Mr. President, Something In You Has To Die
By: Reyn Barnido
(This is a repost of Reyn Barnido’s hot, hot article on FB. He is Reyna Elena’s newest FB friend.)
This is not anymore about failing to handle the hostage-taking as much as this is about fulfilling the promises of your oath-taking. This is not just about nine people losing their lives, but ninety million citizens losing their national pride. This is not about a singular madman shooting bullets up and down; this is about an orgy of fools shooting lies left and right. This is not anymore about the negotiators’ inefficiency to convince a police officer to surrender, but the government’s incapacity to comfort a nation. This is not about the Police; this is about the Presidency.
I have visions of you staring at your breakfast table, unmindful for the first time of the tempting plate of sizzling chicharon and frozen bottle of Coke regular, and asking yourself, “Where did I go wrong?” as you blow heart-shaped smokes in the air. That is wishful thinking I know. Chances are you chomp on the chicharon with gusto as you invent new excuses in your mind.
Mr. President, we did not switch from cheerleaders to cynics because of a singular incident caused by a madman. Our process was a metamorphosis catalyzed by a series of excuses and inconsistencies over the past two months. They don’t paint you as a man in control; rather they portray a group of helpless officials in utter disarray like rats scrambling from the basement of a burning building. You are the hub of a bunch of incompetent fools whose idea of honesty is withholding the truth until someone slips and whose interpretation of transparency is to let the media and the public wrestle the facts from their mouths like fishes dangling from hooks.
This is not a flaw in the character of your administration; this inefficiency has become your defining trait.
We don’t deserve this, Sir. This is not the covenant we entered into during your oath-taking. Now, since you don’t have the time to reflect, I will help you articulate some of the lessons that you should learn about your administration. Understand that I am taking your word when you said that we are your bosses. So, pay attention:
Your Dream Team of a cabinet is really just that – they excel in dreaming. You craft your government strategy based on high-brow vision statements which your team built like castles in the sand. But there never was a concrete strategy to transform the nation. From visions you get inspiration, but only from well-crafted strategy will you get confidence and courage to govern. Inspiration melts in the face of a crisis situation. Rebuild you team, for there never was a team to begin with.
I grew up in the shadows of the Abads, Soliman, Deles – the patriarch and matriarchs of your administration. From them I learned everything alternative when I was a student leader: alternative education, alternative lifestyle, alternative politics, alternative Christmas, alternative governance. Do not take their analysis of society at face value for theirs is a construct designed to fuel a protest movement, not manage a large bureaucracy. Do your own analysis and dialogue this with those prescribed by your consultants and mentors.
Having a BFF for an Executive Secretary only helps you in trusting the man’s loyalty, it doesn’t mean he can be trusted with the deliverables. You talked about the importance of training our police force and yet you brought in an inexperienced and untrained man to become the Little President? The Cabinet, Sir, as my friend Trixie once said, is not a training ground. I have no problem if women and wine are his coping mechanisms; but to be seen in public doing that while people are hurting reminds us of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning.
Your Communications Team was impressive when you were still running for the position. They were excellent in writing fiction; communicating the truth is a different discipline altogether. And they might not be the right men for the task, considering that they don’t even communicate among themselves. And Sir, this is not just about the Black Monday; they have been sending apologies since Day One. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
Jesse Robredo, God bless his soul, is a good man. He was an excellent Mayor. But his glaring ineptitude was exposed during these last few days. He never had any experience nor exposure on a national level, Sir. If you find his contribution indispensable, just create a new office, like Presidential Assistant for Municipal Affairs or something.
Come out from the protective shell, Mr. President. Do not be afraid to be caught in the line of fire for it is the sacred space where your salvation can happen.
I hope you realize that DEATH is a key element in your life journey as a man and as a leader. A year ago, the death of your mother fuelled a national movement that catapulted you from being Kris’ brother to a president. A year later, the death of nine victims fuelled a nationwide disgust that can bring you down from the pedestal to a pigsty where years of eating chicharon will be avenged.
Do not be afraid, for something in you has to die so that the real Noynoy will emerge better and wiser.
Embrace the Black Monday as your Good Friday Mr. President. Do not resist the crucifixion for as our faith tells us it is the only way to a new life. Yours, and ours.
Believe it or not, your cheerers may have become cynics, but they are still your companions in this journey. I, for one, will not abandon you Mr. President.
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reynz is one Uragon and a Filipino-American, has many years of public accounting & auditing, broadcast investments, housing tax credits and equity investments as his background. Based in the US, he maintains his personal and humor blog at reyna elena dot com. A graduate of Aquinas U, he went to GWU and Temple U in the United States.
Bravo. When will I see this in Time Magazine?
Hindi kasalanan ng presidente kung may isang ulol na pulis na naghurumintado. Daghan ka buang ang pumapatay sa ibang bansa (tulad sa nangyari sa Tianamen or sa Columbine) pero hindi naman ito mabibintang sa mga pangulo ng kanilang tao.
So lets give our president a break. Stop with the unfair criticism. Are you becoming an Anti-Pinoy? Stop reading Benign0′s rants of self hatred. Negativity will do you no good. We should focus on the future and build a better Philippines.
hindi nga kasalanan nang presidente, pero nasaan ang leadership niya noong kalagitnaan nang hostage crisis? wala! siya ang lider kaya papaano magiging unfair and criticism sa presidente???
give the president a break? no way! no such thing as an ojt-president, he has to get the job done right the first time. the whole nation is at stake for crying out loud.
negativity will do you no good? its by pointing out the negative and by speaking up as a citizen of this country we all so love that makes it better. if we just keep quiet and sit back, relax give the president a break, well then, we are not exercising our right as citizens to voice out what we obviously see is so negative.
focus on the future and build a better Philippines.. yes of course, by pointing out what we see is not right and is negative in order to make it better.
OMG with the mandate of 15 million votes, the president himself said “kayo ang boss ko”… so when i see negative, dont tell me to shut up… so if we are the president’s boss, im gonna write him a memo every fvckin day if i have to until i see improvement.
being anti-filipino? maybe you are the one being anti filipino by turning a blind eye on matters that may bring this whole country down.
Binasa mo ba ung article?
Pakibasa yung unang paragraph.
Oh, ayan. Baka kasi namamalikmata ka:
“This is not anymore about failing to handle the hostage-taking as much as this is about fulfilling the promises of your oath-taking. This is not just about nine people losing their lives, but ninety million citizens losing their national pride. This is not about a singular madman shooting bullets up and down; this is about an orgy of fools shooting lies left and right. This is not anymore about the negotiators’ inefficiency to convince a police officer to surrender, but the government’s incapacity to comfort a nation. This is not about the Police; this is about the Presidency.”
Keep the faith. But keep your eyes open. No room for mistakes.
Nice post!
basta ako, wala na kong disapointment sa presidente. know why, cause im not expecting anything from him. Although I would greatly appreciate kung merong something na maganda na magagawa nya.
Simula nung sya na ang umupo, ayoko ng makarinig ng poilitical news, naIIMBYERNA LANG AKO. At naawa ako sa mga taong bumoto sa kanya na ngayon ay isa-isa nang nag-eexpress ng disapointment nila. Sa ilang buwan palang nyang pagkaupo ang dami ng disapointment. Simula nung sya na yong umupo, lalo na kong nawalan ng pag-asa.
Wala lang, magalit ang gustong magalit, nilabas nyo lahat ng opinyon nyo kung gano nyo sya kagusto at tinanggap ko yun, siguro walang masama sa paglabas ko ng opinyon ko
Noynoy’s presidency
Still in its infancy
The glaring idiocy
To me…is transparency
[...] The critics are not entirely inept. Their understanding maybe flawed, but the spirit of their complaint has merit. [...]
“Off-label” use a boon to pain-and-itch product
First Posted on September 5, 2010
The foregoing was copy-pasted from the Philippine fake News Agency at wwwdotpfnanewsdotnet.
Mukhang mabibigo na naman ang mga pinoy at mawawalan na naman ng pagasa dahil sa mga kapalpakang ipipakita ng mga namumuno.Ang laki ng paniniwala ko noong panahon ng eleksyon na si Noynoy lang talaga ang makapagpapago ng ng maruming sistemang umiiral,pero ngayon matapos kong makita ang mga taong nakapaligid sa kanya mukhang wala rin siyang pinag-iba sa mga puny…tang mga pulitiko na nagpasasa lng sa katungkulan.Sabi nya noong kampanya competence over political accomodation,bakit puro mga kaibigan ang mga nakapaligid sa kanya at nasa mga posisyon? Akala ko ba maatuwid na landas?nasaan ang pagbabago kung karamihan sa mga nakaupo ay mga kaibigan o mga pinagkakautangan ng loob? Sana hindi pa huli ang lahat Mr President,time is running out,you need to do something before you lost the trust of the thousands of volunteers who supported you during the last election.
kaya important ang my experience, my leadership at my napatunayan..
si PNoy, sa 12yrs bilang congressman at senador…walang napatunayan at walang nagawa na significant.. don’t expect na he’ll transform into an excellent leader overnight. sigurado yan, my pagkakamali along the way. OK lang sana yun kung nag-OJT sya sa isang company..pero bilang president at this critical time..dapat eh very little room for error. sobrang lalim na ng problema ng Pinas..
all through his 56 yrs of existence, kontento sya na nasa sidelines lamang..just going with the flow..
kung corruption ang kay GMA, incompetence and inefficiency will be PNoy’s downfall..
sana magising na talaga tayo come 2016..
dun na tayo sa subok na..my napatunayan.
2 months pa lang..pero wala pa akong narinig na concrete plans from the government on how to tackle poverty, generate jobs, etc.. ano na nangyayari sa truth commission? ano yung toll fee increase?
parang nakikita ko sa government na to eh excuses at incompetence..
its gonna be a long 6 years.. (kung hindi mapalitan si PNoy ni Binay).
I have held my tongue for a long time because first I did not want to add more to the negative atmosphere permeating the media about Phil. and second I wanted to think more clearly about Pnoy’s govt. for the last two months. He was off to a good start with some practical and good ideas especially about going after smugglers and tax cheats and even the getting rid of wangwang. Then trouble started rearing its ugly head when we heard of factionalism in his camp and how he resorted to appease each group by naming representatives from each group and even jobsharing. Imagine Pnoy having three spokesmen!!! Then Aug. 23 happened and everything came home to roost- from miscommunication to inept handling of this crisis because of having Puno who has no qualifications running the show to the cops who were clearly unprepared to handle this kind of situation the to all the blaming after. Suddenly I am taking a second look at Pnoy. He still comes across to me as sincere in wanting to change the Phil for the better and we have to recognize that he did inherit a mess of a govt. However, he has to start choosing his aides wisely and also stop this power and jobsharing model. It will not work since there is a risk of miscommunication and tendency for each party to promote himself instead of working together as a team. If what you mean to say when you say he has to die is that he should take chances and make clear decisions with no prevarications then I am all for it. We really want him to succeed because 2016 is still 6 years away and much can be done to improve the lives of Filipinos within these six years.
[...] I don’t have to explain why people starts to link on an article, right? It was this article: Mr. President, Something In You Has To Die. This morning, I noticed a link response posted on his original note. I immediately sent an email to [...]
[...] day to you sir. Note: This all started when Reyn Barnido wrote this original article: Mr. President, Something In You Has To Die, earning a response from President Noynoy Aquino. Viewed 1 time by 1 viewer Uy! Ka barrio, [...]
This is what I hate so much about filipinos. All they do is highlight the bad things and leave out the good ones. It’s very ironic and sad to see that Noynoy’s people are not even supporting him. You filipinos really seem to hunger for change yet look at yourselves, you’re attacking your own kind. Stop being pessimists, be a better citizen! Noynoy is just one person, and he cannot do it alone!
Cheers.
It’s because there are no good things to highlight about NoyNoy! That’s why!
marining salamat mr. barnido, you have spoken the minds ng mga takot magsalita o piniling manahimik dahil patuloy na ayaw tanggapin na nagkammali sa pagpili kay Pnoy. We have a president na produkto ng abs-cbn, sws -pulse asia at ng yellow evil society. Isang presidente na ang akala sa pamumuno sa Pilipinas ay OJT” . Kawawa tayo, 6 years tayong may lider na di alam gawin ang simpling ” Leadership 101″. Of course kahit naman noong nasa kongreso ant senado si noy “dekorasyon at ang tanging mayroon ay ang pangalang “aquino”…. sayang sayang …
HUWAG MO AKONG SISIHIN – HINDI KO SIYA IBINOTO
This should wake up P-Noy who is said by many as tutulog-tulog.
Reyn is utmostly correct in what he said here. P-Noy should receive this as constructive, not otherwise, otherwise Reyn would have not labored to do this.
Yes, P-Noy has barely passed his first 100 days as president whom we voted. The bus hostage-taking fiasco was his first test. He did a dismal performance of its intervention. We believe, that since he is bilib-na-bilib with his mentor Fred Lim, he just let him be the crisis manager to do his “Dirty Harry (kuno)” thing. He did not bother to know, as he appeared to be, that Lim was a main cause of the hostage-taker’s dismissal from the PNP, thus would be angry in dealing with him. What happened? “Posasan ninyo iyan! Isima ninyo iyan! Dalhin sa Tondo iyan!” were what he ordered the police re hostage-taker’s brother, then he left for Emerald Restaurant because, as he arrogantly said, he was already very hungry. Leaving the scene was read of him detaching himself physically from the “salvaging” of the hostage-taker’s brother. Will Lim’s head roll as the main culprit of the debacle? We wait and see.