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The second year

This is an article repost.

Politicians were pretty much divided along party lines in their reactions to President Aquino’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The Left, for its part, behaved and reacted true to form, always galit sa mundo or mad at the world. But they make delightful effigies.

The Right this time didn’t leave any video at the House gate for mass media to find and publicize. Maybe because the latest military video star is still trying to get hold of his retirement benefits and fending off a dishonorable discharge.

The Catholic bishops largely kept quiet and had representatives at the SONA.

And Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo prudently stayed away from the SONA, together with her relatives. It didn’t save her from getting sick though, or from a fourth plunder complaint even as she prepared to undergo surgery for a spine problem.

P-Noy has made wang-wang synonymous with abuse of power and privilege. The appointment of Conchita Carpio-Morales as ombudsman is generally seen as bad news for GMA, and all those who abused government positions for personal gain (nagwawang-wang sa pamahalaan, in P-Noyspeak) under her watch.

Big business groups, local and foreign alike, were happy with that message, according to published reports. A number of them don’t care much if the war on graft is personal or not for P-Noy. They just want to see people being punished and a strong message sent, at long last, that corruption, tongpats, padulas or whatever we call it, isn’t kosher, or oks in P-Noyspeak.

Corruption takes away money from government that could be spent for social services particularly for the poor. It also raises the cost of doing business in this country, which drives away investors, which means fewer jobs for an ever-growing workforce, which means more unemployment and poverty.

Investors who want to stay here for the long term don’t think it’s a good idea to stop dwelling on the past and move on, as some bishops would have the nation do. In the first place, it’s not a matter of dwelling on the past but making people account for the sins of the past. You can’t sweep a Mitsubishi Montero under the rug and forget that it’s there; it will show, bubukol ’yon, no matter what you do.

Sending a powerful message that graft doesn’t pay will pave the way for a level playing field in business – or at least that’s what the guardedly optimistic investors believe.

The business community is still on a wait-and-see mode. The bidding for the initial seven public-private partnership (PPP) projects this year and the fate of the winning bidders will be closely watched. If the winners start griping about red tape, unfair requirements, changing rules in midstream or, horrors, a demand for tong-pats, that’s the end of this flagship program.

The next few months will be crucial for the administration in showing that it means business in creating a better environment for investments. The business community is still watching out for the emergence of a new set of cronies, believing that every administration has one. Some names are starting to be mentioned, and you’ll hear more about them if ever cronyism returns.

People who have been with the P-Noy camp since the campaign say that he has finally come to terms with the fact that he is now the most powerful official in the land.

While these people fell short of saying that power is starting to go to P-Noy’s head, they did warn that an “I’m the boss” attitude could herald the start of the creation of a cocoon around the President, where bad news is kept out and all he hears are the hosannas of sycophants.

It’s always a dangerous attitude in this country, where bad news and disagreements within a president’s official family can give the chief executive an idea of where changes are needed to achieve his desired results.

The bar of good behavior is set unusually high for this president. This is evident in the reactions to his acquisition of a Porsche, his romantic dalliances, and the activities and fortunes of his shooting buddies and former classmates.

The higher the expectations, the bigger the potential for disappointment. If the President makes a major slip or veers from his avowed straight path or daang matuwid, the immediate conclusion will be that he is no different from his predecessors.

He can then kiss those investments goodbye – or at least those large enough to generate the number of jobs needed for his administration to claim that it has made a difference, that it has made a dent in easing poverty.

In his second year, P-Noy will feel the impatience setting in, among investors and the citizenry.

During the 2010 campaign, stumbling along could be forgiven, and was even considered charming by some quarters. In P-Noy’s first year of governance, stumbling along could also be tolerated. People were aware that the challenges were daunting; people were willing to give the new administration a chance.

In his second year, stumbling along will be seen mainly as incompetence. the message to P-Noy is: Now show us what you’ve got. Even while he’s laying the groundwork for long-term reforms, he must start showing results.
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By: Ana Marie Pamintuan
Source: The Philippine Star, Opinion, July 27, 2011
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