The bubble burst too soon

 For someone with a mandate so huge and a popularity rating so high, it is surprising to find President Noynoy Aquino so all alone as he gets buffeted by crisis after crisis so early in his six-year-term.

The last I looked, Noynoy's only defenders were his three Palace communications "experts" and his stooges in media, who have no choice. Plus of course his sisters, as a matter of course. Other than these, it appears the yellow army has suddenly turned precisely that.

Actually, I started this column with the following sentence: "It is my bold prediction that President Noynoy Aquino will not last his six-year-term." I eventually decided to abandon that theme. It was too dire and foreboding. It was not something I relish happening.

 That is not to say I do not have my misgivings. In fact my misgivings are only too real. President Noynoy is the first president I have ever seen who has started thrashing in the water so soon after jumping into the lake.

 How long has he been in office, two months? Why, not even Joseph Estrada, the president we all loved to laugh at for ineptness, became a pariah this early. Though Erap bumbled along, he evoked an ambivalence in all of us. At least we got entertained by the ride.

 Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was another matter. While she progressively lost much of her early support, her continued focus on certain essentials produced outstanding results that were hard to ignore, and thus became the base from which she could not be dislodged.

 But I am frightened by the swiftness with which the bubble of President Noynoy seemed to have burst. In case you have not noticed, there is even hardly any stirring from both houses of the legislature, which only yesterday professed their undying love for the new president.

 I am tempted to put a finger on the recent hostage crisis as the main culprit for the looming disaster. But I know in my heart that even this is not true. While the crisis was clearly bungled, there is too much unpredictability surrounding the fiasco to blame it all on Noynoy.

 No, a huge monstrosity though the hostage crisis may be, it is not enough justification to pull the rug from under Noynoy. It could happen to the best of presidents, and the outcome could still be the same, or worse. There are no textbook guidelines on these matters, you know.

 But if I were to thumb my nose at those who shrouded the whole country in the illusion of yellow-driven change, I would thumb my nose at them to single out Macra Cruz, you know, she of the 37 monthly bonuses who, Senator Franklin Drilon said, ran out of nomenclatures for more.

 Macra Cruz, in case you missed the significance, is not a newcomer to MWSS. She has long been deputy administrator. And now Noynoy retained her as OIC administrator in the very agency he singled out as a haven of greed and profligacy during his State-of-the-Nation Address.

 So why should I single out Macra Cruz as the microcosm of everything that will bring down the illusion of change? Because Macra Cruz embodies both the "immoderate greed" Noynoy promised to eradicate and, by his appointment, also underscores his willingness to gloss over the fact.

 I do not think that, in making the appointment, especially to an agency he singled out in his first ever major policy speech, Noynoy would be blissfully unaware of who Macra Cruz is and what she does. Appointing Macra Cruz is the single biggest proof that no change is coming.

 Noynoy will either fall or fail not because of his ineptness. We have proven ourselves to be amply capable of enduring that. He will fall or fail because he will ultimately prove to be no different from the rest. Noynoy cannot deliver on his promises. That I promise.

 During the election campaign, I have consistently tried to point out that being a son of great parents is too shallow a basis for us to make such an important decision as to who to elect as leader for the next six years. I was called all sorts of names instead.

 Because of that, I have kept a mental note of who those who blindly followed the Pied Piper were. For I have intended to remind them. What surprises me is how the opportunity seems to have come so soon.