MANILA, JANUARY 29, 2011 (TRIBUNE) Noynoy appears to have got up on the wrong foot after a likely afternoon nap the other day when he faced media as he droned on and on, some of which droning were the most nonsensical statements thus far he had uttered over the bus bombing at Edsa.
In his somnambulist state, Noynoy said there was a big difference between the bombing of the bus and a supposed threat to blow up a mall which he said was the subject of the adverse travel advisories that six western countries late last year issued on the Philippines.
The subject of the alert on the country, however, was the possibility of a bomb blowing up anywhere in the country, with which the administration of Noynoy is not capable of dealing, as proven in the incident at Edsa and even with the admission of Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin that his office had been tipped off but did short of nothing by way of government security action.
Noynoy asking the silly phrase, "aren't buses very much softer targets? This is not identified in the previous records" was no different from telling the world that the Philippines is definitely safe since terrorists only bomb buses instead of malls.
Also he warned reporters against portraying the country in a bad light as a result of the bus attack that has killed at least five passengers. Such a warning was a throwback to his predecessor Gloria and also hints at another attempt of the Malacañang tenant to manage stories.
But how do you embellish a story with so many deaths caused partly by government's negligence?
A headline "Only 5 dead from bus bombing, it would have been worse at a mall" would sit well with Noynoy but not with decent newspapers, not even with the Yellow periodicals that carry his supposed daily exploits, if these forms of media still seek to maintain respect.
Noynoy was obviously talking disorientedly when he faced media in the aftermath of the bus tragedy. It would have helped the public a lot more to make sense of the tragedy had he not done the interview.
The series of gruesome crimes that has happened in the country and the seeming helplessness of authorities in the face of these, with suspicions that law enforcers and members of the judiciary are even in cahoots with the criminal rings, give an impression of an anarchic situation where nobody is firmly in command.
Noynoy's Yellow-toned speeches are proving to be effective only in targeting a quote in Newsweek or Time on a dull story month but it seems his biggest failure is in converting words into action.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile berated police officials in a public hearing on the worsening situation in the country and said the crime wave is happening because of the existence of a headless Philippine National Police (PNP), which seems to be now both a literal and figurative description of the organization as well as a headless Palace.
Enrile, who has had a long experience in government, noted that the Interior and Local Government secretary cannot even issue orders to the PNP and that he has no power and control over them, likely referring to Noynoy's order to assign this function to his shooting buddy Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno instead of Secretary Jesse Robredo.
Enrile could have gone a step higher and point to a headless Malacañang to blame for the crime wave and he still would be right.
It seems that the line of command under the Aquino administration crisscrosses into a tangle as a result of the different groups in Noynoy's circle that want to grab a bigger piece of the action in his directionless government.
Noynoy seems satisfied to talk his heart out every day and campaign to the people about his task of creating the so-called straight path that is now clearly to be leading the nation straight into anarchy, side by side with corruption.
The crime wave is all too real and it cannot be solved by Noynoy's empty talk.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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