Strong response

After the horrific Friday the 13th terrorist attacks in Paris, the French responded with impressively lethal precision: the assailants who didn’t blow themselves up were not only identified and located quickly but also gunned down. The suspected mastermind reportedly was so riddled with bullets it took some time before his identity could be established.

Not surprisingly, the French response gave rise to jokes in our country, mostly revolving around how our government would respond in case of a similar attack in Metro Manila.

A lockdown is out of the question; it requires a year of planning, and daang sarado does that only to protect visiting VIPs from unsightly, smelly Pinoys.

The immediate response would be condemnation and official vows to bring the perpetrators to justice. If someone remembers to whisper in the ear of the zero-empathy commander-in-chief, he might declare a period of national mourning.

Then a task force will be formed for “hot pursuit” operations. On Day 2, a reward will be put up for information leading to the perpetrators. On Day 3, with the pursuers facing a blank wall, politicians will begin demanding that heads roll.

On Day 4, if the heads in question are close to the commander-in-chief, he will say command responsibility does not apply in the case, but he may let go of some lower ranking officials for negligence.

On Day 5, with the trail gone cold, daang sarado will start grumbling and asking why this story is still news and can’t we all just move on?

On Day 6, there could be a super typhoon, a powerful earthquake or another corruption scandal, and we will do what daang sarado wants: move on to the next big story.

And the terrorists will be free to strike again.

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President Aquino can take credit for the country’s economic performance – the investment grade, sustained high business confidence, improvements in competitiveness and transparency, the second highest growth rate in the region – although inclusive growth will have to wait until the next administration.

P-Noy attributes the achievements to his focus on good governance, but the credit is mainly personal. As in the presidency of his late mother, there is a perception that those close to him are making hay while the sun shines and using him to deodorize their misdeeds.

On the ground there is a sense not only of persistent corruption that makes a mockery of the straight path or tuwid na daan but also of weakness and inefficiency in government, particularly in agencies headed by the people closest to him – former security aides and Liberal Party mates.

From congestion at the airports and Port of Manila to the tanim-bala and traffic gridlocks to MRT glitches and pervasive red tape and the failure of investment grade to translate into solid investments, plus the continuing murders of judges, journalists and activists, there is a sense that the government is not in control.

But judging from P-Noy’s remarks on raging controversies it’s obvious that he believes what his aides tell him, that everything is actually well with the world and things are just being blown out of proportion by mass media and the political opposition.

So it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing any officials being replaced for the remainder of the daang sarado administration.

The public frustration can instead be vented during the 2016 vote. The reported surge of Davao City’s Dirty Harry Rodrigo Duterte in the latest survey plus the strong showing of the late dictator’s only son and namesake Ferdinand Marcos Jr. indicate Pinoys’ desire for a firm hand in government.

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This desire can increase if the terrorist threat posed by the Islamic State and its kindred spirits intensifies in the coming months and, worse, spreads to our country where the Abu Sayyaf already continues to sow terror in the south.

I know many Pinoys who were deeply impressed by the French government’s response to the terrorist attacks in Paris. And in a country where politicians like Duterte have many supporters, strongmen like Russian President Vladimir Putin and his recently “unfriended” Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan also have fans for the way they respond to challenges to their national security and sovereignty.

These days there’s no place on the planet that’s safe from the threat of extremist violence. Nations are gauged only by their capability to deal with the threat.

Because of France’s decisive action following the worst attack on its soil since World War II, people believe its reassurance that world leaders and delegates to the climate change conference, which opens in Paris next week, will be safe and free to enjoy the lovely City of Lights without seeing it locked down like a fortress and without visitors being a nuisance to residents.

In times of uncertainty, people tend to go for leaders who are seen to have a firm hand. Putin understands this only too well, along with the need to build national pride after a protracted period of turmoil. The Chinese leadership also keenly understands the dynamics of developing national pride.

Erdogan also understands such dynamics and refused to be humiliated by Russia in their proxy battle in Syria. The two presidents as of yesterday were standing firm in their positions of being the aggrieved when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet over what, by most accounts, was Syrian airspace. But the ground was reportedly occupied by Turkish-backed forces fighting the regime of Putin’s friend, Syria’s Bashar Assad, who for his part is fighting both rebels and the Islamic State.

With Putin calling the attack a “stab in the back” and “planned provocation” and with NATO siding with its treaty ally Turkey, global anti-terrorist cooperation is in a mess.

Navigating these turbulent waters is another challenge requiring strong, effective leadership, in all countries including the Philippines.