Pork scam may define P-Noy watch

P-Noy’s popularity here and abroad rests on just one thing: his honesty and his Daang Matuwid. Indeed, the rosy foreign commentary about our country hinges on the perceived clean governance environment associated with P-Noy. It’s still all perception but good enough to get us noticed by economic and political analysts.

Unfortunately, the only good thing about the P-Noy watch is in danger of being lost. I am sure those Pinoys who told SWS and Pulse Asia about their overwhelming trust of P-Noy were talking of their hopes and dreams. That’s because that is all there is. Nothing much more has happened by way of new infrastructure or revolutionary program to correct centuries of social injustice and an end to the economy’s domination by the insatiably greedy elite.

P-Noy can lose his massive political capital not because he risked it for something that shows heroic leadership to do something absolutely right but unpopular. P-Noy will lose everything because he failed to step up and punish pork plunderers when it was called for.

That pork barrel scandal and P-Noy’s nonchalance over it may prove the crucial turning point. Even his staunch supporters among reform minded citizens are starting to reconsider him. If he continues to act as if pork is all part of how to govern this country, the sound and fury of his presidency will end in a whimper.

 When I posted on my Facebook wall a GMA7 news tweet that “Budget Sec. Butch Abad says solons spend their pork barrel ‘prudently,’ will stay in the 2014 proposed national budget,” my FB friends commented that it was an incredulous statement. Someone suggested that the once cause-oriented Butch Abad is now lost to the pigsty we otherwise call the government of this republic.

On e-groups as well as on other social media, the overwhelming feeling is one of helplessness and anger that P-Noy had not been as resolute in prosecuting this scam as he was with Renato Corona. Yet, this scam makes the former Chief Justice seem like a penny-ante operator, assuming a proper court validates everything P-Noy has thrown at him.

I am afraid P-Noy is underestimating the anger of his principled supporters by seeming to accept pork as an accepted (and acceptable?) way of life. I realize he still has to govern and I suppose, the politicians in his Liberal Party have convinced him that he cannot govern unless he has pork to throw at the greedy congressmen and senators whose cooperation he needs.

If that is the case, that makes P-Noy nothing more than the ordinary political animal that many of our past presidents have been. That means he is unwilling to use his tremendous moral leadership to start the long and arduous task of cleaning up our political system. That’s a pity.

The sense of desperation arises… if P-Noy cannot initiate reform, this country is hopeless. The work demands a lot of credibility on one’s moral leadership and personal integrity. It is difficult to see anyone in public office today that can do it.

Can Jojo Binay do it after P-Noy? Can Frank Drilon do it? It is ridiculous to expect Bongbong Marcos to do it, he of the family that still denies wrongdoing during the martial law years. Maybe Grace Poe can do it but she is still very much untested.

There are still three more years we can use productively to reform the nation and its political system. P-Noy no longer has the time to deliver key infrastructure, thanks to DOTC incompetence. If he loses his moral leadership because he failed to do something about the pork mess, he ends with six years of mostly nothing.

Many of us supported P-Noy not because we thought he was the most capable of the candidates in 2010. Manny Villar has better management experience and political savvy. Gibo Teodoro was more intellectually prepared to make the decisions demanded of the Presidency.

We supported P-Noy because we thought we needed to cleanse our political system first and P-Noy seemed to be the least interested in a personal agenda. What we failed to factor is how the professional politicians in the Liberal Party could hijack our hopes and dreams for reform, something that seems to be happening now.

Elizabeth Angsioco, one of the more thoughtful friends I have on Facebook summed it up in a rather angry column last week. “I am irate that President Noynoy Aquino seemingly does not comprehend how enraged the people are becoming. It angers me more that he does not seem much troubled by the problem and has not spoken strongly about this kind of corruption.

“Most Filipinos trust the President in the hope better governance translated into their having better lives. The President should not wait for the people’s hope to be extinguished…

“And if he does not see it yet, this has started to happen because of this pork scandal. People have been waiting for the leader to again prove his mettle in going after corrupt officials and their cohorts.

“We want very much for him to say, “Saan po kayo kumukuha ng kapal ng mukha?” to those who siphon people’s money to finance their avarice, and then throw them in jail. Instead, for weeks there was a deafening near-silence. There were no strong presidential words.”

Elizabeth is right. In a way, this pork barrel scam may prove to be like the murder of P-Noy’s own father, Ninoy. It is disgusting enough to have the potential to spark enough anger to force change. P-Noy’s lack of enthusiasm to go after the scammers alienates supporters and will lead P-Noy skeptics to gleefully say they have been proven right.

P-Noy must be seen to be seriously interested in getting into the bottom of it all… to follow the money trail until all those involved, political friends or foes, are dealt with by our laws. The investigation by the DOJ and the NBI is fine but both agencies may lack the credibility and the courage to go after powerful politicians.

The President may need to form an independent body composed of people with unquestioned integrity to impartially investigate and ensure that justice to the Filipino people is served. If the perpetrators get away with it under the regime of Daang Matuwid, where do we go next?

We all know this pork barrel business is how politics goes in this country. But it doesn’t mean we are not shocked specially if the magnitude of the loot is already in the billions of pesos. If P-Noy is not scandalized by it, which explains his silence, then he may not have been the P-Noy we thought he was. It is the general feeling that unless P-Noy shows big interest in prosecuting the culprits in this pork scam, nothing will happen.

Yes indeed, this pork barrel scam may define the P-Noy presidency. History may remember his watch as the time when public officials were raiding the National Treasury in the tens of billions of pesos and the President considered it as all in a day’s work.

Good news, at last

DOTC Sec. Jun Abaya texted me the other day confirming that finally, Takenaka has signed the agreement to finish the NAIA Terminal 3. Takenaka is the Japanese contractor hired by Piatco to construct the terminal and provide over all supervision in setting up all the relevant facilities.

Sec. Jun said they signed last Aug. 8, ending over three years of negotiations and waiting on the part of DOTC. “We should issue notice to proceed any time soon,” Sec. Jun texted me.

I asked the Secretary if the recent Court of Appeals ruling will affect the development and he said he doesn’t think it will have an impact on the scheduled completion of the terminal in one year. If at all, I think the CA ruling paves the way for a conclusion of the long running dispute between the government and Piatco.

Sec. Jun said he has yet to get a copy of the ruling but they are scheduling a meeting with the Solicitor General to determine next steps to take. Government or Piatco can appeal to the Supreme Court but maybe the best route for all is to accept the CA ruling so we can all move on.

Elderly wisdom from Gilbert J.

An old man was asked, “At your ripe age, what do you prefer to get – Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s?”

The wise one answered, “Definitely Parkinson’s. Better to spill half an ounce of Johnny Walker, than to forget where you keep the bottle!!”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco