EDITORIAL - President of all, leader of none

It is nearly a year since Noynoy Aquino assumed office as president. Yet, based on most indicators, the country has not moved significantly forward. And the main reason for this is that the main priority pursued by this administration is the wrong one.

Noynoy won on a platform of reform and change, and eradication of poverty by waging a war on corruption. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it was precisely because such a platform was so acceptable that Noynoy won the presidency.

Sadly, the people and their president differ on what reform and change, and eradication of poverty by waging war on corruption, mean. While most people understand these terms in a broad sense, Noynoy defines them as anything exactly opposite of what former president Arroyo was.

Nothing wrong with going after Arroyo. If the evidence warrants against any wrongdoing, the government would, in fact, be remiss if it did not do so. But to gear up the entire engine of governance in reverse for no other reason than to be the opposite of Arroyo is nonsense.

There is no better recipe for retrogression and eventual self-destruction than to be shackled by the idea that the only way for this government to prove itself is to be the opposite of the Arroyo administration. That is just like seeing a few trees and missing the forest.

Noynoy must force himself to look at the big picture, that there is a bigger Philippines out there than that which Arroyo inhabits, that he is leader of 90 million Filipinos with a vast multiplicity of needs, not just of those he thinks he is required to please.

It would be wise for Noynoy never to forget that while he may have arrived on the tide of popular support, he is nevertheless a minority president. There were more Filipinos who did not vote for him than those who did. He must be a unifying president, not a divisive one.

Change and reform, in order to work, must be built with everybody on board expecting to get to the same destination. It cannot be a one-way expedition with but one mission — get Arroyo at whatever cost to the nation.

And poverty cannot be eradicated by fighting corruption if, by definition, corruption refers only to those allegedly committed by the previous administration. For the sake of the nation, the Noynoy presidency must not allow itself to live or die on just the Arroyo question.