Nonessentials
In the United States in September 1965, in the wake of a terrible hurricane that slammed into Louisiana and left thousands of Americans homeless, hungry and quaking in the cold, Lyndon B. Johnson created one of the most defining moments of his presidency with a simple but powerful gesture. He flew posthaste to the darkened city of New Orleans, held a flashlight to his face, and barked into a megaphone: “My name is Lyndon Baines Johnson. I am your president. I am here to make sure you have the help you need.”
Should President Aquino have done a Lyndon Johnson at the height of the calamitous monsoon rains that, three years after Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” once again turned vast swaths of Metro Manila and Central Luzon into huge ponds? In his own way, minus the flashlight and the megaphone, that’s what the President did seem to be trying to do when he visited Muntinlupa City even while the waters were still high and the rains unceasing.
Malacañang must have learned its lesson from the PR debacle that marked the President’s response to Typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” last year, when his belated visit to the flooded provinces of Tarlac, Pampanga and Bulacan drew withering criticism. The official excuse for his tardy appearance then was that he was trying to avoid distracting relief and rehabilitation efforts by descending on the scene of disaster. But this time, he didn’t wait until one week later to publicly and personally commiserate with his suffering constituents.
It’s a good sign that Mr. Aquino and his advisers have realized that, in times of calamity, cold statistics blasted through the media—such as the number of relief goods distributed or families relocated—will always fall far short of the basic empathy and comfort that ordinary citizens seek in their government. Filipinos driven to their wits’ end by unrelenting rains and floods, their homes in shambles and lives in sudden limbo, can’t be blamed if they need the sight of the country’s most powerful person to assure them that everything possible is being done to ease their misery.
But, was it right for the President to tag along Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Joel Villanueva on his relief sortie? Or, for that matter, Risa Hontiveros, a former party-list representative with no current government post whose only qualification to be seen in Mr. Aquino’s periphery at this time seems to be her announced intent to run for senator in the Liberal Party ticket next year?
Taken discretely, the elements of that presidential visit may offer perfectly innocuous explanations. Mr. Aquino and company rode in a truck because it was the only vehicle that could plod through the floods, as opposed to, say, the usual convoy that would have only gotten mired in the deluge. They stood in the truck because, first, the man had to be seen, or what’s the point of a rally-the-people appearance by the country’s leader? And, second, that allowed many more to hop aboard, including security personnel and even members of the media. The entourage also waved at the people because, as photographs showed, Muntinlupa residents were waving at Mr. Aquino et al. to acknowledge their arrival.
The cumulative image, however—especially of the President surrounded by people with no direct hand in the relief operations of the moment, but all of them senatorial prospects of the administration for 2013—has only sparked a backlash. Various quarters have scored the presidential party for what appears to be crass politicking at the expense of disaster victims. Rather than offer genuine help, Malacañang supposedly exploited the moment by fashioning an early campaign photo op, albeit minus the blatant banners and bunting.
The Palace and the senatorial wannabes think the criticism is unfair. Maybe it is. But Mr. Aquino’s decision to share his most important moment as Comforter in Chief with a bevy of political aspirants (instead of his Cabinet members, for instance, or concerned local government executives) was certainly an ill-advised, costly move. It has made his message murky and his intentions suspect.
Johnson’s example in 1965 showed how a president’s no-nonsense appearance in the midst of national catastrophe can embody government compassion and sustain hope among the desolate and desperate. Mr. Aquino had that chance in Muntinlupa last week. Too bad he had to clutter it with nonessentials.
