Polar opposition

Over six months into the Aquino Administration, I guess it's safe to say that an opposition has formed – one that is clearly against President Benigno Aquino III.

In The STAR's podcast hosted by Mr. Cito Beltran back in July 6, 2010, I speculated that an “industry” of opposition against P-Noy on his first few weeks was present. Back then, it was more or less characterized by the election aftermath than actual government bungles. Then again, everything from mishandled tweets to non-attendance at important global functions, from facepalm-inducing slogans to legal and Constitutional challenges, have more or less put a few potholes on the “matuwid na daan.”

Unless President Aquino meant something else in his speech at a Malcanang Palace function on Friday, the idea of a “noisy minority” isn't one to be swept aside as a slip of the tongue. For an administration that vowed, and is bent on, eliminating corruption and alleviating poverty, the minority should be noisy. It should be the first to criticize and chastise. Not because they're out to bring back the ghosts that haunted us in the past, but because criticism is essential to the progress of this government.

There's a certain tendency that one can observe with the current administration that makes it so eerily similar to the others before it: an “if you're not with us, you're against us” mentality that gets in the way of accommodating the criticisms that can make for a better country. P-Noy may be the man in charge, but his mandate comes from the people: all too often, good ideas come by way of critics more than they do come from supporters.

I'm not saying that Aquino should start putting his political opponents and critics in key positions of government. I'm not saying that the Presidential staff should arrange tete-a-tetes with the harshest critics of the government to get things over with. I'm not suggesting that the current administration apply the prescribed formula of dismissing all of this as destabilization and forge a path towards their possible undoing, waiting for history to vindicate them. What I'm saying is that this government's openness to criticism leaves a lot to be desired.

For example: the Internet is chock-full of blogs, Twitter users, and netizens who have substantive criticisms against the Aquino Administration. It behooves government agencies to look for them, to compile their ideas, and to report that to the President and the proper agencies for their action. It keeps the critic on his side of the sidelines, and the government can play the game by looking at where it fails based on public perception, guided by the astute advice of wise government officials. That way, the noise becomes productive, and becomes less than dismissive of the Aquino Administration in the long run.

The mandate of the government comes from the people, and very rarely do the waves of criticism come from within. The people are with Government; the soundest and most meaningful criticisms are not those meant to destabilize and destroy, but those that are meant to build. Until this government openly accepts and acts on criticism, actions left unchecked or perhaps even shrugged off as “noise” will be another brick on the long, hard road to nowhere.