A graft-free PHL or is it a mere lip service?

The 113th Independence Day message of Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III was a renewed pledge and commitment by his administration for an honest and transparent leadership in the Philippines, a leadership that would usher a new graft-free chapter in Philippine history. Indeed that statement echoed his political campaign promise to eradicate corruption. But then that was a year ago and a year later, we are only hearing words from the President but no action.

Meanwhile, in one year of office, the Aquino administration has been plagued by problems, notably by their own creation. For instance smuggling of sugar and oil continues unabated and we can only reckon that this is due to the fact that Pres. PNoy got a man who cheats in golf as head of the Bureau of Customs (BoC). This is why even the smuggling of cars and motorcycles continue in Mindanao. But what has PNoy done to stop this problem? No he is scared of firing Customs Chief Mr. Angelito Alvarez.

One of PNoy’s best members in the Cabinet is Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Ping de Jesus, but the poor fellow quit after a row between him and Pres. PNoy on the return of Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Virginia Torres, where even all the Public Transport groups called on Malacañang to stop her return to the LTO. Hence Ping de Jesus had no choice but quit the DOTC.

Virginia Torres is known as one of the President’s shooting (she denies this tag) buddies, who got herself embroiled in the Stradcom Corp. issue which is the technology provider for the LTO. For that incident, Torres was administratively charged and suspended for 60 days, which she took as a leave of absence. Until now, PNoy hasn’t made a decision to let her go and she ain’t quitting. So now we ask the President, how can he expect us to fulfill his Independence Day promise when he cannot even get rid of the corrupt officials that he put in place?

I also got a report from a Mr. Michael Tan accusing officials of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) of corruption and he has video footages that he is willing to show to the President as proof that he isn’t lying. But it seems that Malacañang is dragging on its feet in issuing orders calling for an investigation to this case, which directly involves officials that Pres. PNoy appointed to the LLDA.

So again we ask... what can we expect from PNoy? Or did he merely come up with lip service to his own election campaign slogan? As the old saying goes, “Action should speak louder than words.” But in the case of Pres. PNoy, his words seem to be louder than his actions.

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We know too well that the Philippine and China has been at odds on the issue of our respective claims for the Spratlys. But it seems that the Aquino administration suddenly found a solution when the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) decided that henceforth, it will no longer use South China Sea when it refers to that body of water west of Palawan. PAGASA recently declared that henceforth that body of water would now be called West Philippine Sea.

If you looked at a world map you will notice that the Philippine Sea extends from the eastern seaboard of the Philippine Archipelago all the way to Guam and the other islands like Saipan. It is a huge body of water between those islands and the Philippines. In fact when I was in Saipan, I took a swim in the Philippine Sea, the same sea you can swim in either Samar, Leyte or in Surigao.

But the sea west of the Philippine Archipelago has always been called the South China Sea. So now can the PAGASA make a simple declaration in renaming the South China Sea without giving notice to China, Vietnam, Malaysia or Brunei who all claim ownership in the Spratlys?

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Kudos to our good friend Sir Roberto “Bobby” Aboitiz, President of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) for bagging the Communication in Excellence (CEO) Excel Awards 2011 for Non-Government Organizations (NGO) that was conferred on him by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) that was held last June 7th at the Enderun Colleges in Taguig City. The CEO Excel Awards is the highest individual award of communication excellence given to top-level Philippine based Business Leaders who masterfully and effectively champion the use of excellent communication as a business strategy. Indeed the Communications team from the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) has been structured to cover traditional media and all other media outlets and partnering with Local Government Units. Again my congratulations Sir Bobby! More Power!

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