Too many travels, too many troubles

The president, as head of state and head of government, has the right and the unquestionable prerogative to travel anywhere anytime. No law limits his options. But there’s such a thing as a leader's sense of balance of priorities and peoples' expectation for their leader's wisdom in balancing between the need for strong foreign relations on the one hand, and the imperative of putting our own house in order first, on the other.

President BBM's presidency is on the trajectory towards becoming the one with the most number of foreign travels, among the 17 Philippine presidents, exceeding his own domestic visits of troubled provinces and beleaguered cities. Less than seven months in office with already nine foreign trips, or an average of more than one trip per month is unprecedented. He’s also the most travelled head of state in ASEAN. His number of trips exceed those of presidents Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin within the same timeframe. The other ASEAN presidents and prime ministers are focusing on domestic priorities first.

Our president considers foreign investments as top priority. He leaves food security to underlings, even if he’s the acting secretary of Agriculture. There’s an impending food crisis and the country cannot even manage the supply of and demand for onions, eggs, meat, fish, and rice. We don’t even have stability in salt and sugar. We need to improve the operations of our airports. Our education system is a disaster, with more than 70% of school children not being able to read and write. There is alleged corruption in the purchase of laptops. The generals in the armed forces and the police have low morale due to unclear and unpredictable chains of succession, as well as the admitted drug-infected leadership of the national police.

There are serious domestic problems that need immediate attention. When your roof is leaking at home, as head of the family, should you really be constantly out travelling somewhere? I'm not judging, just asking. While our chief executive is out hobnobbing with the big boys leading the superpowers, our West Philippine Sea is being besieged by Chinese navy bullies who keep on driving away our fisherfolks merely fishing in our exclusive economic zones. Our country isn’t in good shape, really. The much-heralded and so-called 7.6% economic growth is not benefitting the poorest of the poor. Only the tycoons and taipans get the windfalls. That is why no less than 150 elite players in the business world keep on tailing him in Japan, as they did in Europe and the US.

This president doesn’t seem to prefer visiting places in the country. He didn’t even attend the Sinulog in the province that supposedly gave him an overwhelming mandate. Well, that is his prerogative and his people can easily justify that with the so-called drive for more investments as the usual mantra. It’s easy for drumbeaters and apologists to create a spin of a president trying to sell the Philippine brand as the emerging investment hub in Asia. They are quite good at those PR spins around the so-called drive for more trade and better protection of our troubled migrant workers. Well, now that migrant workers come to mind, this government should show a better strategy than visiting dead domestic helpers and promising scholarships to the children of the deceased.

PBBM already visited Singapore twice, and went to Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Belgium, Switzerland, USA, China, and now Japan. Well, he promised to have fewer foreign trips in 2023, but should we believe in promises? The fact is that after seven months in the presidency, he has not visited the premier provinces of Cebu, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Misamis Oriental, any of the three Zamboangas and any of the five Davao provinces. He might not like Bicol but he has not even visited the big provinces of Pangasinan, Bulacan, Isabela, and Pampanga. Well, he might have gone there without us knowing.

The point is the peoples' perception is that this president loves to travel abroad, rather than mind the many troubles at home. One can delegate tasks but not the command responsibility. And when he travels, the whole battalion of underlings and sycophants all come in tow. There are major and urgent decisions that only the president can make. His presence is irreplaceable. A nation, like a family, facing many crises cannot survive with an absentee father. We are saying this not because we love him less. It is because the people need him more.