Blaming the media for PNoy's incompetence?

As Herman Melville wrote in his novel "Moby Dick" whenever Captain Ahab sees a sperm whale, he shouts, "Thar she blows!" One can also say this of Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino, III who, whenever he reads negative comments from the media, immediately blames the media for all the things that are wrong in his government. On the issue of the verbal tussle between DILG Sec. Mar Roxas and Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez he suddenly entered the fray and Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said, "The President believes that those engaging in a media campaign and putting the blame on the national government are performing a disservice to the people."

Secretary Coloma insists that Pres. Aquino and the national government took all necessary steps to prepare the people for the dangers posed by Super Typhoon Yolanda. He added, "The people will judge the fairness of statements being made, the objectivity of the parties concerned." Of course he didn't mention the name of Romualdez, but for our years being a journalist we are trained to read between the lines.

First of all, I don't think nor do I believe that there is an on-going media campaign coming from Mayor Alfred Romualdez because of this verbal tussle. I believe that the rebuilding of Tacloban is his priority. If at all this issue has resurfaced, it was due to that joint congressional meeting of the Oversight Committee on the 2010 National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act of 2010, where the Tacloban City mayor was invited. We learned that DILG Sec. Roxas was also invited, but he didn't show up. Perhaps Sec. Roxas knew that there would be another confrontation in that hearing and he'd be at the losing end.

So Mar Roxas called his own presscon to answer the accusations of  Mayor Romualdez. But now, his famous words by Sec. Roxas "You are a Romualdez and the President is an Aquino" has become viral in the social networking sites as he blurted this a few days after the typhoon struck. It has been brought back into the limelight because of this hearing. Of course Sec. Roxas denies saying this, but like we wrote yesterday, thanks to YouTube, we saw that indeed Mar Roxas said these words and no matter how he tries to use their Yellow Propaganda machinery, he has become damaged goods.

If there is anyone conducting a media campaign, it has al-ways been those Rasputins inside Malacañang Palace. When we read this latest accusation by Sec. Sonny Coloma, he was clearly trying to muddle the issue by insisting that there is a media campaign against Malacañang to blame the Aquino Regime for its incompetence in dealing with the rescue and relief operations. I submit that I'm one of those who blamed Pres. Aquino for the so many lapses that we even heard him say on CNN and BBC. So now am I performing a disservice to the Filipino people? Wow! How dare they put the blame on the media for the incompetence of the Aquino Regime!

It is crucial to know what the president and Sec. Mar Roxas did in Tacloban City on the first two days after the typhoon struck. What did National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council Chairman Voltaire Gazmin do right after the typhoon? Where were the 20 aircraft and 20 ships (supposedly ready in Cebu) that Pres. Aquino boasted the night before the typhoon? Why were these assets not deployed right away?

Perhaps the bigger question to ask is: How come the international relief operations from at least 30 nations arrived faster and deployed quicker than the Philippine government? Who then is at fault? To the mind of  Pres. PNoy Aquino, we in the media who reported all these are doing a disservice to our people. I think we ought to rephrase that we are doing a disservice to Pres. Aquino who has a great number of media in his payroll in order to prop up his sagging image!

As we all know, Pres. PNoy went back to Tacloban after his first, rather disastrous visit where he had a verbal tiff with that businessman whose business was looted. So he returned to Tacloban City for a photo opportunity giving relief goods to the Taclobanons. But ask yourself. Was Tacloban the only place devastated by this super typhoon? Pres. PNoy didn't care to go to Samar or northern Cebu where 200 barangays still have not been reached by the Province of Cebu.

Again, I'd like to point it out clearly that even today, the propaganda machinery inside Malacañang continues to churn out lies to prop up the president's image (and consequently, the image of Mar Roxas) as a man who cares for the Filipino people. But all this is propaganda BS! If Pres. Aquino cared, he would have gone to northern Cebu or Guiuan in Samar that were just as badly hit as Tacloban. So it's about time that the president blames himself and not the media! After all it's his incompetence, not ours!

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