The silence of the lame

President Noynoy may be surprised to discover that many people are quietly anticipating the fulfillment of his much-awaited Cabinet revamp.

To be blunt about it, people are sort of hoping that the government might somehow register some forward movement once the first batch experiences what it feels like to fall from grace or to be disgraced because of non-performance.

While speaking to people from different walks of life, the general impression I get is that people feel that: “nothing is happening” or “walang pagbabago” - “walang nagyayari”.

Yes we now hear of peace talks and government owned and controlled corporations saving and earning money instead of squandering money on excessive bonuses and perks.

But peace talks are nothing new. They are part of the start-up fuel of all new administrations and unless P-Noy knows something we don’t, I would wager that this next row of peace talks will also crash and burn, once the rebels are fed up with their overseas rest and recreation time abroad.

On this occasion, I hope the military has a say on the terms of the ceasefire before they drive over the next landmine or improvised explosive device or IED. Frankly after all the ambushes and betrayals in every ceasefire, the AFP should emphasize that if any AFP personnel are ambushed, kidnapped or killed during the ceasefire, the AFP reserves the right to arrest any or all rebel representatives.

As for GOCCs saving and earning money, I think much of the credit should go to the Senate particularly Senator Frank Drilon who really peeled all the abuses and excesses being committed by GOCCs.

The only saving grace of this administration would have been the Department of Justice, but somehow they are no match against the Office of the Ombudsman. To make matters worse the bad luck of the administration seems to have caught up with the DOJ, which is up to its knees in the controversial deportation of Taiwanese citizens to mainland China.

Of course it does not help if the government communicators don’t even get to communicate things properly. They fumbled the Porsche issue, they mixed up the Taiwan controversy, and now they don’t even bother to properly and patiently explain why P-Noy has decided to go back on his campaign pledge to support the RH bill.

But if there is one thing that has become so frustrating to Filipinos, it is the impression that this government and P-Noy’s cabinet members don’t have real long term achievable plan and program for their respective departments. At the very least, the public does not hear about it.

The Department of Tourism has hardly made a noise or an impact on the local market much less the international market. After their first major marketing slogan embarrassment and the Luneta massacre, the DOT has been silent.

In fact the general impression one gets is that the current administration could make their own movie entitled: “The Silence of the Lame” because they are behaving more like a lame duck administration.

However, if P-Noy does go through with his reshuffle or replacement strategy, I hope that this time he would consult some if not many respected people in business, the academe, even in media before he appoints his next batch. That way P-Noy can avoid having another Student Council.

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After all is said and done, there is more said, than done!

Such is the case of the controversial plea bargain agreement between the government and accused retired Major General Carlos Garcia. 

After all the talk, we now have one dead resource person who committed suicide, one junior Senator whose reputation for fairness and intelligence has been tarred and feathered.

We have the Office of the Ombudsman who still has to make an official withdrawal of their proposed plea bargain agreement, and to top it all, the Sandiganbayan has not made a peep to clarify whether they have in fact, and by law, approved or disapproved the plea bargain.

It’s beginning to feel like no one really wants to ask the question: has the Sandiganbayan officially approved the proposed plea bargain and will the Sandiganbayan allow the Office of the Ombudsman to withdraw their proposal?

The Senators keep repeating the question, but wouldn’t it be a lot simpler for the Office of the Senate President or for Senator Enrile to simply call the Presiding Justice? In lieu of the Blue Ribbon Committee’s business, you would think that the members of the committee would have received an advisory from the Sandiganbayan.

To top it all, why has the Sandiganbayan not bothered or cared to volunteer the answer considering so much time, effort and resources is being pumped into the issue? A simple yes or no would dramatically impact the plea bargain and make things a lot simpler or a lot faster to resolve.

I hate to admit it, but there is a big probability that most of the players already know the answer but are afraid to be the bearer of bad tidings. If the plea bargain is already in effect: it can be said that everything that happened — the investigations, confrontations, public humiliations and the suicide of Angelo Reyes will be all for naught, everything wasted and useless.

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