Malacañang belittled the recent “Noynoying” tag that the youth used on Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III which means, “doing nothing.” However, these very same Malacañang propagandists are doing some kind of damage control in order to prove to our frustrated youth that the President is not “Noynoying” and it was evident in the front page colored photo of the Inquirer last Wednesday where PNoy is shown trying to lift a pile of thick documents from his desk and bring it to his meeting.
As the old saying goes, “A picture paints a thousand words.” What we saw in that photograph was quite revealing… that the Malacañang propagandists are running out of ideas. A simple truth would have sufficed. But they had to use that photograph to show that PNoy is working hard. But that hardly shows him working at all. Indeed, something is wrong with that picture. If you are the mayor, governor and yes, the President, there is no doubt that you have a bevy of aides always at your beck and call that will carry your stuff when you attend a meeting.
What that photograph reveals is that PNoy is “overdoing it.” Perhaps our youth should come up with a new word that should be the opposite of Noynoying, which should not mean overworking, but merely to show to the people that he is working even if he is not! It is high time that the spokesperson at Malacañang tell the Filipino people the real truth, rather than selling us half-truths or outright lies. That photograph is sheer falsehood, with the President lifting a stack of documents and no one helping him. That photograph in my book is nothing but sheer propaganda.
Now, while the President and his men are trying to prop up his sagging image, the Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has increased the fares to P8.00 simply because the President refuses to cut the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petroleum products even temporarily or even for just a month. He has stubbornly refused what many people from all walks of life have tried to plead for him to do.
Hence, the consequence of doing nothing is the approval for the increases of transportation fares and now, the labor groups are demanding a P90 peso pay hike. This is the result of Noynoying on the VAT issue. It would have been simpler and it would not result in a Catch-22 situation where we will all be chasing our shadow until that day comes when the Philippines will no longer be competitive with other countries.
Right now we are no longer competitive in terms of our power rates vis-à-vis ASEAN countries. What’s going for us, especially with regards the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and the Information Technology (IT) industry are our very competitive salaries which Foreign Direct Investors (FDI) are attracted to. But for how long? When the oil prices ease once more because they are always fluctuating, will the labor groups request for a salary reduction or will the transport groups request for a fare reduction? Nope…that’s not going to happen.
What’s happening in this country is truly the result of an educated mass of people who voted the wrong people into the presidency. Yes, I did not vote for Pres. Aquino for two reasons… first that he was promoting the Reproductive Health (RB) Bill and second, because he was a non-performer in Congress and in the Senate. If a person never performed in his previous positions in the government, logic would tell you that you can never wrangle out any performance from that person when he becomes president.
This is why PNoy is dubbed the “Accidental President.” Prior to the 2010 presidential campaign, I never even heard that he had presidential ambitions, simply because he knew his own limitations. The presidency was not on his radar screens until his mother died and there was a massive outpour of sympathy by many Filipinos towards his mother. The rest is history. Certain people then convinced him to run for president and he grabbed the opportunity despite the reality of his personal limitations. Now we’re stuck in the real world of Noynoying… because that’s exactly what’s happening to us.
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Congratulations to my son, Jesus Valeriano “JV” Avila on the occasion of his graduation from the University of San Carlos (USC) where he took Legal Management. He is sort of trying to follow the footsteps of his grandfather, Atty. Jesus Avila, who was a lawyer, but did not practice law. I myself took up Law in USC against my father’s wishes, but somehow, he died when I was 3 and a half years into Law school. But I had to stop schooling as I needed to take care of the business. Hopefully, someday JV will also follow my footsteps, not only in the business world, but in media, as well.
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Email: vsbobita@mozcom.com