Coup de 'car - 'non-negotiable'

When it comes to having “expensive” cars, President Noynoy Aquino seems to be cursed. After his short-lived joy ride in a Porsche 911 that caused him so much grief, now comes a potential source of discord in the form of a bullet proof and bomb proof limousine that has not even been bought yet.

How is it possible that the purchase of one bullet proof-bomb proof limousine for President Noynoy Aquino is attended with so much “production value” compared to previous suggestions of buying a new Presidential plane?

Forgive me for being suspicious but there is something suspicious about why 188 Congressmen had to make a public statement of support for the purchase of a presidential limo. At the end of the day, the government simply wants to buy a car and not an aircraft carrier!

Was it really necessary to issue House Resolution 2191 in order to justify the purchase of a “secured” vehicle, or is this all part of a publicity stunt to distract the public from something else? Maybe the President’s OA or overacting allies were trying to do the President a favor by “legitimizing” the pending purchase or perhaps the done deal. 

At about the same time people from Malacañang, including the President, started talking about threats and possible coup plots etc., then DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas let lose a mouthful on the matter, which I quote:

“There is nothing frivolous about the proposal. The safety and security of the President is non-negotiable. Security is an issue of anticipation, not hindsight or even knee jerk opposition.”  

If I am suspicious, please bear with me because early last year, some Malacañang insiders “reached out” to me to share their concern for the President’s safety whenever he would fly on the presidential “Fokker” plane. Not only did the plane have a history of unreliability and on-flight scares with members of media on board, the plane was simply too old for its purpose and the status of its intended passenger.

Having a minute knowledge of aircraft and its standard maintenance, I was totally in agreement and supported the plan to study and process the purchase of a new presidential plane. The interesting thing about all of that was the fact that even after writing about it twice if not three times, the people from Malacañang made no efforts to publicize the fact that they had actually initiated the process using a “surrogate” organization, namely the Department of Energy which initially took in presentations for a presidential chopper.

Considering the bigger price tag for a business jet or an executive plane, no one in Congress filed a House Resolution, no cabinet member went to town and adamantly spoke about why we need to buy a new presidential plane so that we won’t have a second presidential fatality after President Ramon Magsaysay, courtesy of a flying coffin.

So what exactly is going on?

If the President needs a secure vehicle, by all means let us buy him one. But why all the hype, the Overacting and the strong words?

Thanks to all this talk about coups and threats, one begins to wonder about the President’s popularity. If he’s so popular as the surveys claim him to be, why are the people around him acting out of character? It was only last year when our bachelor President drove around Metro Manila in a Porsche 911 in a carefree manner, depicting his sense of safety and reflecting his popularity.

If Secretary Roxas feels that critics are displaying a knee jerk opposition to the idea, I would allow him that. My knee jerk reaction was to ask why should we allow the government to buy a bullet proof-bomb proof limousine for a President who did not want to spend money on his first year of office. I mean no disrespect towards the President, but as ordinary people go, we would expect the same self sacrifice from him.

As far as the “non-negotiable” word is concerned, I confess that it sent alarm bells ringing. Could it also mean that the purchase of the presidential limo will not be subject to public bidding? Will it be a matter of choosing a model specific to a preferred brand? Who gets to test if it’s really bullet proof and especially bomb proof? For half a million dollars or more, we better get our money’s worth!

Of course the President’s safety or any Filipino’s for that matter is non-negotiable.

If there is a semblance of opposition to the idea, it might be wise for Secretary Mar and his P-Noy loving crowd to study how they went about “promoting” or defending the idea. People or the public are merely reacting to how the whole thing was handled.

They could have started with the story on how the Presidential limo drowned during typhoon Ondoy. I for one could not believe how reckless and irresponsible people at the Malacañang motorpool could be to allegedly allow such an expensive luxury vehicle to sink. How did it happen? Was anyone punished? What about the rest of the historical and expensive cars? Why didn’t the Presidential Communications Group contact motoring journalists for such a substantial story?

A follow up story would be about how the President’s drive against corruption has made him a moving target for his enemies. That alone would increase his popularity, then another story about the different Presidential limousines that Philippine Presidents used. The final story would then be on the painstaking process of actually getting one for P-Noy.

Yes, the President’s safety is non-negotiable. But all the hype and drama are unnecessary and amateur.

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