TIMES OPINION BY YEN MACABENTA: THE HARD-HEAD & THE THICK-SKINNED
MANILA, MARCH 8, 2011 (MANILA TIMES) THE WAY FORWARD By Yen Makabenta - OF all the qualities that President Aquino has displayed in office so far, I think obstinacy is the most worrisome and potentially harmful.
In the face of apparent errors and missteps by the administration, whether in decision-making or appointments, he comes across as unyielding and stubborn to a fault. He apparently believes that to acknowledge an error or to correct it would be seen as a sign of weakness on his part, and would give aid and comfort to his political enemies and critics. We have seen this stubbornness on display in the prolonged hostage-taking saga, in his more questionable appointments, in his obsession with the truth commission and the dismissal of appointees of her predecessor, and more recently in the regrettable handling of the row with Taiwan over the mistaken deportation of Taiwanese nationals to China.
There is an old saying that "an error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." The president and the government have been slow in heeding it. As a result, problems that might have been nipped in the bud have gone on to take a life of their own. And small missteps have mutated into controversies.
This presidential trait would not cause us sleepless nights, if it stops with the President. Or at the level of his buying a Porsche. Indeed, presidential firmness is something to be admired and be glad about. But sadly, P-Noy's stubborn streak is being replicated by other members of the administration, thinking that it is the correct posture for governance under the new regime. Questionable presidential appointees are obdurately hanging on to their offices—in spite of all reason and even in the face of patent public scorn and opposition.
Mistaken and erratic policies are not quickly withdrawn and corrected. And the communications group in the Palace is in constant denial when something wrong goes awry, even in the face of errors of fact or judgment.
This sorry train is all on display in the Taiwan fiasco. Our relationship with that non-country—and the welfare of our OFWs there—have been put squarely on the line because of the refusal of our government to acknowledge that something wrong was committed by the Bureau of Immigration in deporting the Taiwanese in total disregard of a Court of Appeals order, and that the authorities yielded too easily to the importunings of the Chinese Embassy. Then the issue was further muddled by the Justice secretary's over eagerness to issue rulings to justify the decision and dismiss the complaints of the Taiwanese government. And through it all, the Palace press office kept issuing statements that our government will not apologize to Taiwan, even as the President sent several emissaries to Taipei to placate the Taiwanese.
Taking advantage of this hardheadedness on display, presidential appointees are clinging to their posts like glue. DOTC assistant secretary, chief of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), whose preventive suspension has been recommended by the justice secretary, refuses to resign. Instead she invokes her alleged closeness to President Aquino, because she is his shooting buddy. DILG undersecretary Rico Puno and DILG secretary Jesse Robredo toughed it out through the hostage-taking affair, the subsequent investigation and the nation's ordeal.
NEDA director general and socio-economic planning secretary Cayetano Paderanga Jr. has stuck to his post despite some embarrassing revelations about his record as a manager. He has been dismissed twice as chief executive officer of two private corporations. It has also been disclosed that he committed to serve as CEO to three companies at the same time, while enjoying full salaries and benefits from each, and without informing any of them of the clear conflict of interest. Worst of all, he failed to remit to government the tax liabilities of one of the companies.
When Paderanga goes before the Commission on Appointments tomorrow (Wednesday) for his confirmation hearing, he must prepare himself for an open challenge to his nomination from the public.
No less than two former Cabinet secretaries, and a former chairman of the Philippine Stock Exchange, have manifested their objections to his appointment. With the media also alerted on the issue, the questions about Paderanga are mounting.
I have one question which I hope the Committee on Tourism and Economic Development of the CA will ask Secretary Paderanga tomorrow: when he was serving as CEO of the three companies all at the same time, did he pay taxes on his income from these weighty positions? His tax statements for the years in question should be requested from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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