More questions than answers from politician Rody

I could only surmise the reason why President Rodrigo Duterte speaks as a politician and not as a statesman during his weekly televised Talk to the Nation.

The president struggles to keep appearances when everything around him seems imploding with allegations of corruption. He sees the popularity card as the only thing that could protect him from his enemies both perceived and real.

Governance based on popularity is tied to whatever is convenient at the moment, while governance based on statesmanship is tied to integrity. The presidency is the pinnacle of any politician’s ambition. There is nothing more a president could aspire for except to pursue his vision for his country and people.

The president, of course, is not expected to be in total control of every aspect of governance. Thus, the law empowers him to delegate some of his powers to people of his confidence. The doctrine of qualified political agency postulates that the heads of the various executive departments are the alter egos of the president.

While this does not mean that the president automatically assumes direct responsibility for illegal or irregular acts of any member of his Cabinet, it imposes upon him the duty to extract accountability from those who work under him.

On the purchase price of surgical masks and other personal protective equipment which the Commission on Audit has tagged to be apparently overpriced, President Duterte as usual quickly came to the defense of his men. He said it is not accurate to compare the prices at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic early last year and the prices during the time when the supply began to stabilize.

This invites more questions, however. Foremost among these; were there no other suppliers with track record of dealing with government who could give the latter the best price and contract terms? How had an obscure company like Pharmally, with only a mere capital of P625,000 been able to bag billions of COVID-19 contracts? Was it just a coincidence that the people behind the company have ties with people closely associated with Malacañang?

Duterte likewise compared the prices of personal protective equipment purchased by the previous administration, describing Aquino’s PPEs at ?3,500 per set as way more expensive than his administration’s PPEs at ?1,900 per set. The comparison is borderline malicious because the administration only has to look at the documents on hand to know why the 2015 purchases were not flagged by COA. The PPE sets of 2015 – composed of goggles, gloves, plastic shoe cover, coverall, surgical gown, N95 and surgical masks and head cap – were markedly different from the PPE sets of 2020.

“Spoken like a true troll,” said Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, describing the statement from presidential spokesman Harry Roque. “It is very malicious, and it is a futile attempt to divert attention away from this organized plunder," said Drilon.

President Duterte also took the occasion to attack Senator Richard Gordon, Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman. He accused Gordon of using the Senate investigation for his political ambition in 2022. Without presenting any proof, Duterte surmised that Gordon used Red Cross to fund his past electoral campaigns. Duterte wants COA to audit the Philippine Red Cross even if the latter is not a government agency, thus, outside of COA’s mandate.

All these show Duterte acting like a traditional politician even if he has already reached the pinnacle of power. The instinct of a politician is to immediately defend the people he appointed to run the government under him. The instinct of a statesman, on the other hand, is to vow to get to the bottom of things; to open the books and bring the accountability mechanisms of government to deal with logical and fair questions about graft and corruption.

A statesman welcomes accountability and opens his mind to the possibility that he made the wrong choice of people to appoint in office; that some of those who work under him may have been behaving illegally. A politician, in contrast, acts to manage the impact of a public backlash.

This particular quote has been attributed to 19th century American author and theologian James Freeman Clark: “A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation. A politician looks for the success of his party; a statesman for that of his country. The statesman wishes to steer, while the politician is satisfied to drift.”