P-Noy's SONA should show his vision

For someone who has worked in both media and public relations, I find P-Noy a PR man’s dream. He presents a sharp contrast to Ms. Arroyo and the public loves it. According to SWS, their recent survey showed an absolute majority of 55 percent chose to describe their trust (pagtitiwala) in Noynoy Aquino as napakalaki or “very much,” and another 32 percent chose to call it medyo malaki or “somewhat much.”

SWS observed that “it is rare for an extreme end of a five-point-scale question to dominate public opinion. If trust were like a body of water, then current trust in Noynoy Aquino could be called not only very broad but also very deep.”

In more specific terms, SWS’s Mahar Mangahas reports that “the gross trust in Noynoy Aquino, just before becoming P-Noy, was 88 percent, correctly rounded. His net trust rating, defined as the gross trust percentage minus the gross distrust percentage, was +83 (which is read as “plus 83,” not “positive 83”). I don’t remember ever seeing a net score, whether for trust or for satisfaction in job performance, as high as +80 before.”

Why so much trust? Mr. Mangahas could only surmise: “Perhaps the reason why trust in Noynoy Aquino is unprecedented is that its context is the ending of an unprecedentedly unpopular administration. This is just my guess, not based on data.” But I think it is a good guess. That is also how I would interpret the SWS numbers.

It certainly helps that P-Noy is a leader who projects all the right things for many people. He is seen as honest, hard working and ready to lead by example. We all know about the “wang wangs” and all the symbolic things he has done to deliver the message that we are upon a new era of good governance like we have not seen in recent times.

But if there is one thing why some people aren’t too sure about P-Noy, it is the nagging fear that he may be all form, all symbols but no substance. His inaugural address was great as a rallying speech to mark a new era. But he failed to give us much by way of his vision for the nation. Maybe the right place for a more substantive speech is the one he will deliver next week, his first State of the Nation Address.

I don’t think a simple no-frills SONA that merely recites the problems inherited from the Arroyo regime and what is being done to fix things will be enough. I don’t think it will do for the new administration to project the image of a maintenance worker just fixing problems. They need to present the Big Picture to inspire our people to greatness.

This simple no-frills SONA talked about by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and P-Noy himself sounds exactly what Business World columnist Toti Chikiamko, a respected economist, calls merely being Un-Arroyo and Anti-Arroyo which he said will only take P-Noy so far. That approach was alright during the campaign and it elected P-Noy. But today, the expression applicable in the streets is: kumita na yan sa takilya! Toti wrote last Monday that what P-Noy seems to lack is a developmental vision.

At this point, people expect P-Noy as our national leader with record public support, to paint a picture of where he wants to lead us in the next six years. The last President who managed to present a broad vision for the nation was FVR. Despite a series of slogans, Ms Arroyo failed to give us her vision… one of the many reasons why we drifted during her nine year reign. Her survival was the prime consideration of Ms Arroyo over everything else.

Thus, scarce resources were easily frittered away by Ms Arroyo in pork barrel projects here and there with no cumulative national impact in terms of decreasing the poverty rate or even leaving behind important infrastructure that can help the country move forward. And because there was no Big Picture to guide government expenditures, it was also easy to spend on disjointed projects with bloated costs, hence the prevalence of corruption.

But P-Noy cannot risk the success or failure of his administration just on his high sense of morality. As I pointed out in this column some weeks ago, P-Noy has set such a high standard of honesty for the people who will be in his cabinet that it is easy to trip. This is exactly what Toti wrote last Monday…

“A purely un-Arroyo program of government carries some political risks. Not all of the people appointed by P-Noy may be saints like him. It’s perhaps inevitable that some corruption scandal can erupt in his administration, and this could be enough to tarnish his administration’s carefully cultivated image of incorruptibility. What then?”

In more pragmatic terms, Toti asserts that “a moral imperative may not be enough to drive a country forward. ‘Clean’ will make people respect you, but it won’t put food in people’s mouths. What P-Noy needs for a sustained momentum of leadership is a ‘strategic vision’ or a ‘developmental vision.’”

Toti defines developmental vision as “the way forward, the future to which he is asking the citizens to sacrifice for, and the goal with which to unify the country. It must, of necessity, be about high economic growth because only high growth can wipe out poverty.”

For example, FVR’s “Philippines 2000” was a carefully crafted strategic vision that brought coherence to his government. Toti cited policies like leveling the playing field, dismantling monopolies, privatizing state assets and services, embracing liberalization and globalization, forging peace agreements with the MNLF and the rightists, etc. were adopted as part of FVR’s vision to make the country an Asian economic tiger, or at least a tiger cub.

Maybe FVR can cite running out of time as reason for the failure to fully realize his vision for the nation. That was why he championed charter change. There are those who say FVR lost his way towards the end of his term. But at least he had an inspiring vision when he started unlike GMA.

If even a President with a vision can falter, what more if P-Noy persists on merely thinking of himself as nothing more than a Mr Fix-It? He must learn the lessons from FVR as enunciated by Joe Alejandrino, FVR’s Presidential Assistant for Economics, in his book The Journal of an Unknown Knight to describe the fading years of the FVR watch:

“I had the uneasy feeling that the original spark was gone and that many of the president’s men were just content to enjoy the perks of their office until the president’s term came to an end. Most of the economic reforms were in place, but his social agenda was just starting.

“While the President is viewed as being honest, sincere and hardworking, he is also seen to be high in style but low on substance… More and more people are saying that Ramos’ legacy will be in economic reforms. The other reforms will have to be carried out by his successor. He may go down in history as a good president but not necessarily a great one… President Ramos started out well but may be falling into the same trap that led to cronyism and corruption.”

Hopefully, P-Noy doesn’t end up that way. He was elected essentially on anti-Arroyo sentiments and admiration for his parents. He should end his term with the legacy of being transformed from the reluctant candidate into a visionary leader who managed to set things right so that the country will finally attain its development dreams even if this happens after his term.

Let P-Noy’s SONA not be a litany of GMA’s faults. The nation already knows she is evil, as one of her own cabinet members reportedly described her. Nor should it merely present another list of quick fix solutions to problems created by GMA. P-Noy’s first SONA must reveal his vision to inspire us and get us all working as one people towards the attainment of that vision. Anything less will be a letdown.

Party girl

This one’s from Robin Tong.

An attractive woman named Monica enters a laundromat and asks to have her dress dry cleaned.

”Come again?” the elderly attendant asks because she doesn’t hear her correctly.

Monica blushed, giggles and says, “No, it’s just mustard this time!”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected], mailto:[email protected]. This and other past columns may be accessed at www.boochanco.com