 |
| Still here Don't you think it's way too early for some conclusions? |
P-Noy’s 365 days in office need not be a surprise to some; his critics apparently tried to make an issue of his ineffectual performance by focusing on its side trails. But the presidency was handed over to P-Noy in a silver platter (Thanks mainly to Cory’s death that his coming out party into the palace was already pre-arranged). And we witnessed how he treated the position as an afterthought, only when Mar Roxas had reluctantly exited the presidential sea did P-Noy decided to sail. So when he climbed into the podium at Club Filipino to deliver his speech as the standard bearer of the Liberal Party, somehow the anticipation had ended in a whimper, anti-climactic even in Cory’s taste; the accomplishment had become a consolation price as P-Noy took the presidential bait and caught himself hanging on the line ever since.
Enough with the honeymoon, with the adjustment stage, let’s go now immediately to the brass stacks. Now that P-Noy had survived his first year in office, is he still worth the president we imagined him to be? He did fairly well, at least. Not great, but somehow he did what he had to do. Noynoy, as always, remains an elusive figure even in his presidential suit, a consistent outsider both on his choices and his reactions. At times he seemed dazed yet perceptive in many ways, always thriving on the edge. Even before we embraced him as our chief executive, we always see Noynoy on the imagination level, the reality in him is constantly downplayed because there’s so many potential in him that are still untapped: single, relatively young and most of all there’s an “Aquino” at the other end of his name. And yet some of his responses on sensitive issues are almost always out of touch, like he’s incapable of putting on another man’s shoe. In more ways than one, P-Noy is still a work in progress. And now that he has reached a year of his stay in Malacañang, it still feels like it was only yesterday that he had taken oath.
Reactions were varied when thoughts of P-Noy’s first year in office reached an assessment. Many things had happened during his initial stay in office; some banal, others superficial, and a few were too defining for his presidency. Who can forget the Quirino Grandstand standoff? Just weeks after taking oath of office, his administration immediately met a crisis, a hostage drama involving a disgruntled police officer and some Hong Kong nationals as hostages at the same spot where he placed his hand on a Bible and pledged his allegiance to the county. It ended in a tragedy nonetheless, and the Palace was quick to admit, looking back, that that was the low point of P-Noy’s presidency so far. It created a backlash, especially to the media; questioning them of ethics and the need to report a potentially damaging engagement (Hong Kong eventually banned their nationals to the Philippines as a result of their disappointment towards the handling of the standoff).
The sendoff scandal in the Armed Forces was equally worse, although it came out initially as a routine. If the police failed to contain Rolando Mendoza in killing some of those hostages inside that fateful bus, the AFP somehow felt incompetent in protecting their once proud leader from a humiliating scandal as former AFP Chief Angelo Reyes took his own life in the midst of an investigation, burying furthermore an equally proud AFP into the brink of disintegration. And during these investigations, P-Noy seemed almost non-existent over the issue. He must have been nursing himself from the barrage of money splattering inside the AFP, while he’s trying to reconcile his budget away from a first class seat.
His love life probably is the only interesting trick in his seemingly magical ride to the presidency. Scrutinized at every level, P-Noy, all of a sudden, became a sought-after bachelor of a blockbuster movie, a self-effacing Casanova who tried to change partners as if issuing a political statement. Sowing wild oats is almost a complimentary tag to a bachelor like Noynoy, but his alleged penchant for changing partners so easily is something quite loose for a president of his pedigree, let alone his panache for the provocative. And his choices were not down to earth, classy, sophisticated women, Shalani Soledad, Liz Uy, to name a few, high-profile socialites whose ties with P-Noy’s seemingly bourgeois politics gives a perfect fit. And at the outset, we seemed to be following Noynoy not with his peculiar ability to capsize his opponents with quick-witted responses, but in how quick he could woo another hoe for his next gathering.
His fuzzy cabinet won’t go away. It is an association of interlarded offices that can be, sad to say, summarized into an effective few. This was quite evident in the number of times the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) stumbled in trying to convince that hostage taker into releasing some of his hostages, and for its eventual resolution. Rolando Puno and Jesse Robredo suffered the strains of bureaucracy as both of them chocked on various instances while executing their respective calls. The same can be said of both Mar Roxas and Paquito Ochoa over who calls the shots when the President is attending his lady perhaps. Ochoa being the Executive Secretary and Roxas the Chief of Staff? The differences are mind-boggling.
P-Noy went to America like an average Joe. Taking an ordinary plane ride, eating junk outside those fancy restaurants, conversing and consorting with the American way of life, such itinerary a Fidel Ramos would not think of doing or even an Erap with all the trappings of the poor. But you could almost feel the gnash in P-Noy’s teeth that the act was merely to divert the attention of superficiality into his purported simplicity all through the trip. It may have been an offshoot to the procurement of his white BMW that has made the progressive crowd even redder with an anger and disbelief.
His first year in office almost coincided with the declaration of a smoke-free world. Now his domain is getting narrower every day. He could no longer afford to smoke in public, in front of a graduating class and still be considered cool when he coughs. And all eyes on him, including the Catholic Church, whose Pro-Life brand gives his Pro-Choice filter a puff on his face. It would not be surprising that the presidency will suffer some sort of withdrawal syndrome in the coming days, the latest of which is the alleged defection of some his supporters now that the fire had died down into a smoke.
P-Noy’s administration is in a survival mode lately. The only thing that’s keeping it from some harsh criticism and downright disrespect is its initial attachment to Cory’s burial, which has given Noynoy’s presidency a special twist. Her death was the glue to Ninoy’s posturing in relation to Noynoy’s promise. Other than that, it has all the semblances of his mother’s last hurrah, silent and suffering. His 365 days in Malacañang is a blessing of all sorts, what with the attention span of today’s critics is as short as their memory of the last election.
Five more years to go, and it may be too short for him to completely realize his utopian line of “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” sort of dream. The question is: are those lines still intact now that he has completed one fiscal year of governance? A lot has happened since P-Noy boldly proclaimed his message, called us his “boss” and promised us to deliver the goods, but a significant portion of his initial stay in the Palace says otherwise. We read some gossip about him in the papers, we saw his receding hair a couple of times on TV and we heard him say a few inspiring lines on air, but P-Noy is almost invisible going into another year of cabinet revamp, practice shooting or maybe even having a new flame. Who knows? Somehow he had taken his first year in stride, all the while leading in quiet seclusion, like nothing happened, a solitude amid a sea of slaughter, Shalanis, smoking, sendoffs and scandals.
0 (mga) komento:
Post a Comment