At the Christmas party of the Bulong-Pulungan sa Sofitel, guest of honor President Noynoy Aquino was about to be asked by Inquirer Lifestyle editor Thelma Sioson San Juan about updates on his “love life.” But apparently besieged by pangs of conscience, if not embarrassment, she asked him about his plans to address poverty instead.
“They’re related,” the President quipped.
After sharing bits of good news on the anti-poverty front, the President was reminded that he had yet to speak about the state of his heart. “Unlike poverty,” he replied quickly, “it is not being addressed.”
What is being addressed, it seems, is P-Noy’s relationships, not with “available” women, but with the Pinoy public, from whom he continues to receive high ratings despite the many controversies he finds himself embroiled in.
Last Oct. 31 while visiting his parents’ tombs at the Manila Memorial Park, he recalled, an old woman approached first his sister Kris and then him to give a message. “You don’t have to listen to all those smart people in the media,” the old woman declared in Filipino. “You just need to listen to us poor people and continue working to help us.”
“Voters are not given enough credit for their intelligence,” reflected the President. “And as long as I enjoy their confidence and trust, I will continue to work for the country’s good.”
It was difficult to believe that a full year had passed since P-Noy graced the last Bulong Pulungan Christmas party. And if his willingness to brave the crowd once more was any indication, could we hope we could make his presence an annual tradition? In fact, the President recalled, it was before the Bulong gathering of mostly women in media that he received his “baptism of fire” as a fledgling congressman. To say that he is comfortable with the Bulong crowd would be an understatement.
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HE EVEN consented, despite his avowed discomfort with the media in general, to undergo a bit of grilling by the Bulong “core group.”
Asked what makes him happy these days, P-Noy says it’s the confidence he feels that “problems present opportunities.” For instance, on the issue of deforestation, while the country’s forest cover continues to disappear, the administration, he said, is using “convergence” to employ poor communities in upland areas for reforestation. Families in these areas will be recipients of the “4 P’s” program, which will be conditional on their involvement in replanting denuded lands. These families, he said, will also be roped into planting coffee and cacao seedlings which in turn could also be used to provide income for them.
With the filing of two cases against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, would P-Noy have new priorities for 2012? “My priority hasn’t changed,” the President replied. “The economy is still top priority,” he said, adding that he was in fact meeting with his economic team that same afternoon and while he had been emphasizing the need to “spend prudently,” the administration was now ready to move quickly on such “pump-priming” activities as constructing school buildings and bidding out infrastructure contracts.
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JULIE YAP Daza of the Manila Bulletin asked P-Noy what were on his Christmas wish list for the following: now Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Chief Justice Renato Corona and the MILF.
His message to Arroyo: “You have been given the opportunity to lead this country for nine and a half years. But since you mishandled your responsibility, it’s time you answered for it.” To the Chief Justice, he reminded him to “revisit the oath of office we all took (especially) those whom we promised to serve.”
And on the MILF: “I understand where they’re coming from. I remain confident that both they and the government remain serious about the attainment of a just peace.”
When Aida Sevilla Mendoza, this paper’s motoring columnist, asked the President about his “dream car,” P-Noy said he would rather wait until 2016, at the end his term, before he buys or even thinks aloud about his “dream car.” Perhaps he’s been burned by his purchase of a second-hand Porsche sports car last year, confessing that he has learned “to live with what I can have.”
Finally, asked what he thought about the proposal to change the name of historic avenue Edsa to Cory Aquino Avenue, the President replied tersely: “It’s not necessary.”
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BEFORE the President’s address, the Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel recognized outstanding public officials who had all been guests of the media forum and proven their worth.
Recognized as “exemplars” were Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Navy chief Vice Adm. Alexander Pama, and the leadership of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
The President was likewise granted the Peace and Justice Award, for his commitment to “all-out justice” and the pursuit of peace instead of violence, an award I felt was fully deserved, and I told him so.
Indeed, problems continue to engulf our country, and practically all of them land on the lap of the sitting President. It is a heavy enough responsibility facing these problems head-on and searching for solutions. But added to the burdens of high office is the need to send messages to the bureaucracy and the citizenry, especially about bringing erring officials to justice and holding all holders of public office, past and present, to the high standards of accountability and transparency that were the linchpins of P-Noy’s campaign platform.
The media women of Bulong may have given P-Noy an easy time at the Christmas gathering. But even beleaguered Presidents deserve a break now and then, and Christmas is not the time for holding a President’s feet to the fire.