Much ado about nothing
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Just before the Lenten holidays, the Palace created a huge ruckus about Noynoy foregoing the usual days of rest, saying that he will be making sure of the safety of holiday goers.
It was going to be a busy work week for him, Noynoy himself claimed.
That “busy” work week was a matter of a day or even half a day of photo ops, such as going around piers and airports, claiming that heads would roll. It was obviously all for show.
The Lenten week came and Noynoy was not heard of since, making many wonder where he went off to during the time that he was not on holiday as Malacañang had claimed.
Ever since Noynoy’s survey ratings have shown the inevitable downslide, the Palace has engaged in one bad spin to another which had the effect of pushing Noynoy into a hole deeper than before.
It was no different from the no-holiday Noynoy gimmick which had no intrinsic value at all since everybody is expected to be on a vacation during this period of reflection.
Not taking a holiday does not even mean that Noynoy is a hard worker since he was not seen anyway during the days he was supposed to be looking after the protection of those on holidays.
There was of course the perfunctory visits to a bus station, a harbor and an airport which was a worn out gimmick that he should have left to the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief to exploit to the hilt.
Instead, Noynoy was awkwardly checking buses, ships, airplanes and passengers making him look more desperate than ever in winning brownie points.
The Lenten checks came with advice about how to best enjoy the days of vacation and that coming from a president.
Filipinos expected a few wise words from Noynoy through a Lenten message and not supervising passenger traffic at the ports or bus stations. Yet his messages reeked of the very same old broken record of laying his failure as a president and leader of the nation on the “dark episode” of corruption of the previous regime.
Prior to the unlikely tour, Noynoy ordered the distribution of discount coupons to public transport drivers and ordered a token increase in the minimum wage but only in Metro Manila.
The supposed recipients rejected both the fuel discount and the wage increase as too little coming amid a rapid increase in the prices of fuel and other commodities.
The actions of Noynoy lately have been completely in contrast with what he had indicated earlier as governance that does not play on popularity which he claimed was how his predecessor ran things during her watch.
It did not take long before Noynoy was taking the same path that he had earlier branded as being wrong. It took his realization that the public is starting to measure him not as Cory’s or Ninoy’s son but in his true capability as a president for him to veer away from his earlier pledge.
The Palace in trying to shore up the image of Noynoy, is making him look like a poor imitation of his predecessor Gloria who at least need not sweat it out to prove that she was a hard worker.
It would be a tough time going forward for Noynoy if he subscribes to the same belief as in the past that political gimmick or pa-pogi stance would carry him through in the remaining five years of his term.
The reason that he was voted into the presidency was that Filipinos have grown tired of political gimmickries and non-performance in the past.
Getting the same banana from a different anthropoid would certainly be a raw deal.
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