Ruined by repetition
The President is coming out on nationwide TV and we don’t know why?!
Tonight at 6 pm President Noynoy Aquino is scheduled to make a live broadcast and just like Presidents of businesses and corporations who schedule impromptu meetings and conferences, we are advised to watch, to listen but are not told what the topic or the agenda will be. As a result, people are speculating that it will be all about DAP. Others think that it is pre-SONA delivery intended to give critics a bone to bite on so that the SONA itself will not be butchered and be the sole focus of criticism. In other words tonight’s delivery will be to soften the blow or distract the sharks.
But because Malacañang operatives failed or chose not to advise the public what tonight’s speech will be all about, the lack of information has given rise to speculation and false information. I’ve always maintained that people who make impositions or set expectations on other people should at least have the courtesy to advise us what is going on, what it will be all about so that we don’t come into a meeting or spend the next few days or hours in total mystery and ignorance. In this sense, PNoy now looks like the “Boss” treating us as his “employees.”
So for all the officials both in private and public offices, kindly have the common decency and managerial sense to advise people about what a gathering or pending announcement is all about or suppose to be so that the people called in or expected to watch or participate are properly prepared. This will also prevent or at least limit ignorant speculations, apprehensions as well as rumormongering or gossip within the ranks. It also helps people to prepare for the meeting or the event. Give people time to prepare, don’t rush them into becoming stupid.
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When I think of the current political mess that the administration and the country is in, certain acts of past Presidents and politicians and decisions made by the current administration are clearly to blame.
The DAP they say is nothing more than a transparent and formalized form of what past Presidents and administrations secretly or quietly did. As one President confessed to me: Every President or at least administration benefitted and received money from Jueteng Lords, in the same manner they also moved government funds around and used the money on un-programmed projects to get things done. But they all knew better not to baptize their bastard act or to publicly recognize the “offspring” of their impatience and intent. The Lesson here is: Just because others repeatedly commit the sin or crime does not make it legal or moral.
“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.”
In the case of several Presidents, notably Gloria Arroyo and Noynoy Aquino, both Presidents continually ignored Congress when it rejected the appointments and confirmation of several Cabinet Secretaries. Both Presidents would simply reappoint the rejects until such a time when Malacañang eventually managed to influence Congress to change their minds. Then when it came to mistakes, unpopularity, or outright fault, Presidents would ignore critics and the public. Even when Cabinet members would tender their resignation or is pressured to resign, Presidents would almost always respond: “He still enjoys my trust and confidence.”
As a result, we often find ourselves committing greater mistakes because we are allowed to continue committing mistakes. Presidents who disrupt or ignore the checks and balance of democracy initially experience the intoxication of power and like any drug, they use more and more of it. But political mistakes often pile up and bury politicians.
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As for resignations, sadly times have changed and many so-called leaders now make declarations attached to rubber bands or retractable principles. There was a time when a man’s word was his bond and represented his honor. The principled mind does not waiver in its resolve to admit fault or correct a wrong. One does not submit a letter of resignation attached to a rubber band.
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While much of the PNoy administrations woes are self-inflicted, there can be no denying that today’s Congress for the greater part is the Mistress of Malacanang. Former Senator Joker Arroyo erred when he said that the DAP was an act of rape against Congress because it violated the Constitutional provision that Congress alone has power over the purse. Sorry, but Congress since the Martial Law period has in one form or another been the adulterous partner of the Executive branch of government. Even now, there is speculation that members of Congress will move to pass a “Remedyo Law” or provide legislative remedy to the “unconstitutionality” of the Disbursement Acceleration Program Fund. So if P1.9 billion were given out for un-programed projects, then Congress will simply pass a matching law to legally put those projects in a law that places them within a program: Problem solved!
As I am not a lawyer my source suggested we study the case where the League of Cities had blocked the move of certain LGUs to be classified as new cities because they failed to meet the legal and demographic requirements to be new cities. The position of the League of Cities was reportedly upheld by the court until Congress came to rescue via legislation providing the aspirants exemption. Did this really happen? Can the same thing happen to the DAP?
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Whatever the President may be planning to speak on tonight, my sincere prayer is that if it is about the DAP, or about the rejected resignation of Secretary Butch Abad, may he be reminded of that day in June 2010 when he made a vow and spoke these words:
“Ako si Benigno Simeon Aquino III, mataimtim kong pinanunumpaan na tutuparin ko ng buong katapatan at sigasig ang aking mga tungkulin bilang Pangulo ng Pilipinas. Pangangalagaan at ipagtatanggol ang kanyang Konstitusyon. Ipatutupad ang mga batas nito. Magiging makatarungan sa bawat tao at itatalaga ang aking sarili sa paglilingkod sa Bansa. Kasihan na wa ako ng Diyos.”
The key phrase is: “to defend the Constitution.”
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