President Aquino must appreciate Cabinet members who have the concern and courage to tell him bad news which is indispensable in order that the Aquino administration can make rectifications and reforms.
Positive responses to bad news are building blocks to good governance.
Bad news should spur responsible leadership.
The reason why the President’s leadership and performance are in bad shape is because he refuses to hear bad news.
At this time, it is difficult for the President to hear good news because they come sparingly, like comets.
What is in abundance are conjured and contrived “good news” to please the President even as they are cosmetic delusions.
After pushing extra hard for the passage in the Congress of the bill postponing the August 2011 elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslin Mindanao (ARMM), the signing into law by President Aquino of the enrolled bill is deliberately being stalled.
The obvious motive for this dilatory scheme is to deny the Supreme Court enough time to rule on expected petitions challenging the validity of the eventual statute deferring the ARMM polls and authorizing the President to appoint officers-in-charge (OICs).
As long as the enrolled bill remains unsigned by the President, any petition before the Supreme Court will be premature in the absence of a covering statute.
Meanwhile, time is running out and any petition could be rendered moot and academic as the preparation for the scheduled elections appears to have been halted by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) as if the postponement is already adone deal.
It should be recalled that House Bill No. 4146 on the ARMM election postponement was finally approved by the Congress on 07 June 2011 when the House of Representatives concurred with alacrity with the amendments adopted by the Senate, thus foreclosing the holding of a bicameral conference to reconcile the differing provisions.
From 07 June 2011, it took the Congress ten days or up to 17 June 2011 to enroll the bill with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and the respective Secretaries of the two chambers signing the printed copy of the bill.
Since 17 June 2011, the enrolled bill has been with the Office of the President and has remained unsigned by President Aquino.
It was reported that the signing ceremonies would still be on 30 June 2011.
After getting what he wanted from the Congress, the President is temporizing in signing the bill into law to prevent the Supreme Court from resolving what he does not want, which is the nullification of the deferment of the ARMM elections and his appointment of OICs.
Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda again got it all wrong when he labeled as “character assassination” the House Minority’s Resolution No. 1419 urging for an investigation of errant buddies and cronies of President Aquino.
The conduct of congressional inquiries in aid of legislation is among the constitutional duties of the legislature and has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
These “sacred cows” in the President’s arsenal of shooting mates, schoolmates friendmates had already committed “character suicide” by their culpable misdeeds and misadventures.
It is Malacañang which is performing “character resuscitation” on these wayward officials by coddling and insulating them from sanctions.
Did the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) headed by Justice Secretary De Lima commit character assassination against Undersecretary Ricardo Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in recommending the filing of administrative and criminal charges against him for mishandling the fatal rescue operations during the hostage crisis in August last year?
Did the fact-finding and investigation panel of the Department of Justice commit character assassination against Assistant Secretary and Land Transportation Office Chief Virginia Torres when it recommended the institution of charges against her due to her complicity and partiality in the failed Stradcom takeover?
What character assassination is committed against former Director Ernesto Diokno of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) who resigned in the wake of scandals rocking BuCor and yet was promised another job by the President?
If the prosecution of political foes for alleged tax evasion is deemed proper, why should the investigation of Secretary Purisima of the Department of Finance for reported tax irregularities and conflict of interest be considered character assassination?
The self-serving explanations of these presidential buddies to their patron are insufficient to liberate them from liability and discipline.
President Aquino must make a forthright disclosure on his response to the Memorandum dated 23 May 2011 of then Secretary Jose P. de Jesus informing him of the benefits and advantages of the DOTC-LTO contract with information technology (IT) provider Stradcom Corporation.
De Jesus recommended that the Stradcom contract be maintained because (1) it reduces the processing time of all transactions; (2) it establishes an audit trail showing vehicle, license and violations history which can be accessed online; (3) it assures connectivity with other government agencies and private entities resulting in efficient access to authentic data; and (4) it modernizes LTO public service delivery.
According to the Memorandum, LTO services will regress and the transacting public will suffer if the Stradcom contract will be terminated and LTO returns to manual operation.
President Aquino should also clarify reports that his alleged preference for the abrogation of the Stradcom contract and his reported directive to have the recommendations in the said Memorandum altered, triggered the resignation of de Jesus.
Transparency likewise demands that de Jesus should make a clean breast of the true reasons for his resignation and should desist from shielding the President.
While Filipino revolutionaries won Philippine independence with heroism and bravery, President Aquino led the 113th anniversary celebrations of Philippine independence with rhetoric and braggadocio.
The speech of the President was replete with trite platitudes, erroneous hyperbole, stale promises and contrived achievements even as the Revolution’s KKK (Kataastaasang Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan) has been supplanted by Kaibigan, Kaklase at Kabarilan.
The President said nothing new and announced nothing significant.
While the President trumpeted that he was going to rescue Filipinos from poverty and corruption, the harsh reality is that since he assumed office, all major economic indicators are lower and the corruption index is higher.
The President’s exhortation that “true freedom is freedom from hunger, ignorance, poverty and lack of jobs” was unmindful of more hungry, jobless and poor Filipinos in his first year of incumbency.
The hyperbole of the President that the “whole country was made to ride in a paper boat eventually to drown is a sea of lies and anomalies” failed to acknowledge that he inherited a growing economy from the last administration which he failed to sustain.
While the President claimed as his achievements the postponement of the elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), passage of the Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCC) Reform Law and the expansion of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), all of these are doubtful accomplishments.
The deferment of the ARMM polls appears unconstitutional even as it is unpopular.
The GOCC reform measure is likewise riddled with apparent constitutional infirmities as it violates the security of tenure of GOCC officials and transfers to the Executive the authority of Congress to reorganize and abolish government agencies and fix the compensation of government functionaries.
The inordinate expansion of the CCT is flawed as many disqualified individuals received benefits while deserving beneficiaries got nothing, even as the fund has been augmented by P2.0 billion without congressional authorization.
