President Aquino and people's support

It's gratifying to know that 88 percent of Filipinos (per SWS survey) have said that they trust Noynoy Aquino as president. Although the survey was taken a week before he assumed office, still it can be said that presently almost the entire nation has a soft heart towards the new chief executive. Such feeling could mean that most of the people are in accord with the promised thrusts of the new leadership: Anti-corruption campaign and poverty alleviation. And it could mean that they have faith in him as a leader, faith in his sincerity, honesty and sense of humanity.

It's all very well that at this point in time majority of the people are behind the new president. With such support there is no reason why he cannot succeed in cleaning the bureaucracy and in uplifting the lot of the poor. But would such massive support endure?

Right now the media are in a period of "honeymoon" with the new administration. Critical comments are being withheld or sanitized. Negative reactions to President Aquino's moves during the last two weeks - such as giving cabinet posts to persons with questionable character - are being toned down, all in the interest of giving the new dispensation a leg room to operate minus the distraction of adverse publicity.

Beyond the honeymoon days, how will media relate with President Aquino or the latter with media? The answer depends upon the president himself and his brand of leadership. The thing is, press people can be adversarial only if they have reasons to. Generally, these workers of the fourth estate have nothing but the interest of the country at heart. If at times they seem anti-administration, it is because something has been observed or perceived as detrimental to our collective way of life.

Take the case of the Arroyo government. Some observers say it was media that scuttled its credibility. There's truth in this really, but there's truth too that media had nothing to do with the scandals that plagued that government. Media did not invent the Hello Garci happening, nor the fertilizer scam, nor the ZTE deal, and others. All that the media did was air these in various outlets because such is their mandate.

Take the case too of former President Estrada. After the series of impeachment hearings which were extensively covered by various media outlets, the people were convinced that the president had committed a serious indiscretion. Thus they flocked to the streets for another people power and Erap lost his foothold on the Pasig palace. Of course, one can say that without those coverage that mass action would not have materialized. Thanks to media, a corrupt regime was stopped in its track.

To go back to the question of whether President Aquino would continue to be backstopped by majority of Filipinos during his term, the answer is yes and no. Yes, if his moves in the years ahead would be attuned to his commitment to the people. Yes, too if no major scandal breaks out that can be blamed on him. If the like of the ZTE deal happens, media would be as relentless as before in exposing the anomaly and the president's public acceptance would go down.

Then P.Noy's leadership would be handicapped. Once perceived as wanting in probity and integrity, and no longer popularly accepted, the opposition would be emboldened to embark on a campaign to demonize him. And what happened to then President Arroyo would also happen to him.

Right now with the surge of P.Noy's public support, anchored on a huge winning margin in that presidential race, and reinforced now with survey findings, opposition politicians don't have the guts to lampoon him, assuming they have a reason to. To do so would be to court displeasure from the great mass of people, including the middle class whose approval rating of the new president (87%) is even higher than that of the lower income groups.

The urgent concern of the new president is therefore to keep the people's trust in him alive. With this, he could lead them to do their part in achieving what he promised to achieve during his watch.

In the survey more than half of the respondents (53%) said they believed P.Noy can fulfill a "few" of his promises. What this "few" translates to is not clear, but it is safe to say that one of these has to do with improving the lot of the poor. If he could achieve this and nothing else it could be a landmark achievement in the annals of presidential leadership in this country.

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