Invictus in order to avoid Convictus

It has become clear, not just apparent, that the technique of the vice president and her defense team is to divert the attention of the people from the charges against her and use "argumentum ad populum" by portraying herself as the victim of persecution, instead of addressing the charges directly.

The reference to Invictus is one of the most illustrative of this tactic which is appealing to the "hoi polloi" who decide based on emotions rather than logic. The literal translation of the Latin term "Invictus" is unconquered, unconquerable, undefeated and undefeatable. If the vice president is fair to her audience, she should have mentioned that she was only borrowing the phrase from William Henley's poem written in 1875. She should have put context to her expression by disclosing that such words as "bloodied but unbowed" is not original but written by Henley after his leg was amputated due to bone tuberculosis.

The vice president is obviously praising her own fighting spirit. The term unconquerable soul was mentioned in the first stanza of Invictus. She is making reference to the second stanza of Henley's "obra maestra." "In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloodied but unbowed" It is indeed a good mantra to ignite her self-confidence, her indomitable spirit to fight. The vice president indeed is a brave woman. She is not your usual portrait of a submissive female. She is strong, firm and even her own father recognized her strength in character and resilience.

When I took the Bar many decades past, I used to recite each day, as a provinciano coming to Manila for the first time, the last stanza of Invictus: " It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." We respect the vice president's right to express herself in such a way, and declare her unflinching determination amidst "the slings and arrows of her outrageous fortune" to follow Shakespeare in Hamlet. But she has to cite her source instead of implicitly sounding original. That is called intellectual honesty.

However, her propensity to divert the attention of the people by relentlessly attacking the government and nonchalantly ignoring her duty to attend her impeachment trial does not sit well with the expected character of a true leader. Her attack against the government of which she is very much a part of is the most. She keeps on attacking the president when it was she who asked the people to vote for him does not speak well of her character. Vice president Leni disagreed with president Duterte in almost all principles of governance, but she never insulted, berated or shamed the president.

Vice President Jojo Binay was not of the same party as the late president Noynoy Aquino. But Binay remained a gentleman, a decent and respectful vice president. Even the late Diosdado Macapagal was very polite, restrained and respectful of president Carlos P Garcia despite the fact that Macapagal was of the Liberal Party while Garcia was of the Nacionalista Party. Only this vice president who ran under the same banner keeps on attacking the chief executive, instead of helping the government address the huge problems confronting the country.

There is no line in Invictus that can save the vice president if the evidence should lead to "convictus."