EDITORIAL - Guns and roses

The media is getting it all wrong in the case of presidential political adviser Ronald Llamas. His having several firearms to his name is not as bad as his flaunting his closeness to the president.

Llamas is not the only person in government who has firearms. And if he has permits for them, why split hairs over it when there are so many more loose guns in the wrong hands in this country that far deserve a crackdown and media attention.

If it is absolutely necessary for Llamas to be taken to task, let it instead be for projecting himself as an untouchable functionary in a government that has consistently proclaimed itself a harbinger for change from the old ways.

In almost every public appearance since the controversy broke, Llamas assumes a demeanor of smug confidence, as if nothing remotely unpleasant can twang the strings that bind him to his president and patron.

Why, Llamas even had the cockiness to disclose to media that the president referred to the incident “in a joking mood.” “It seemed I was teased a little bit about it,” Llamas said. And wonder of wonders, the media did not pounce on the disclosure as alluding to something irregular.

Neither did the media pounce on the president for actually joking about the incident, true to what Llamas disclosed. The president, introducing Llamas at a DILG gathering, said: “Maybe you are thinking Ronald Llamas is hiding. He is present and accounted for (laughter).”

And if joking about it is not enough, Llamas launched into the usual spiel that, if for nothing else, nails the Philippines precisely on the board that is contrary to what the president has been bragging about change to anyone who cares to listen.

Llamas caps his every discussion about the incident with an assurance of his willingness to resign, if the president so desires. But of course the president cannot so desire for his resignation if he even jokes about it. The smell of roses is simply unmistakable. 

Nothing underscores the great contradictions in this government than for a highly-placed agent of the president’s program for change to peddle his untouchability at every opportunity. Yet, between the guns and the roses, guess where a media that cannot tell the difference went?