A treatise on politics

 “AM I Machiavellian? Well, I’ve studied him quite thoroughly, and I know very many Machiavellians in my life.”

The hornets stirred by this declaration of presidential runner Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have not gone back to their nests yet so here’s one aged wasp joining the stinging frenzy.  
Finding nothing new to contribute to the discussions – ageing has put the processes of the intellect to a crawl – I burrowed deep into my Zona archives and found this piece dated Oct. 30, 2007, A primer to Panlilio. Yup, choice cuts from Old Niccolo applied to the then Reverend Governor of Pampanga. Here it is:

“A MAN who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessary come to grief among so many who are not good.”
That aphorism could have been specifically crafted for Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio in the wake of his honest act relative to the P500,000 donation he received in – not from – the Palace, and the seismic aftershocks it caused.
Easily, the quotation by its inspiring moral tone could have come only from a tome on values, if not the Holy Book itself.
Wrong. It is vintage 1500. From the little book that launched – and sank – a thousand political careers: Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince.
If he hasn’t, Panlilio should read – and internalize – the book, it being the definitive handbook of politics, power, and statesmanship.
The Prince – history tells us – nurtured through generations a virtual Who’s Who in the world political stage: Cardinal Richelieu, the de facto dictator of France at the time of Louis XIII; Christina, the queen of Sweden circa 1632-1654; Frederick the Great of Prussia; Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of the German Empire; Georges Clemenceau, French statesman and premier.
Notables of the 20th century who went to school in Machiavelli included Adolf Hitler, der fuehrer of the Third German Reich; Benito Mussolini, il duce of Fascist Italy; Vladimir I. Lenin, father of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and his heir Josef Stalin; and the Philippines’ Ferdinand E. Marcos, known to have made the book – not Imelda – as his bedside companion.
A virtual historical rogues’ gallery, that list by itself seems proof beyond doubt that indeed The Prince is the “blueprint for dictators” and its author the Devil Incarnate himself. Old Nick, the slang for the devil, is a take from Machiavelli’s given name. And Machiavellian entered the lexicon to mean crafty, shrewd, deceitful, immoral. This is an offshoot of the most famous quotation obtaining in the book: “The end justifies the means.”
Comes the question now: How does one steeped in Christian values – like Panlilio the priest-and-governor – come to terms with an opus placed in the Index of Prohibited Books in the Vatican in 1559 and, with the confirmation of the Council of Trent, decreed to be burned by the Inquisition?
Ain’t the priest and any Catholic for that matter sinning mortally by simply reading an “Indexed” book? (A confession: I first read The Prince in my Suprema (third year high school) class at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary. The copy smuggled in by my “free-thinking” professor in, of all subjects, trigonometry.)
Far from being the devil’s handiwork, The Prince – particularly its last chapter, Exhortation to Liberate Italy from the Barbarians – made a number of invocations to the Almighty for national redemption and admonition for the leader to do his share in the effort: “God will not do everything, in order to deprive us of free will and the portion of the glory that falls to our lot.”
That’s just like the old, old very Christian saying “God helps those who help themselves.”
Though written against the backdrop of a long gone era, of an Italy fragmented into five major seats of power, The Prince has found currency through the ages as well as relevance and validity no matter the political setting, be it monarchical or republican, autocratic or democratic. Even in such a milieu as provincial politics and governance. Thus, its importance to Panlilio.
“The first impression that one gets of a ruler and of his brains is from seeing the men (and more especially the women, if I may add) that he has about him. One can always form an unfavorable opinion of him, because the first mistake that he makes is in making this choice.”
Atty. Vivian Dabu as (un)confirmed provincial administrator and Atty. Ma. Elissa Velez as (un)confirmed provincial legal counsel, choices Panlilio stubbornly pushed – no matter the media protest rally, the lamentations of Lolita Hizon and the sangguniang panlalawigan’s rejection – raised all speculations not so much about Panlilio’s brains as about his balls, and who’s holding, ay, grasping them.
Speaking of Hizon and other campaign supporters of the governor who reportedly had a “fall out” with him on some issues, here’s Machiavelli’s advice to Panlilio: “It is the nature of men (of women too, again we add) to be as much bound by the benefits they confer as by those they receive.”
Tit for tat or political payback, plain and simple.
Okay, okay, so the mayors are all ganging up on Panlilio on the issues of quarry and the P500,000 money. The governor, ensconced in his civil society, can find solace in Machiavelli: “A prince need trouble little about conspiracies when the people are well disposed, but when they are hostile and hold him in hatred, then he must fear everything and everybody.”
Again, seemingly written by Machiavelli with Panlilio in mind: “One who becomes prince by favor of the populace must maintain its friendship, which he will find easy, the people asking nothing but not to be oppressed.”
Arguably enjoying the support of the people, Panlilio must be wary though of those previously written about in this column as his myrmidons who do nothing but sing hosannas to him. Machiavelli cautions: “There is no other way of guarding one’s self against flattery than by letting men understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth; but when everyone can tell you the truth, you lose their respect.”
A primer on governance, The Prince is required reading not only for presidents but for every student of politics and power. Moreso for a priest who traded his parish church for the provincial Capitol.
PAST TO PRESENT. Still stripped of his priestly functions even after stepping down from the Capitol and two failed comeback tries, Ed Panlilio is far from having shunned politics. He is currently among the spearheads of the Leni-Kiko campaign in Pampanga.