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Why PNoy's destabilizers are doomed to fail
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 2011-07-26
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Some of those who lived through the era of our late President Cory C. Aquino had expressed apprehensions that President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) may soon be besieged by power grabs just like the six failed coup attempts against his mother. Their apprehensions came after the posting on the Internet of that now infamous video of Marine Colonel Generoso Mariano.
However, the difference in the political terrain then, versus now, as well as the capability of the currently sitting president to protect his power base — all point to a very stable PNoy administration.
Post-Marcos political terrain
In the days following the restoration of democracy on February 25, 1986, there were immediate moves from counter democracy forces associated with the late Dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos to destabilize the young Cory administration. Transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy are often accompanied by these birth pangs.
What made at least two coup attempts serious — the August 1987 and December 1989 coup attempts — was the participation of the RAM (Reform the Armed Forces Movement) that played a key role in the People Power Revolt of 1986.
The Madame Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) camp, the political camp with the biggest incentive to undo the PNoy administration, hardly wields the military connections and capabilities of the Marcos forces during the 1980s and the then RAM. If all GMA has are the likes of Norberto Gonzales and Linda Montayre to destabilize PNoy, she’ll be like a skater with a piece of rod trying to take on a Tiger Tank.
Public perception of good versus evil
Unfortunately for the GMA camp, public perception remains largely favorable for PNoy who enjoys an over 70% Public Trust Rating in the last Pulse Asia Survey. PNoy is largely perceived as clean, dedicated to the heroic legacy of his parents and has all the intentions of correcting the ills of the country, especially the climate of impunity perpetuated by the GMA regime.
In our largely Judeo-Christian mindset here, people will tend to support PNoy and clamor for GMA to face all the wrongful acts that she is now accused of having committed during her presidency by her own former allies. These wrongdoings that former ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and former Maguindanao Election Supervisor Lintang Bedol have been revealing are serious offenses. Zaldy Ampatuan can directly link GMA to the misdeeds.
GMA has to live with the fact that insofar as public perception is concerned — she is the “evil” and PNoy represents the forces of “good” trying to set things right.
PNoy progress is being seen
While admittedly many poor Filipinos may not yet feel the improvements that the PNoy administration has injected in government — there is also no denying that the PNoy administration has accomplished a lot in terms of fiscal reform and judicious spending. The new system of line budgeting has eliminated a lot of the corruption.
PNoy’s political enemies will also have to reckon with the fact that there is no real hard issue against him. The same is true with regards his Cabinet Secretaries. There have been innuendoes — plenty in a town like ours — but none have really registered with the public mind to erode the public standing of the PNoy administration.
The surveys confirm high public trust in the PNoy Cabinet. PNoy’s Justice, Finance, Science, Public Works, Agriculture and Social Welfare Secretaries are popularly perceived. PNoy is national security and Intel savvy
Few folks realize that national security and Intelligence are two areas of expertise of PNoy. His family’s political history conditioned him to delve into such subject matters and develop a mastery of it. Don’t forget, he was almost killed during the August 1987 coup attempt against his mother.
These charlatans who are trying to undermine PNoy will always find themselves three steps behind him. PNoy will be on to their gimmicks even before they can launch these. I know because I’ve seen several times how the administration was on to developing destabilization efforts even before these were actually undertaken.
The usual suspects
PNoy is really lucky in that the two groups who are actively attempting to undermine his administration have very little public credibility. We refer to the Left and their front organizations and the GMA camp that is mired in scandals that continue to emerge with every passing day.
The Left manages to get their points ventilated in media but they hardly earn substantial public support. To this date, the Left could not even get a Senator elected. Their two Senatorial candidates in the 2010 Elections both lost miserably.
GMA legal counsel, Raul Lambino, is good for a lot of laughs when he dismisses these emerging GMA scandals, like the Maguindanao cheating operations of 2007, as “political maneuvers of the PNoy administration.” Lambino forgot that Zaldy Ampatuan and Lintang Bedol all came from the GMA camp and were never affiliated with the PNoy administration.
Then again, we must always provide some leeway for lawyers especially those who have the unpleasant but lucrative job of protecting the biggest crooks.
Somebody once asked what happens when lawyers die. They lie still.
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