P-Noy learns his lesson

Some people may say he was just throwing us PR crumbs to pacify criticism of government’s handling of that hostage crisis. But crumbs or not, I fully appreciate P-Noy’s televised admission of his administration’s shortcomings.

I think P-Noy was honestly pained and disappointed at the failure of the police to carry out what was supposed to have been an agreed strategy of dealing with the hostage crisis. He looked particularly betrayed by the failure of the police to use the more capable and better equipped SAF of the PNP.

I also like it that P-Noy stepped up to clear the air for the embattled DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo. Now Rep. Edsel Lagman sounds totally uninformed in his insistence that Robredo, his fellow Bicolano, must resign. P-Noy confirmed that Robredo had nothing to do with the handling of the crisis because Robredo was given direct instructions to leave all police matters to DILG USec Rico Puno.

Rico Puno who? He isn’t the singer and no, he isn’t another one of the Puno brothers who were always in the limelight during the past administration. But he is so close to P-Noy so that he is reportedly only one of three ka-barkadas allowed to sleep in the same room with him while they were going around the country during the last campaign.

Puno was appointed to the DILG ahead of Robredo. If Puno, an undergraduate from UP Los Banos, had better credentials, he might have been DILG Secretary instead of Robredo. Puno’s closeness to the police was on account of his business selling supplies and ammunition to the PNP. Puno’s closeness to P-Noy comes from his being from Tarlac and being a shooting range buddy.

So it took a lot from P-Noy to say that DILG Undersecretary for Peace and Order Rico Puno was “partly” responsible for the botched rescue operations. P-Noy assigned Puno to coordinate the rescue operation and we all know what happened. Puno told media he thought he had the resolution of the crisis in the bag. He obviously miscalculated.

But Puno refuses to take any responsibility. “I didn’t handle it,” he told the Inquirer. “I was there to oversee the carrying out of the orders of the President.” There you go… P-Noy said the police didn’t carry out his orders… a clear failure of Puno to get his job done. Besides, P-Noy already said Puno was “partly” responsible… humihirit pa si Puno na hindi! Puno should learn to stand up for his boss even at his expense.

As if that was not enough, the man Puno recommended to succeed suspended MPD Chief Magtibay turned out to have a case involving Hong Kong nationals too. Strong protest from the Filipino-Chinese community forced P-Noy to order the recall of the appointment less than 24 hours after it was made. Strike two for Puno in a little over 48 hours.

The thing I like about P-Noy is rather than cover up for the failure of his underlings who also happen to be close kabarkada, he faced the TV cameras and with an honestly pained face, made the admission of failure. Having been thus been failed by some of the kabarkada around him, I am hoping that he has learned his lesson in a very hard and tragic way. I am looking forward to hear his remedial measures.

I am hoping that P-Noy learned the lesson that while kabarkada is nice, competence is even more desirable. I am hoping that he will establish standards of behavior and performance for all his staff members, kabarkada or not, so that all our hopes and dreams that led us to bring him to power are eventually realized. I am hoping too that he must have learned from the lesson of Erap that having a midnight cabinet of fun loving kabarkadas can be dangerous to his tenure.

What we need to see from P-Noy now is a disciplined approach in addressing urgent pending matters. There is work to be done and so little time to get these things done. The investigation of the tourist bus tragedy has to be done quickly and credibly.

P-Noy also needs to follow up on the reform program he suggested in his much applauded SONA… stopping the GOCC perks, for instance. If he is indeed going to the US in the next few weeks, his staff must be working overtime by now on the preparatory stuff. He cannot afford any missteps in New York and Washington DC.

One more thing… maybe P-Noy should already retire the PNP Chief and appoint a new one. On the afternoon of the hostage crisis, the PNP Chief took a 3 p.m. flight to Cagayan de Oro. What could be more important than the Luneta crisis in Cagayan de Oro that needed his attention? A crisis of the magnitude of the one in Luneta cannot just be monitored and managed by remote control.

The PNP has to be immediately put into shape and a Chief on retirement mode cannot do that. As if the hostage crisis had not done enough damage for our tourism industry, two tourists from Malaysia and Singapore were robbed by men dressed as police officers while on a taxi at the Macapagal Avenue … This is another peace and order failure the police should be held responsible for.

In this regard, P-Noy should be commended for reactivating the Tourist Police. Policemen will now be retrained to assist all of our visitors – domestic or foreign – when they visit our tourist spots, P-Noy announced. He also said the government must show its ability to protect its citizens as well as the country’s visitors. With so many things for the police to do, we cannot afford a PNP Chief on retirement mode already.

We all have to move on somehow but the lingering problem of P-Noy is how to re-establish his credentials for the top job. The electorate may have given a premium on his honesty when they voted for him. But they will demand performance from him too now that he is President.

So much is at stake… which is why I want to believe that P-Noy has learned his lesson, the hard and tragic way perhaps, but hopefully he learned it well.

GSIS

Another pending matter begging for P-Noy’s attention is GSIS. Only the Chairman has been officially appointed so far. The more important position of President, the man who will run the day-to-day affairs of the pension fund, is yet to be filled.

From what I hear, they actually were able to get a very competent and highly regarded banking and finance man to take on the job — ex Citibanker Sonny Vistan. But I understand, Popoy Juico shot the appointment down. Popoy’s wife, Margie who now heads PCSO, is very influential with the Aquino family.

The financial community is wondering what happened. But there are those who surmise that a long standing grudge of Popoy against Vistan most probably made him and his wife block the appointment. When P-Noy hesitated, Vistan informed the Palace he will make it easier for the President by withdrawing his name from contention.

Apparently, Vistan was head of the Land Bank when Popoy was Agrarian Reform Secretary in the Cory administration. There was supposedly one agrarian reform deal (the curious may google Garchitorena land scam and check out a backgrounder by GMA News among others for the gory details) that Vistan refused to pay. Due diligence done by Vistan showed it was not worth the money being asked. It became a scandal investigated by Congress. In the end, Popoy had to take the heat for his boys who processed the deal. Poor Popoy had to resign under the principle of command responsibility.

It is unfortunate the Juicos keep grudges for so long. At their age, that should have long been forgotten and forgiven. This is specially true not only because the Juicos claim to be active Christians but more because Vistan did them no wrong. Vistan was only doing his duty to safeguard government funds from the profiteers who blindsided Popoy into signing a questionable deal.

The worse thing that could happen now is people resurrecting details from that Tita Cory era scandal because that won’t do anybody any good. But that’s exactly what I am hearing from the business community these days.

What happened to Vistan is not going to make the search for a GSIS President any easier now. That’s too bad because there is so much work to be done. Government pensioners are suffering now due to the mismanagement of GSIS in the past administration.

Recovered

From Jose Villaescusa.

SWAT: Sir, ok na po..na recover na namin!

OFFICER: Ang alin?! Yung mga hostages?

SWAT: Hindi po Sir...yung MASO!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>