Face-saving time is two weeks

When President Ferdinand “ Bongbong “ Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order 39 on September 5, the collective jaws of the nation dropped. And that is putting it kindly. EO 39 placed a price cap of P41 on regular milled rice and P45 on well milled rice. It would have been far less shocking if he had actually ordered an attack on China.

There is no controlling market forces. His economic managers, in Tokyo at the time, all expressed shock at the order. They were not consulted, they chorused. As the flap exploded in the president’s face, it became clear he could have gotten his advice from nowhere else but the Agriculture Department, the same one he chose to lead himself.

The price caps, but only naturally, opened up a Pandora’s Box Bongbong neither has the ability nor the experience to handle. Luckily, he has a reliable and professional economic managers who will stand by him. After expressing shock over the issuance of the EO (they had to make that public to preserve the integrity of their resumes), they quickly rallied behind the president.

And the president quickly forgave them their minor trespass of disowning the EO. There will be some other time for reckoning. The call of the day is catch the president and cushion the fallout from the flap. The economic team, just days after disowning it, is now all for it. It can work for short term gains

That is, of course, a big lie. But better leave it at that than leave the thing festering like a carcass is the sun, inviting all sorts of creepy crawly infestations. They now must do all the talking and leave Marcos out of it. And they have set two weeks to review the whole thing, which is to say “ give us a little time to waste this darn contraption. “

Two weeks is a fair enough window to scrap the EO. Shorter than that is to give the impression of an utterly egregious mistake on the part of the president. He must be allowed to save face. So two weeks of feigned review ought to serve the political interests of everybody. What does need a real review, one that is not for show, is PBBM’s keeping the agriculture portfolio.

Why, for God’s sake did Marcos ever assume as secretary of this problematic department? As president, he can still keep tabs on its operations without having to become its face. Marcos Jr. has to be his own man and leave his father’s legacy be. Whether or not Marcos Sr. was truly a boon to agriculture is up for history to judge.

There is no greater indication that times have moved on than PBBM’s own presidency. Had this country and its people not chosen to move on, Bongbong and the Marcos family would still be fending brickbats until now. But times do change. Bongbong is now in charge of his own destiny. He must do the best he can. Because if he fails, we all fail.

Bongbong is doing quite well in most other areas, particularly with regard to his foreign policy. The campaign is long over. No more need to impress. He has to get real with himself, knows his strengths and build on them and seek help and good counsel where he is weak.

EO 39 offers great lessons in haste and incorrect thinking. It also provides the opportunity to determine the real nature of the patently wrong advice given him. Was it just an honest mistake or was there sabotage involved. The presidency, after all, is not always the safest place to be.