political opponents without thinking of the consequences of his actions.
The English word for schandenfreude is gloating and it is defined as “to observe or think about something with triumphant and often malicious satisfaction, gratification, or delight”. PNoy is always gloating. Definitely so. He often expresses his “delight” over his enemy’s misfortune. This was evident when he tried to humiliate Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice, Renato Corona in his speech during the National Criminal Justice summitrecently held at the Manila hotel, leading Inquirer.net columnist Ramon Tulfo to wonder Does Aquino get advice from his Cabinet?…
A lawyer told me that had the Chief Justice walked out of the First National Criminal Justice Summit while he was being attacked by a coequal official, most of the magistrates and lawyers present would have followed him to the exit.Even lawyers in the executive branch would have joined the walkout, a government lawyer said.No matter how he regards Chief Justice Corona, any lawyer would have found the President’s attack on the highest magistrate uncouth.An insult to the Chief Justice is an insult to the whole legal profession since he is the highest-ranking lawyer, according to a government lawyer.Does P-Noy get advice from his Cabinet members who are lawyers on how to treat the Supreme Court, a coequal branch in government?
Latest developments on the impeachment case against the SC judge suggest that PNoy “twisted the arms” of members of the House of Representatives, a supposedly independent branch of government, just to get his way. 188 members of the legislature have bowed to the wishes of the President to impeach and remove Chief Justice Corona from the judiciary. On record, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Joseph E.A. Abaya both admitted that “a furious President Aquino wanted a fast impeachment of Corona after he and seven other Arroyo appointees issued a temporary restraining order on the Department of Justice’s travel ban against the former President”. And that “He (PNoy) gave the general direction; we followed because we believe this is the right thing”.
Even Catholic Church officials think that PNoy had a hand in the fast filing of impeachment case against Chief Justice Corona. Here’s what Bishop Teodoro Bacani had to say about it:
Novaliches bishop emeritus Teodoro Bacani, a member of the 1987 Constitutional Commission, said it has been surprising that members of Lower Chamber managed to muster 188 congressmen to endorse the articles of impeachment to the Senate.“I will tell you the truth, sa bilis ng pangyayari ay baka naman ang nangyayari dito ay arm twisting from above,” Bacani told Church-run Radyo Veritas.
Meanwhile Navotas City Representative Tobias Tiangco said in his privilege speech immediately after the filing of the impeachment proceedings that members were not given a chance to read the articles of impeachment:
“How can you vote for the impeachment without having the chance to read the articles of impeachment much less verify the facts?…Why the haste in the matter of hours? Why cannot we give him due process?”
After Tiangco, other minority representatives have spoken out about the dubious impeachment process conducted by PNoy’s supporters:
Some lawmakers have said the process of signing up for the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona was indeed rushed but proponents of the ouster move maintained it was all above board.Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño said the majority of the 188 members who signed the impeachment case were clueless of the eight articles used as the basis to kick out Corona when they entered the majority caucus at 2:30 pm Monday.Casiño admitted that they were not allowed to read the 57-page document, which they signed on as both complainant and endorser. The signing of the document by 188 congressmen paved the way for the approval of the complaint without having to toil through committee hearing or plenary voting.The bulk of the signatures took less than one hour to gather and Corona was formally impeached at 7:40 p.m. Monday or less than five hours after the signatories were officially told for the first time about the charges versus the Chief Justice.Casiño said the lawmakers relied solely on the presentation made by Liberal Party (LP) bigwigs who orchestrated the impeachment case under orders of President Benigno Aquino III.
Likewise, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said that many of those who supported the impeachment were blackmailed into signing. Lagman insinuated, “those who would refuse to sign will be deprived of their priority development assistance fund (PDAF) and other funding releases for their respective districts.”
Senator Joker Arroyo seems to agree that PNoy has become an autocrat by successfully taking control of the entire government. Arroyo said: “The people are entertained by that kind of show, but this is a bid for power disguised under the claim of a clean government”.
PNoy gloated after the impeachment was filed the next day. He met with his political allies at a caucus and spoke with confidence that Chief Justice Corona will be impeached because according to him, “the public is on his side”. PNoy stressed that the chief justice will not change and will always be beholden to Arroyo. This is another proof that the President has engaged in negative thoughts. I do not understand why his minders let him talk the way he does. It’s probably because they know that the public loves to hear him talk that way too.
Even before the 2010 Presidential election, PNoy already exhibited signs of negative mental attitude. During the campaign, he expressed his fears about the possible failure of elections and was adamant in his aspiration to be first on the streets to organize another people power revolution should it happen. In fact, Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiros took that as a cue to explore that possibility — just stopping short of blatantly inciting rebellion if Aquino loses the presidential race.
People with negative mental attitude tend to have low self-esteem. And those with low self-esteem tend to be too defensive and too sensitive because they think that those who do not agree with them are just out to ruin them. Which is precisely the reason why they will do almost anything to crush their opponents. Obviously, PNoy is doing almost everything to crush his imagined opponent even if it is the only thing he does during his entire term in office.
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