P-Noy's Passive Anarchy: The Reverse of Martial Law

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
Linggoy Alcuaz
9/19-21/2011



A week ago, on Tuesday, the 13th of September, the Supreme Court en banc, issued a TRO against Republic Act 10153. This Law postponed the August 8 Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections and synchronized them with the May 2013 mid-elections for senators, congressmen, governors and mayors and their vice governors and vice mayors, and then down to their board members and councilors.

The law gave the President the power to appoint officers-in-charge (OICs) to the positions of Governor, Vice Governor and Member of the Regional Assembly.

These OICs would have served without benefit of an electoral mandate from October 1, 2011 until June 30, 2013.

While making a lot of noise about cleaning up the ARMM, P-Noy was very slowly, becoming a trapo himself.

From reform as the original objective, political accommodation and consolidation were creeping into and taking over the agenda.

Back to Square One
Twenty years ago, on September 16, 1991, the Senate voted not to have U S military bases on Philippine soil.

Case closed? Not yet.

For more than a decade, the US has been very interested in Mindanao, especially Muslim Mindanao.

Will they succeed in undoing that heroic act of 20 years ago by splitting the country in two. And the bases will come back literally through the back door of Mindanao.

The TRO may eventually become a permanent and final ruling that RA 10153 is unconstitutional. It will be to P-Noy’s Mindanao peace strategy what the striking down of the Truth Commission was to the P-Noy Administration’s anti-corruption strategy.

Even before the TRO, P-Noy’s Mindanao peace and development strategy were already about to get stuck. His Tokyo trip to meet with the MILF was back to square one.

This is it!
This major development and embarrassing setback for the fumbling, more than a year old, Aquino Administration was not played up in the mass media extensively.

It was knocked off the banner headline and the above the fold spaces of the front pages of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Philippine Star by the interest generated by the Miss Universe beauty pageant held in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Monday night there, Tuesday morning here.

“Baguio talaga si Shamcey Supsup. Nawalis niya ang pulitika.”

However, an important issue can resurface after a storm.

Observing the time, space and prominence, or lack of the above, given by both broadcast and print media to the topic, I tried to reflect, analyze and conclude on the: “Why?” and “How come?”.

“Manhid na ba ang tao sa kapalpakan ni P-Noy?”

That is it!

Let Him Be
During the first year of P-Noy in office, the people’s expectations of his performance and the trust in him based on his being the son of his parents, Ninoy and Cory, were so high that he had no way to go but down in the approval ratings in so far as performance and trust were concerned.

However, by the time period (August 20 – September 2) of the Pulse Asia (with a cousin of P-Noy, Rafa Sumulong Lopa involved as stockholder and/or officer) Survey, people had gotten so used to P-Noy’s Ka… ’s and kapalpakans that expectations were so low.

As far as the majority of people are concerned, that is it. Period.

He can’t do much. Let him be.

Let us just muddle through till 2016. We can’t help it and we can’t complain. We had no other choice.

Linggoy is ‘Sorry Yellow’
“Ooops! That’s not true.

The undersigned, Linggoy, knew that Noynoy was not up to it.

He believed in another choice. He believed not only that Noynoy should not run for President, he also believed that Noynoy should run only for Vice President as the common Opposition Candidate even if the Opposition could not agree on having just one Presidential Candidate.

He lobbied for that from August 1 to September 9 of 2009. After that, he joined the mob that supported P-Noy on a “Bahala Na” or “Barkadahan” basis.

And now, he is sorry, as in, sorry yellow.

Martial Law
This week, on Wednesday, we remember the official Declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972.

We use the word “official” as opposed to “actual.”

The actual implementation of PD 1081, as opposed to its alleged signing on the 21st, was on the night of either the 22nd or 23rd, but definitely a Friday night or the eve of a Saturday.

That night also, the Congress adjourned “sine die”.

That was the main reason why Martial Law was not implemented overtly on the 21st. They had to wait until Congress was no longer in session.

Martial Law or “Batas Militar” means centralized, rigid and total control. It means squelching democracy, dissent and opposition.

It means that the state uses the military to discharge civilian functions of government.

It means that the leader and/or leadership of the government have taken an extraordinary initiative to solve problems that can no longer be solved by ordinary means.

Whatever and however, then President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos made a very serious decision then, and implemented it.

P-Noy not in Control
Today, 39 years later, we find ourselves and our leader in a very different situation, P-Noy is not in control of either the situation or even of his own administration.

It is divided into two major factions with the leader encouraging them rather than putting his foot down and getting rid of them.

Instead of an administration party with a vision, the Samar initiatives have forced the Liberal Partyto become myopic.

The LP is aligned with and part of Balay.

Instead of efficiency in government, we have some sort of passive anarchy.

P-Noy is still the bad old Noynoy. He has not gotten over the hangover of what could have been his last private sector job – a stint as a Manager at the Hacienda Luisita.

The Hacienda, as well as the Azucarera, was not the best training ground for a future President of the Philippines.

They may have contributed to his hard-headedness and passivity. They certainly served as the model for the Noynoy brand of management.

Short-changed Bosses
In recent weeks and months, we have seen the worst examples of the Noynoy work style.

We have known for a long time that quantity wise, he has been shortchanging us, his bosses.

He wakes up in the very late morning except when he has a military or police affair or activity.

He can hardly ever put in a full honest day’s work. “La Cuacha” and “La Mierda” are the rule rather than the exception when it comes to Noynoy's kabarkada in government.

It is very difficult to have some work done in between the fun and the games.

Did you notice that Noynoy does not look at the face of the person he is shaking hands with.

Not to be Trusted
A leader who cannot look his subordinates in the eye and fire them when need be cannot and should not be trusted.

Several so called resignations stand out: DOTC Sec. Jose Ping de Jesus, DOT Sec Albert “Bertie” Lim, Bureau of Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez.

The common denominator among them is the way they were messed up by their own President.

Instead of talking to them directly and asking for their resignations, he used the very indirect approach: innuendos, floats, mass media and rumors.

He keeps his people insecure, guessing and destabilized. He is too lazy to call and attend Cabinet meetings.

Therefore, there are none.

Therefore, his government and administration do not have a centerpoint.

They have not jelled. They cannot bond together.

In the face of a storm, they will disintegrate. “Kawawa Tayo!”