ARE YOU PNOY?

Can we actually make this picture come true?

Nobody said it would be easy. No one should make it this hard, however.

I have observed the first 151 days of the presidency of President Noynoy Aquino. Although I clearly rooted for Gilbert Teodoro, I am content with the President's performance. He had some successes and failures, just as any other person will do in the office.

In fairness, the President has shown that he has indeed what it takes to be a great leader. For once, we finally have a leader who has the balls to enforce the laws as they are. "Walang wang-wang, walang counterflow?" Not counting the occasional mood swings of the skies and the poor quality of our roads, the traffic situation in the country has not only been more peaceful, but also more free-flowing. And despite the never-ending rise of prices of just about any item you can think of, the economic situation of the Philippines has looked less bleak; in fact, it is already out of any danger of recession. (I know Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo deserves most of the credit, but the seamless transition of power and therefore, the operations of the government earns a little praise as well).

And in case you have been missing it, PNoy has also shown quite the character that every leader should have. He leads by example. Heard him say the government will cut costs? Saw him on TV actually buying hotdogs on a stand in New York City? Quite the contrast from the infamous million-peso, Le Cirque dinner by GMA's delegation last year, isn't it? Oh, and do not forget his humility. Whenever the man speaks, you can really sense just that. Calm, friendly, no overdramatic (bleep). Assuming responsibility for a big mess, such as the mishandling of the Manila hostage crisis, that clearly your men (not PiNoy) mainly created takes guts, but he did it.

Despite these admirable traits and accomplishments, PNoy has had his share of failures. Just because the policemen and local officials are <em>mainly</em> responsible for the tragedy does not mean PiNoy is completely free of any responsibility for the incident. And speaking of his men, some of his choices for certain positions have been revealed to be questionable, either due to lack of experience or disputable backgrounds. Just look at Jesse Robredo, current Justice secretary and Rico Puno, his then-Undersecretary. Sec. Robredo admitted he and PNoy had a pre-arranged deal that he would only oversee the local government affairs as the President takes care of the local enforcement agencies. Now, if you know you cannot handle the full responsibilities of a position you are being offered, even if help from your boss is assured, you should not accept it. This is not a school government, where you can use your friendships, connections, and popularity to assume control and do your duties. This is the big league, where mandate-wise you are given the task of fully handling one important aspect of your country and take care of it. Defy it in any way, and you are technically a criminal and obviously, a poser. Now that we mentioned posers, the ex-Usec. Puno admitted that he, as well as other officials, have no experience handling hostage situations. Are you kidding? Did PNoy simply forgot to think of extreme situations like this when considering "highly-competitive" people for positions? Or is it a matter of friends, buddies, and pals?

I can mention other achievements and disappointments in the President's first 151 days in office, but this is only part of the whole point of this article. As you may have seen, being the President is easily the toughest job any one can ever have. Every word you say, every move you make, every single thing you do will be judged. So the criticisms will obviously be there. And right now, I think most of the criticism PNoy has received is unfair. People will say "Wala namang nangyayari sa amin, eh", "May nagbago ba?", "Hindi dapat namin siya binoto", etcetera, etcetera. First of all, as much as I preferred Gibo over PNoy, the guy has only been in office for less than 6 months. Even though the transition period is over, the common Filipino (like me) have to understand that the problems the Philippines has (poverty, corruption, inflation) are very, very bad; so bad, they require surefire, long-term solutions, not short-term and immediate relief. These problems have been prevalent in our country since forever, but it is quite obvious that the previous Presidents have either ignored them, failed to solve them, or made it worse.

The attacks are not only coming from the outside, but also within the President's circle of allies. The groups that supported PNoy are now suddenly rallying on the streets, hypocritically demanding to have a word with the President just because of their impatience. The same voters who wore yellow and raised their hands in an L-shaped manner are now beginning to jump out of the bandwagon and playing the blame game. Well, if these people truly believed in the President's advocacies, supported his agenda, and admired his character, unless something truly horrible happens, they must show support for him through the good times and the bad. Oh, what am I talking about? This is Philippine politics. It's every man for himself.

With this kind of culture in the Philippines, no wonder we are not making any significant progress. Not helping is the fact that the elected President only gets a plurality, not the majority of votes, which indicates that only a minority of the entire nation wholeheartedly supports the eventual head of state. And among these voters, a lot of them are swayed by family name, campaign color, gimmick, or celebrity endorsements. Theoretically, we can even say that only around 20% of the country's voters fully supports the President. By making on-the-fly choices instead of well-thought-out decisions, disagreements will always become widespread, and the end result? We all lose the game.     

What I'm trying to say is, give PNoy a chance. He is just a human being, not a God who can do everything at once if He wants to. He makes mistakes. He misjudges. We need to support him. Because no matter how corrupted, demented, or evil a President or any high-ranking government official is, you have to believe that they are trying to give us food, shelter, jobs, and any other relief we can think of to make our lives less miserable. These ladies and gentlemen at least know that they need to save themselves some face because let's face it, they couldn't possibly think we are that dumb and ignorant to not notice their failures, could they? This is why we should be assured that they will give their good, if not best shots to destroy all the roadblocks halting our nation's road to prosperity. 

The path to progress is not just a one-way street, however. We have to do our part to contribute to the betterment of our society. Work hard, harder. Always give it your best shot. Do not just randomly blurt out criticisms just to sound cool. With freedom of speech comes a big repsonsiblity. Use it wisely.

As PNoy said, "Tayo na sa tuwid na daan". Let's not make that road go anywhere.