Barking up the wrong tree

Walden Bello is barking up the wrong tree. He wants budget secretary Florencio Abad and agrarian reform secretary Virgilio de los Reyes sacked to ostensibly "restore credibility" to the straight path "reform agenda" of Noynoy Aquino. In the first place, what credibility does Bello want to restore? Whatever agenda Noynoy may have, it is reformist only in language but not in substance. Secondly, Abad and de los Reyes are only as good or as bad as Noynoy allows them to be.

Bello is barking up the wrong tree because Abad and de los Reyes are mere messengers. Whatever message they bring to the Filipino people are not their own but Noynoy's. As messengers, there is no word, deed or hint they can or cannot signal and deliver that has not the prior knowledge and imprimatur of Noynoy. And as Bello has apparently missed the message, Noynoy has time and again said he continues to have the utmost trust and confidence in Abad, de los Reyes, et al.

There is no credibility to restore because Noynoy never had any real credibility to begin with. Before his mother died, nobody gave him the remotest thought of one day becoming president -- not his own family, not his own party, and most certainly not the Filipino people. If the presidency had even the slightest glimmer of a possibility for Noynoy, then why did he have to go into a retreat to ask for divine guidance when the candidacy was offered to him?

Had Noynoy any credibility to speak of, his name would have been bruited about as a presidential timber. He is, after all, the son of Ninoy and Cory. But as he did not have what it takes to be a credible candidate, considering him for the presidency never occurred to anybody. It was only when Cory died and the yellow hordes turned out that some bright boys saw the possibility.

But the yellow hordes were never enough to make him president. As the results of the 2010 elections show, only 15,208,678 people voted for Noynoy. On the other hand, 20,930,424 felt he did not deserve to be president and did not vote for him. Thus Noynoy only became president because the 20 million plus voters who did not vote for him, and were more numerous than the 15 million who did, could not decide on a single other candidate and thus spread their vote over several others.

For the benefit of Bello, as well as to put into proper perspective the issue of how much credibility Noynoy really has, a total of 181,985 voters in 2010 decided to vote for a certain Vitaliano Acosta than entrust their precious votes in the name of Noynoy. These votes were later invalidated because the Comelec decided to disqualify Acosta, for reasons only it can divine.

So what credibility does Bello want to restore? If I were Noynoy, I would consider it a big slap in the face if 181,985 duly registered and qualified voters would rather vote for Acosta than the only son of Ninoy and Cory. But then, when you have no credibility to begin with, what have you got to complain about. It should be good enough that one gets to become president even if fewer people voted for you than those who did not.

Admittedly, taking out of consideration the 20 million plus Filipinos who did not vote for Noynoy, the 15 million who did is not a figure to sneeze at. Without the 20 million plus Filipinos who did not vote for Noynoy in the picture, it is tempting to consider 15 million a credible number. But then, better perish the thought. For if the numbers do not lie, then the steadily dropping approval ratings of Noynoy cannot but suggest that whatever credibility he may have had is dissipating.

No, dissipating is the wrong word. Whatever credibility Noynoy may perchance have is disintegrating. His numbers are plummeting. And that can only be because the Filipino people have discovered the painful truth that they have simply been taken for a ride. The supposed anti-corruption campaign Noynoy used to pave his so-called straight path is nothintg but a lie.

And nobody knows this lie better than Bello himself. If this had not been a lie, Bello would have kept his silence. But he could not bear to see the lie getting repeated each time Noynoy speaks. Bello has grown uneasy hearing Noynoy talk about the straight path reform agenda and then the face he sees before him is that of Abad.

As to de los Reyes, I do not know what beef Bello has against him. But if Bello thinks de los Reyes is pussyfooting on the agrarian reform agenda of Noynoy, then I am sorry to say but Bello must truly be very confused or something. Perhaps Bello needs to be reminded that agrarian reform under Noynoy cannot be speeded up for obvious reasons. And I do not have to tell Bello why.

I cannot understand why Bello is all of a sudden calling for some form of revamp in the Cabinet when that has always been against the nature of Noynoy to disturb his friendships. Even Noynoy cannot pretend to believe that whatever political support he has is genuine. But at least with friendships, pretense is far easier and has a more calming effect on his troubled leadership.

Friendship is the sole basis for making it to his Cabinet. It is not talent or skill, otherwise he could have tapped far better professional and career officials to help him run the country for him. But he chose friendship to be the platform from which he can launch himself into the difficult task of national governance.

Had professionalism been the measure by which his official family is run, it would have been easier to hire and fire people. And there would have been no fear of rancor on either side of the relationship. True professionals know the gives and takes of any work place. But friendships make things always difficult in relationships that call for professionalism even if those involved are themselves professionals. This is what Bello just did not get and did not get badly. [email protected].