Enough time

The last time we had a long talk with him was when he was then presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in his campaign visit to The STAR editorial office last Feb. 20. He was the presidential standard-bearer of the Liberal Party (LP) when we had him as guest in The STAR series on presidential wannabes “So you want to be President?” He left a good impression of how he has matured in terms of dealing with difficult questions.

Close to eight months later and now duly elected President of the country, Mr. Aquino showed he has prepared well for the toughest job in the country. This he displayed during the more than an hour long of question-and-answer with STAR editors who he invited over to Malacañang Palace for his post-first 100 days’ talk with us.

We were ushered to the Premier Guesthouse at the Palace grounds that his late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, transformed into an office during her term. P-Noy occupies this all-glass-paneled building for his office use, too.

When we arrived there, Mr. Aquino had just finished an exclusive interview with GMA-7’s Jessica Soho who was also doing a special TV feature on the first 100 days of the administration that will be aired later this month. Assistant press secretary Rey Marfil, a former colleague in the Malacañang Press Corps, was there to welcome us. I teased him about his wearing a necktie that he matched with a denim jacket. P-Noy could not help interject his own ribbing of his assistant press secretary by telling us that the latter is also his “fashion consultant.”

Reymarf, as we fondly call him, covered Mr. Aquino at the Senate for Abante Tonite where he also used to write a regular opinion column. He was one of the embedded reporters during Mr. Aquino’s presidential campaign who were later recruited to join his administration. 

A tabloid reporter by heart, Reymarf told me that he would have written about an interesting trivia that cropped up during the TV interview of P-Noy when asked about what “legacies” of his Palace predecessors mattered most to him. In the case of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, P-Noy supposedly first thought of the “good catering” staff she left behind at the Palace.

P-Noy’s retort, however, comes to me as a surprise for someone who professes to be not fond of fancy food. In fact, he revealed to us that his usual diet at the Palace consists of “half a sandwich” for breakfast and soup and sandwich for lunch. But it’s only for dinner, he confessed, that he indulges himself. That’s why, he said, he has not gained or lost weight since assuming office.    

As for our post-lunch fare with him at the Palace, we were treated to a couple of corndogs, two pieces of mini fruit tarts and, of course, a glass of Coke. We partook of our post-lunch fare while waiting for P-Noy to arrive. I sort of got hungry when he finally arrived and told me, as he shook my hands, if he needed to bring chocolates to be a friend to me.

But what struck me at once while shaking hands with him was P-Noy’s distinct mannerism of placing his left hand over his abdomen every time he gives a handshake. Actually, this observation comes from our Lifestyle sub-editor, my good friend Kathy Moran, who specifically requested me to ask P-Noy why he does this. “Is he hungry? Pray tell me,” Kathy wisecracked.

Initially, I theorized to Kathy that P-Noy perhaps is trying to keep his necktie from getting into the way of his handshake like when he shook hands with US President Barack Obama. But on that day with us at the Palace, P-Noy was wearing a barong tagalog and yet he did the same thing. I did not get to ask P-Noy that question.

So I finally asked an expert of sorts in reading body language to explain this. As requested, I won’t mention the expert’s name. That mannerism, the expert said, shows that this person is cautious, especially with people who are not in his circle of friends. The gesture, the expert added, is actually half of the forearms crossed (like the famous photo of his late father, slain Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.). This reflects an introvert personality but is half open and sure of one’s self, the expert explained.

Despite this explanation, I could not reconcile this with the demeanor of President Aquino throughout our discussion that ranged from serious stuff on the affairs of the state to more mundane matters. P-Noy proved to be a complete opposite of his late mother in how he handled himself with media. Understandably so because he had been a three-term congressman and served in the Senate for three years before he became President.

But our Entertainment editor Ricky Lo and Lifestyle editor Millet Mananquil tried to ask subtle to more direct questions about the affairs of his heart. P-Noy gingerly parried these questions.

As Chief Executive, he told us, he spends his office time mostly reading voluminous documents on his desk that are grouped into three rows. The first row consists of documents mostly about big-ticket government contracts for his review. The second row of documents consists of documents that need his signature. And the last row would be documents tagged as “FYI,” or for your information.

I just don’t know if this could be considered a strength or weakness for P-Noy who is so articulate in his answers. It would be disrespectful to cut him short. But he really gives long answers to even simple questions. He has a tendency to go around the bush.

But I give credit to his being candid and open about his thoughts on how to change governance in our country for the better and in the best way he can as he has promised the Filipino voters.

After 100 days in office, P-Noy admitted that he is still trying to find a “healthy balance” between micromanaging and letting the officials concerned run their respective government agencies.

For now though, P-Noy is trying to shape up his 107-day-old administration to deliver his campaign promises, the top priority of which, he said, is for Filipinos to gain “freedom from hunger.” While he may not be a 24/7 type of President, P-Noy has enough time, or 2,185 days for the rest of his six-year term, to do that.