Suprises
This impatient one may owe President Benigno Aquino III an apology for bitching about the lack of specifics in his statements leading to today’s inaugural.
If anything, a load of (sort of) details in the latter part of his inaugural address prevented it from reaching true heights of greatness. I’ll gloss over that part because that’s something he’ll address more in depth at his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Even with a busted teleprompter that forced him to present just a single angle to the television audience, the rolling, lilting cadence of the ‘inspirational’ part of Mr. Aquino’s speech gave a glimpse of what he can harness from a citizenry enthralled by its power to initiate change.
From the first word, Mr. Aquino stressed his priorities: His people first before anything else, national interest first before international obligations.
I don’t know how all those diplomats took that. It’s exactly what I wanted to hear.
Now I’m a bit more confident that he won’t trash his campaign promise to a) review the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States to provide parity in the treatment of troops and ensure that “visiting” doesn’t become a permanent state of affairs and b) review that Jepepa deal (which his running mate, Mar Roxas, voted for).
‘Abnormal times’
I felt some discomfort when this son of democracy icons referred to the ultimate sacrifice (as his martyred father, Nonoy, offered to the nation.)
“Ilalaan ko ang aking buhay para siguraduhin na ang ating demokrasya ay kapaki-pakinabang sa bawat isa. Namuhunan na po kami ng dugo at handa kong gawin ito kung muling kinakailangan.” (I will dedicate my life to making our democracy reach its fullest potential: that of ensuring equality for all. My family has sacrificed much and I am willing to do this again if necessary.)
How much this portion has to do with the shenanigans of Bert Gonzales is anybody’s guess. Yesterday, he mentioned “abnormal times” to explain his choice of retired general Voltaire Gazmin for the defense portfolio.
I have good news for Mr. Aquino. Did you feel the air as that woman left for her benighted province? Do well by your people, Sir, stick to your campaign pledges and, believe me, we’ll string up Bert if need be.
One of you
There are two tests of greatness for inaugural speeches. One, is the capacity to reach out and tug hearts in the here and now. Second, is the capacity to ripen well into the next decades, half-century or centuries.
There’s no knowing how that speech will read after 2016. It will all depend on his accomplishments. But Mr. Aquino wasted no time climbing down from his class origin to identify with the masses.
“Tanyag man ang aking mga magulang at ang kanilang mga nagawa, alam ko rin ang problema ng ordinaryong mamamayan. Alam nating lahat ang pakiramdam na magkaroon ng pamahalaang bulag at bingi. Alam natin ang pakiramdam na mapagkaitan ng hustisya, na mabalewala ng mga taong pinagkatiwalaan at inatasan nating maging ating tagapagtanggol.”
(Although I was born to famous parents, I know and feel the problems of ordinary citizens. We all know what it is like to have a government that plays deaf and dumb. We know what it is like to be denied justice, to be ignored by those in whom we placed our trust and tasked to become our advocates.)
He did not take to dalisay na Pilipino. He used colloquial Tagalog and then raised the familiar to exceptional by being that rare being – a President who, before admonishing and hectoring, first acts as vehicle for the masses’ long-term frustrations.
The images were immediate and graphic: “Kayo ba ay minsan ring nalimutan ng pamahalaang inyong iniluklok sa puwesto? … Kayo ba ay nagtiis na sa trapiko para lamang masingitan ng isang naghahari-hariang de-wangwang sa kalsada?”
(Have you ever been ignored by the very government you helped put in power? … Have you had to endure being rudely shoved aside by the siren-blaring escorts of those who love to display their position and power over you?)
He followed each line with the inclusive “ako rin” (I have, too).
Empowered citizenry
The wang-wang line was an instant hit. Fewer things ram home the reality of inequities in this country than a convoy — sirens screaming — bearing down on pedestrians and motorists alike.
By law, only the President, the Vice President, the Senate President, the Speaker and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are entitled to police escorts (with or without sirens). But many congressmen and senators parade around like royalty, as do local government officials from Luzon to Mindanao, local tycoons – and syndicate leaders.
On Facebook, people picked it up. What to do when next you see an abusive official with a siren?
This is where digital technology will work for Mr. Aquino and the people, and against insufferable officials.
Journalist Mike Cohen suggests the return of “Hoy, Gising” the old hit portion of the news, similar to a shame campaign, that captured shenanigans in high and low places.
Technology will actually lessen the cost of keeping tabs on official wrongdoings.
But citizen journalism need not only be about anomalies. Mr. Aquino himself showed another way by which to institutionalize good governance. He went out of his way to stress that most civil servants are honest and hard working.
That wasn’t just placating the bureaucracy (which hated Mrs. Arroyo anyway). It also underscored one way by which civil society groups, concerned government employees and ordinary citizens could showcase best practices.
His predecessor liked to divide and rule, often on the basis of division of spoils. While there are signs of that in the early days of Mr. Aquino’s administration, his strong statements augur well for a strengthening of the volunteerism that underpinned his campaign (although journalists feel he hasn’t been totally open about the parties that provided him with big money).
Action!
Words are cheap, however, in the Philippines, where politics has always tended to be flamboyant. The best news was not his speech but the actions that followed the first Cabinet meeting under the Aquino administration.
There were also smaller gestures – as New York Times correspondent Carlos Conde (sometimes a harsh critic of Mr. Aquino) noted, he saw Malacanang staff usher in officials of the militant Kilusang Mambubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). Condo, however, notes that Mr. Aquino was ominously silent on the issue of agrarian reform and that is a real weakness of the President.
Edwin Lacierda, spokesman of Mr. Aquino, announced a forthcoming executive order fleshing out the constitutional guarantee on the people’s right to information.
This is a 180-degree change from the secretive, furtive atmosphere that surrounded Mrs. Arroyo, who used “executive privilege” – a gag on officials of the executive branch – to mask corrupt practices. (Thanks for the correction, Ed Maranan!)
The EO was suggested by, among others, UP College of Law Dean Marvic Leonen, after the last Congress headed by Prospero Nograles deliberately stalled the last phase before the Right to Information bill could pass into law.
A memorandum by Executive Secretary Pacquito “Jojo” Ochoa Jr. also sent a strong message without the dramatics that alienated observers in the run-up to the inaugural. The memorandum declared all positions occupied by non-civil service protected officials as immediately vacant – and then gave an army of low profile but capable civil servants the chance to shine by appointing the highest to OIC ranks.
That wasn’t too surprising as among the new members of Mr. Aquino’s Cabinet are career officials (Environment and Natural Resources, Labor and Employement).
Due process
A big theme of Mr. Aquino’s is bringing to justice those who have spat on and desecrated their duties to the people. Saying he could forgive personal slights, the President stressed that he had no right to dismiss the people’s call for justice. “There can be no reconciliation without justice,” he said, to thunderous applause.
Justice, of course, does not only involve corruption under Mrs. Arroyo (there seems little chance of new charges being filed against the victorious Marcos family, as Mr. Aquino himself admits). Justice also involves punishing the killers – including the masterminds – in the murders of more than a hundred journalists and more than a thousand activists under Mrs. Arroyo’s regime.
The Aquino hacienda, Luisita, also has its own bloody tale of injustice, not to mention a legal battle over sugar workers’ right to their rightful share of the land.
Even with the Truth Commission, whose role has yet to be clarified, there is enough on the plate of the well-liked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. Crisply answering legal questions, de Lima stressed that there would be no legal shortcuts, no short-circuiting of the law in chasing after past malefactors.
Crackdown on tax cheats
Mr. Aquino’s priorities were clarified further by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. While the national deficit, expected to reach record levels this year, is a major problem, solving it was not the number one task, he clarified. Not at the expense of social justice programs, including education and jobs creation (emergency work was the term used by the President).
The President has announced his government would borrow rather than slash social services (he promises the fulfillment of a universal health insurance).
Purisima said the role of Budget Secretary Florencia Abad was to prescribe ways of spending “judiciously.” Mr. Aquino, who is known for his simple lifestyle, has pledged to cut down on unnecessary foreign trips and other frivolous expenses.
His finance chief said a crackdown on tax cheats and the cleansing of revenue-collection agencies would help plug the deficit. Purisima sent notice to wealthy professionals (lawyers, doctors, consultants) who make up only 10 percent of all personal income taxes collected.
That is going to make some of his middle class supporters uncomfortable. But as the President himself stressed, he expected his own people to provide the right example.
“Walang lamangan, walang padrino at walang pagnanakaw. Walang wang-wang, walang counterflow, walang tong. Panahon na upang tayo ay muling magkawanggawa.”
(No more influence-peddling, no more patronage politics, no more stealing. No more sirens, no more shortcuts, no more bribes. It is time for us to work together once more.)
Addressing infighting among his supporters, Mr. Aquino chose to be acerbic as a friend can be. (To those among you who are still undecided about sharing the common burden I have only one question: Are you going to quit now that we have won?)
By the very nature of his reformist, unwieldy coalition, grumblings will always be expected. Mr. Aquino has given his people license to be critical about his government. They will be, starting with a father and daughter team he has appointed to very sensitive positions.
Even with questions in their minds, they can take hope in one thing: That with so much caterwauling from some of his kin over one major position, the President stuck to his guns. And that’s a good enough start. But there’s a long ways to go.
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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.
[...] and how it is a work truly our own. So too did Inday Varona over at Barrio Siete jotted down her thoughts about the inaugural recognizing there is a long way to go. Similarly, The Warrior Lawyer penned, Great Expectations and he wrote: “it was raining hard [...]