The Sanity of Noy Noy is the Filipinos' Business

The 2 major candidates who are neck-to-neck in winning the Philippine Presidency are: Noy Noy Aquino and Manny Villar. The Aquino camp has resorted to black propaganda in the hopes of demolishing number one contender, Manny Villar. The latter has successfully and courageously answered, point by point, each bullet thrown by the yellow camp. Now the country is faced with another issue. This time it concerns not Manny Villar, but Noy Noy Aquino.  

Please read the following chronology of events.
(1) An e-mail was sent to a prominent blogger. The title of the e-mail had the following tone: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION ON Benigno Aquino III.
(2) Blogger clicks e-mail.
(3) Blogger discovers that attached to the e-mail is a document from Ateneo de Manila University.

(4) The document is an extensive description of the psychiatric, mental, and emotional health of Benigno Aquino III.
(5) Blogger posts the document online.
(6) After 4 days, ABS-CBN broadcasts the said document.
(7) Father Carmello Caluwag denies that it is his signature that is affixed in the document. He strongly states that his signature found in the document is forged and/or copy-pasted.
(8) Father Carmello Caluwag does not deny the contents of the document.
(9) ABS-CBN vehemently reports that the document came from the NP camp.
(10) NP camp denies the claim but challenges Aquino, and the rest of the Presidentiables, to take a psychiatric exam.
(11) Aquino laughs and says, "we will not ride the NP script."
(12) Journalists publish different opinions to the story, with Ninez Cacho-Olivarez of The Daily Tribune (April 12) saying,

This being the case, for Noynoy and his LP to merely call the bogus psychological report black propaganda will hardly get the people to buy that, especially as he refuses to take up the challenge of undergoing a psychiatric test.

After all, as the argument goes, if he is psychologically fit and has no mental or emotional disorder, it should follow that he wouldn’t be afraid to take that test.

Like it or not, the mental health of a candidate for the presidency is a valid issue.

My View

I have admitted to myself that Philippine politics is dirty. Sadly, I am not alive when situations have already changed in my country. Having said that, to critique this political ball game I am situated in, I believe it is only fair to Noy Noy's running-mates, and to the Filipino people, that he take the psychiatric exam asked of him. Just as he questioned the integrity of Villar's campaign  (ang pagiging mahirap ni Manny Villar at ang totoong dahilan sa pagkamatay ni Danny Villar), it is now his responsibility to justify himself with respect to the issue of his mental health.

I am reminded of a statement made by Frank Drillon in one of the Liberal P'arty's Press Conferences. He said, "[when handling documents] the CONTENT is of prime importance; NOT the source. Put in mind that the contents of the alleged document have not been denied in its entirety. The contents have only been CATEGORICALLY DENIED. Meaning, there is truth within the document that is visible and tangible as the false. What scares me is, which part?