A sad 1st birthday for an incorrigible haciendero

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
Linggoy Alcuaz
6/27-7/3/2011




Last week, on the eve of his Administration’s first Birthday, P-Noy displayed his penchant for shooting himself and his administration between the legs. He spoke at the Anniversary (113^th?) of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

As is his work and speaking style, he descended to petty “divide and conquer” tactics.

He publicly expressed his disappointment and displeasure at not only one, but three cabinet secretaries. He did not mention their names or departments.

He did mention three secretaries that he is pleased with, namely: the host, DPWH’s Rogelio “Babes” Singson; Department of Science and Technology’s Secretary Mario Montejo, and, of course, Department of Budget and Management’s Abad Patriarch, Florencio “Butch” Abad.

The extremely insecure P-Noy
A distant relative of the Aquinos explained to me why factions persist and continue to publicly exercise their turf-grabbing tantrums in the Aquino Administration.

Unlike his mother, Cory, who used to put her foot down on public displays of factionalism, the son encourages them.

The reason for this is his extreme case of insecurity.

The major causes of the President’s insecurity are:

1. His ancestors include World War II Japanese Collaborator,  Secretary of Interior Benigno Aquino, Sr. and turn-of-the-century (19^th to 20^th centuries) Gen. Antonio Luna’s special friend, Doňa Isidra Cojuangco.
2. His father and mother are Senator and Hero Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. and President Corazon “Cory” Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino.
3. Ninoy was incarcerated for more than eight years (1972-1980). He was charged, tried by a military court, convicted and sentenced to death by musketry. However, when his health deteriorated and he required a heart by-pass, he was allowed to go to the United States and lived in exile in Boston for three and a half years. When he came home on Sunday, August 21, 1983, he was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport I).
4. Ninoy’s widow and Noynoy’s mother, Cory, became the symbolic leader of the opposition. She ran against Marcos in the Friday, February 7, Snap Elections. She won but was cheated. On Sunday. February 16, 1986, at the biggest ever Opposition Rally at the Luneta. She called for a Boycott of Crony Corporations. The February 22-25 People Power Revolution, known also as EDSA I, installed her as the President of a Revolutionary Government.  For the next six and a half years, she was the target of numerous coup attempts and plots. It was in the August 27, 1987 RAM coup that Noynoy was ambushed and wounded at J. P. Laurel St.
5. Cory was the daughter of the Cojuangcos, rice and sugar Landlords of Paniqui, Tarlac and Hacienda Luisita. However, she studied at the St. Scholastica’s College at the Grade and High School levels and went abroad for her college degree. Considering the connections, experience and wealth of the Aquino, Cojuangco and Sumulong Families, a very worthwhile investment they could have made was to send Noynoy for studies abroad instead of depending almost entirely on the Jesuits. It is virtually a matter of principle that children of royalty have to be weaned from their small circles of family and friends and sent to boarding schools.

What is there to celebrate?
On Thursday, June 30, the Second Aquino Administration will be harping on whatever reasons it can find to celebrate its first Anniversary or Birthday. Certainly, we can find many more reasons why it should not celebrate:

• The aborted take-off of the Centerpiece of the Anti-Corruption Campaign (The Truth Commission created by Executive Order # 1, was struck down by the Supreme Court.), allowed prosecution of the sins of the past to appear like the persecution of political enemies.
• The series of “urong-sulong” memorandum orders regarding government officials and employees who were neither CESO nor Career Civil Service, exposed the OJT (On-the-Job Training) and Student Council level and quality of P-Noy’s Cabinet and top officials.
• The revelation that the “Matuwid na Daan” and “Walang Mahirap pag Walang Korap!” advocate, P-Noy, tolerated or had even assigned a “Kabarilan” crony USec Rico Puno, to take over the Jueteng Payola, pulled the rug from under the high moral ground on which P-Noy initially stood.
• The August 23 Luneta Hostage Tragedy opened the Pandora ’s Box and exposed the can of worms that the Aquino Administration was made up of. In just his second month in office, P-Noy underwent his biggest and worst international embarrassment.
• P-Noy’s trip to the US was way below par. We cannot recall any accomplishment of substance. We remember P-Noy’s salivating for Boston Pizza, New York Hotdogs, and Sun Valley computer games. To cap his first foreign foray, the Philippine Flag was displayed inverted, signifying war, at one of his formal multilateral activities.
• The Aquino Administration was also below par in its handling of Overseas Filipino Workers caught in the civil strife in Africa and the Middle East.
• In the case of the three Filipinos executed in the PRC, Vice President Binay’s “Never Say Die!” endeared him to his countrymen while P-Noy was perceived as having folded up already.
• Thus, Binay beat P-Noy in the SWS and Pulse Asia survey ratings.
• Meanwhile DOTC Assistant Secretary for LTO Virginia Torres’ intervention in the internal intra-corporate conflict of Stradcom, triggered a management crisis in P-Noy’s Administration that will continue to play out. P-Noy’s coddling of his favorite KKK’s was exposed by House Minority Floor Leader Edcel Lagman.
• The resignation of DOTC Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus combined with a few more mistakes may lead to the start of erosion of business confidence. As in the case of last week’s public sideswipe against three Cabinet secretaries, P-Noy did a blind item on Ping de Jesus during his arrival (from Brunei) speech at the NAIA, the Friday night before the Monday, May 30, when Ping submitted his resignation.
• P-Noy’s visit last week to Cotabato was a super “kapalpakan”. His “Mother of All Sins of Omissions”. It degenerated into name calling between Malacaňang and the Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani.

Lame duck before one
Usually, a President may turn into a political lameduck towards the end of his term.

P-Noy is the opposite. He turned into a lame duck before his administration turned one year old.

As we pointed out last week, out of 15 Filipino Presidents, P-Noy belongs to a subgroup composed of General Emilio Aguinaldo, President Sergio Osmeňa, Sr., and Dr. Jose P Laurel.

What they hold in common is that they became political lame ducks early in their terms.

During a President’s term, his popularity, satisfaction and trust ratings as gleaned by poll surveys, may go up and down.

In P-Noy’s case, three Social Weather Stations (SWS) Quarterly Surveys in November, March and June have revealed a consistent drop in Net Satisfaction Ratings from 64 % to 51 % to 46 %.

War is popular
The same thing happened to President Joseph Estrada in his second year in office.

His survey ratings fell for three consecutive quarters, the third and fourth quarters of 1999 and the first quarter of 2000.

When this was happening, Dr. Felipe Miranda of Pulse Asia and formerly of SWS explained that based on the history of surveys of Filipino Presidents, such a trend could be fatal.

However, on April 29, 2000, armed clashes broke out between the AFP and the MILF.

Then, President Estrada decided to pursue an all out war versus the MILF. In three or four months, the AFP captured all the MILF camps.

An additional P1.4 billion was spent, which is roughly 1% of the total of the current National Budget.
The All-Out War had two by products.

First, President Estrada’s falling survey ratings suddenly went up.

Second, both Uncle Sam and the Catholic Church tried to persuade Erap to stop the War. He refused both requests. In turn the US, the Catholic Church, and Filipino Politicians and Activist conspired to oust him.

Perhaps, P-Noy learned a lesson from these. He has to pull up and get out of the dive in survey ratings. He has to make sure that a conspiracy does not reach a critical mass and succeed in ousting him.

Toothpick rattling
Thus, he engages in a little “toothpick” rattling against the People’ Republic of China.

He also goes out of his way in pleasing Uncle Sam.

A few Saturdays ago, he preferred to visit the US Aircraft Carrier Carl Vinson (that served as the funeral hearse of Osama Bin Laden) than receive boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

However, the MILF that Erap defeated is a far cry from the People’s Republic of China. Maybe, our President is acting as though he is still a manager at Hacienda Luisita.