Just a few months before his term ends, it appears that President Noynoy Aquino finally understands that it’s an important part of his job to be visible in times of calamity. Of course, you could also say that Aquino is acting the way he does because there’s an election coming up—but, hey, better late than never, right?
Aquino went to flood-stricken Nueva Ecija province yesterday, when the wind and rain brought about by typhoon “Lando” had not yet stopped. For those keeping score at home, this is probably the first time that the President abandoned his ironclad policy to “monitor the situation” from somewhere inside the bowels of Malacañang Palace whenever a natural calamity strikes.
Long after he is gone, people in Tacloban City, for instance, will remember how long it took Aquino to visit them (nine days) after Yolanda hit two years ago. It took Aquino only four days, however, to visit Compostela Valley after typhoon Pablo-ravaged large areas of Mindanao in 2012.
Aquino let three full months pass before visiting Zamboanga City after government forces nearly leveled the regional commercial and cultural center of Western Mindanao in an effort to crush forces of Nur Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front. And he let a whole, meaningful day pass before he visited the wake of the 44 Special Action Force commandos who were killed by Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
There are many other incidents to prove that Aquino has always disliked the part of his job that forces him to appear in public and sympathize with the people in their hour of greatest need. In fact, it’s no longer news when the President goes missing for days on end during a crisis situation.
The default reason given by his spokesmen never changes: The President doesn’t want to get in the way of rescue and relief workers by attracting attention to himself. In the case of the families of the Mamasapano massacre victims, who were waiting for Aquino to visit them at Villamor Air Base after he came from the opening of a car-assembly facility, his flacks came up with a new and even more incomprehensible excuse—Aquino wanted to give the bereaved “space” to grieve by themselves.
Of course, what Aquino has always failed to comprehend is that, as the supposed father of the nation, he should do what all of his predecessors have done. He needs to be where the people are hopeless and in despair, if only to reassure them that their government is looking out for those at the end of their rope.
It’s one of those things that Aquino has never really gotten the hang of. And his absence in dire situations has reinforced the belief that he is seriously lacking in empathy and is merely engaged in noynoying when he is nowhere to be found.
But maybe he’s really changed. Or perhaps Aquino has decided that he can’t keep disappearing in emergencies—not when an election that could directly affect his life after he leaves the presidency is on the horizon. Simply put, Aquino will do everything to make his candidate, Mar Roxas, win, because he could end up in jail if that doesn’t happen.
So no more “monitoring the situation” from hereon in, apparently. Aquino’s very freedom depends on it.
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Speaking of freedom, anyone can post whatever they want, within the bounds of common decency, in the social media. But when you’re the wife of a presidential candidate, you really have to be careful what you put out there for the whole world to see.
I guess Korina Sanchez-Roxas learned this the hard way, when she posted about how proud she was to be falling in line to enter the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 3 over the weekend. Sanchez said in her Facebook post that she was on her way to Cebu to give a speech, which explains why she was at the airport.
“Aba, opo,” she crowed. “Pumipila po ako.” [Oh, yes. I do fall in line.]
Perhaps it was the first time that Sanchez-Roxas fell in line like an ordinary person for anything since she became a big media star. And perhaps she wanted to show that, now that her husband is running for President, she is forced to pretend that she is part of the hoi polloi and should engage in hoi polloi endeavors, like queueing up at the airport.
The commenters on Sanchez-Roxas’ FB page were merciless and almost united in their criticism of her condescending post. And thereby hangs a cautionary tale.
Candidates and their kin who attempt to convince voters that they are regular people who feel for the masses must realize that they have to deal with a public that is not easily swayed by what they used to call “slumming.” If the candidate is Roxas, whose only campaign promise is to continue the work of his boss Aquino (such as it is), he has to be doubly wary of blowback.
Oh, well. It’s still a long ways to the May elections; maybe Mar—and Korina—will still learn.
