No time to miss opportunities

During his visit to Cebu City last Wednesday, his first as president, Noynoy Aquino was reported as having announced the cancelation of his scheduled trip to Brussels on October 3-5 for the Asia-Europe Meeting. That is sad because Noynoy should really go ahead with the trip.

The Asia-Europe Meeting is a gathering of leaders from the European Commission, European Union, Asean, as well as of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan. Officially established in 1996, the importance of this inter-regional forum is clearly evident in its scope.

Yet Noynoy prefers to skip this important meeting for reasons that seem too flimsy and shallow for comfort. According to the president, not many leaders have confirmed attendance, so he does not expect to gain substantial investment commitments as a consequence.

And if he cannot be assured in that respect, Noynoy feels he might as well save on the expense. Besides, he said, the Brussels meet comes right after an official trip to the United States, thus finding the schedule too tight for him to squeeze in some rest.

If the leaders that Noynoy expects to be there will not be coming, they will still be represented by officials empowered to speak and make commitments for their principals. Otherwise, if those who will attend cannot stand up for anything, the forum would have been scrapped.

That it is proceeding as scheduled proves it is not as useless as Noynoy thinks. Besides, how did Noynoy know that nobody of consequence in his eyes is coming? Has he been asking around? I hope he hasn’t because that would have been very unpresidential and not nice.

If the expense worries Noynoy, let it not be because of perceptions of profligacy about his predecessor. Former president Gloria Arroyo may have pushed the limits of foreign initiatives but that does not mean the Filipino people do not understand and fully support such initiatives.

Presidents need to touch base and connect with the rest of the world, and if we have to spend for it, we will, because that is a necessary expense. And as a founding member of Asean, I feel that Noynoy should be in that meeting to help represent that organization.

As to feeling the schedules too tight for his physical comfort and preferring to knock it off for a few days after his US trip instead of representing the country in another international function is, I think, too manifest of a patent laziness on the part of the president.

 Noynoy must realize the presidency is a full-time job. It is not something he can hide from whenever the urge arises. Even the few seconds it takes for him to fart is official time, fully paid for by taxpayers even if spent on nothing more significant than a presidential fart.

 My point is that Noynoy must treat foreign policy with equal importance as he does his domestic priorities. If, as he correctly believes, the country must continue to attract foreign investments, he cannot hope to accomplish that by just loafing around.

Arroyo, the leader Noynoy points out at every opportunity to be the exact opposite of himself, was known to carry out a very healthy work ethic, and was seen as the very epitome of a workaholic. I hope Noynoy does not want to be the opposite of that too.

Foreign investments will not fall on the lap of Noynoy if that is what he expects. He has to go out and court them when the opportunity arises. He should not shirk on this responsibility, especially at this time when he enjoys a very high rating of credibility.

If Arroyo, despite her unpopularity, was able to generate huge investment commitments, I have no doubt Noynoy can generate even more. But he has to go shake a leg instead of begging off from opportunities simply because he wants a little rest.