Walang iwanan!

Lynda Jumilla had almost an hour of questions on why the agriculture department has failed in so many vital mandates. Then it was time for Lynda to ask the question uppermost in the minds of the viewers of her ANC program, Beyond Politics: are you going to resign?

Disgraced Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala gave a sheepish smile and went on a long exposition of how he is not clinging on to his job and is ready to go if P-Noy just says so. But he said, P-Noy has not said so and has in fact expressed confidence in him and is taking him on the presidential junket to Europe this month.

Not satisfied with having effectively shown his middle finger to his critics, the Agriculture Secretary added that he couldn’t possibly leave P-Noy because among them is an unwritten pact: walang iwanan.

That in two words is why the performance of the Aquino watch through the last four years had been lackluster in the delivery of essential services. Walang iwanan works two ways: the members of the cabal we call the cabinet are not supposed to resign and leave P-Noy and P-Noy is expected to keep them at whatever cost.

I know it sounds like a pact made by drunken friends up to no good ... that no one will leave anyone behind no matter what trouble they may get themselves in. Kabarkada, Kaklase, Kabarilan. It is very Filipino too in the rather primitive sense of upholding family and tribe over an alien concept of nation.

Walang iwanan is why Mar Roxas still has his job as DILG Secretary and even has the audacity of aspiring to be P-Noy’s successor. He bungled his job at DOTC, bungled the response to Yolanda and has shown a continuing inability to lead a corruption plagued national police.

If P-Noy were a no nonsense CEO in a private corporation, he would have tapped Ping Lacson to head DILG by now so discipline can be imposed on a national police that has lost the public trust. Or, P-Noy would have split the job the way he did it in agriculture and called on Ping to handle the police.

But having a disciplined police force is playing second fiddle in P-Noy’s scheme of things these days. The top police chief, Alan Purisima is another close buddy of P-Noy and P-Noy will ignore his shortcomings, no matter how great and inimical these may be to public service.  It doesn’t matter that the police general has shown little or no leadership that can inspire the officers and rank and file of the PNP to behave themselves.

He prioritized the refurbishing of his official quarters at Camp Crame despite scant resources available for better PNP equipment and facilities for police work.  He has angered gun license holders with the selection of a friend to deliver licenses at a cost many times that of the usual couriers.

I am particularly concerned with how defensive and protective P-Noy presented himself of Purisima’s leadership in that talk before his allies in Malacanang. I caught this portion where P-Noy said in so many words, so what if there are so many bad eggs among police officers these days… “sino ba ang humuhuli sa kanila, hindi ba pulis din?”

Hello Mr President… you seem to have missed the point that with so many police officers turning out to be criminals, the PNP has lost the trust of the people. Even police statistics mean nothing because people are afraid to report crime to a PNP with a reputation as bad as it is now.

Another example of walang iwanan…The whole Filipino nation may be embarrassed by the current state of affairs at NAIA terminals but again, the GM is another bosom friend of P-Noy who tolerates his proven incompetence. I hear that air conditioning in terminal 3 is also rather bad so that the first/business class lounge of Singapore Airlines has electric fans instead.

The total incompetence of DOTC in handling any of the projects they are mandated to launch is tolerated by P-Noy because Jun Abaya is the Liberal Party president and a former aide de camp of Tita Cory.  

The mismanagement of the MRT 3 problems is not a new thing as readers of this column know from way back. Yet, P-Noy allows the mess to be massaged by press releases rather than insisting that actual remedial measures start to happen.

And there is the failure of DSWD to deliver millions of pesos worth of relief goods, a criminal waste at a time when typhoon victims were suffering extreme need and deprivation. Sec Dinky could have asked Lingkod Kapamilya to help distribute those goods instead but she wanted full control, hindi naman pala kaya.

At the rate P-Noy’s cabinet is performing, this is probably why they are asking for a second term to get things right. But even if they do get the benefit of a second term, I doubt they can do any better. Hangang dyan na lang talaga. Worse, they can no longer blame Ate Glue in a second term because the previous administration that kept things messed up happens to be them.

I can understand why P-Noy is so insecure that he will latch on to a “walang iwanan” pact with his band of mostly clueless aides. It is difficult to get good help these days specially if it means giving up privacy and economic security of a private sector job. P-Noy understandably feels a sense of gratitude to these folks for agreeing to “sacrifice” with him through the six year term.

Then again, if he had cast a wider net for talent at the start, he may have been surprised to see how many more competent patriots there are out there. But P-Noy has shown through his watch that he is afraid to go beyond the comfort zone of his small circle of friends in this nation of 100 million.

P-Noy is what he is and we have to live with that for the remainder of his term. Still, I was hoping that he isn’t so blind to not see the mess we already are in now. It is not fair to make us wait for the next President before we can hope to get the relief his cabinet members can’t deliver now.

At some point, P-Noy must realize the folly of this walang iwanan pact.  At some point, P-Noy must realize that essential public services must be delivered competently. At some point, P-Noy must be presidential enough to recognize that loyalty to friends must end when loyalty to the Filipino people must begin.

DOTC

A two week old bad cough and cold kept me from attending the Arangkada Forum of the American Chamber of Commerce on the Transport sector last Friday. From what I am hearing, it seems I missed nothing. It is the same PPP program… PROMISES, PROMISES, PROMISES.

I understand DOTC Usec Timmy Limcaoco promised to deliver the third NAIA runway before P-Noy leaves office. That includes design, bid, award, get right of way and construct the runway. I found that totally hilarious.

Timmy cannot even promise to deliver the four lousy kilometers of LRT 2 going towards Masinag in Antipolo before June 2016. That’s a pretty easy project with no right of way issue… merely extending an existing LRT infrastructure four kilometers but it isn’t likely to happen.

I smell intellectual dishonesty. Timmy made his promise even as he admitted that the third runway has a one meter height issue with the existing C-5 flyover entering SLEX that affects safety margins in the flight path of airplanes taking off or landing. They cannot shift the flyover several meters into the south side with a flick of a finger.

Timmy also admitted that they have a right of way issue with 148 private homes to the west. Timmy is confident they can settle that at the right price as if COA is not a problem in that regard.

I don’t know what government service has done to Timmy… how can he shamelessly make promises that he knows they are incapable of delivering?

I hope Timmy is right and DOTC can deliver that third runway as fast as he said they could. But right now, he just invites ridicule and further reduces government credibility.

It is time DOTC officials promise to deliver only those that they can (which is hardly anything) … and stop opposing private initiatives like the San Miguel airport. 

Pinoy joke

Mrs: Honey, naniniwala ka ba na ang babae habang tumatanda, gumaganda?

Mr: Oo naman!

Mrs: Sa tingin mo, gumaganda ba ko?

Mr: Sa tingin ko, di ka tumatanda!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco