EDITORIAL - No more wang-wang

He feels our pain, Benigno Aquino III told ordinary Filipinos in his inaugural speech the other day. Henceforth, he vowed, the days of VIPs using wang-wang or sirens to get ahead of the hoi polloi in traffic-clogged streets are over. This also goes for the nation’s highest official himself, he indicated, as he vowed to lead by example.

Aquino made the promise in line with his theme of good, equitable governance, upholding the rule of law, leveling the playing field and creating a society where no one enjoys undue advantage. “Walang lamangan, walang padrino, at walang pagnanakaw. Walang wang-wang, walang counter-flow, walang tong,” he said, vowing to put an end to thievery, patronage, petty extortion, the use of sirens and traffic counter-flow.

Police said there is in fact a law prohibiting civilians from using sirens, but the president of the republic is exempted. That there is such a law is news to most Filipinos; it must be one that has never been enforced since its passage.

Enforcing that law may sound like one of the doables in the President’s inaugural speech, but it is not as simple as it seems. The most blatant violators of the law are ranking government officials themselves, including senators, congressmen, governors, mayors and Cabinet members, plus their spouses, children and even mistresses. Traffic cops and aides, without guidance from their superior officers, fear that they are inviting trouble if they tangle with such VIPs over traffic violations. Many traffic aides, like most Filipinos, have also come to believe, with much resentment, that some obscure law exempts public officials from certain rules.

As the new President has said, no one is above the law, and he intends to lead by example. His administration, he said, intends to serve rather than lord it over the people. If he can actually deliver on this promise, and sustain it, it would be a major achievement. And his inaugural will truly be remembered as the dawn of a new day.