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President Gloria Arroyo’s minus 38 performance rating in the
latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey (conducted from June 27
to June 30) is the worst of any President except the late Ferdinand
Marcos’ after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino.
Her rating in the SWS survey for the first
quarter of 2008, minus 26, was also very bad.
The people’s perception of her has been
steadily falling for years. This drop is the fourth in the four
quarters since June 2007.
More Filipinos have been leaving the tents of
those who think she is doing a good job and those who say they can
neither say “yes” or “no.”
But it’s possible is it not that the four out
of five Filipinos who don’t like her job performance in fact do
like her as a person and want her to continue being the president of
the Philippines?
Some husbands love and worship wives who can’t
cook, keep the home in order and the household expenses within
budget. They would never think of kicking their sub-performing wives
out of the house.
Could these four out of five Filipinos hate
President Arroyo’s performance as CEO of Philippines Inc. but love
her as a person because they think she’s cute, pretty, cuddly,
entertaining and laughable and because she reminds them of their
late mother or favorite aunt or former girl friend?
The answer must be “yes.” Otherwise these 80
percent of the Filipinos would already have become more
demonstrative of their dissatisfaction. Right?
Maybe no. Maybe those who have an EDSA Tres or
EDSA Quatro in mind are scared of the PNP and the AFP, and wary that
the person who replaces her would turn out worse in every way.
Just like, as some say, GMA and Erap.
Or maybe those who think she’s a lousy
president have received P500 pesos from her men and will continue
getting P500 monthly until the 2010 election.
Transparency and sincerity
When President Arroyo first became president and
took over the Palace from Erap, she had a positive rating.
Then she lost her popularity. Why? Because
people began to see her talking insincerely. Sincerity is a synonym
for honesty.
Then they noticed that she seemed to be hiding
something—or things. She was not being “transparent.”
Now the President of the Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philipines, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, is calling
for transparency on the billions that are being spent on subsidies
for the poor.
If the President wants to regain the confidence
of the Filipinos, she has to be transparent and sincere. There’s
nothing unreasonable in Archbishop Lagdameo’s request. Everything
the President, the Cabinet members and even lower government
officials do should be transparent. Everything they say must be the
truth. That’s the moral rule.
There should be no need for the CBCP president
to call for transparency. The President and her people are duty
bound to be honest, sincere and transparent.
President Arroyo forbids her people to be
truthful and transparent about projects. That contributes a lot to
the black opinion of her by one out of every five Filipino.
She and the Cabinet members responsible for the
subsidies
for the poor can very easily, and proudly,
accommodate Archbishop Lagdameo’s call for transparency. But only
if they have been clean. The only reason they can’t be transparent
is if they have stolen or right now are stealing some of the subsidy
billions—or if they have deliberately or negligently allowed some
people to skim from the money for the poor.
Ambassadors of hope
Last Friday in Sydney, Pope Benedict met and had
a chat with young people in a rehabilitation center for reformed
drug addicts.
The Pope asked the youth, who are cared for by
the University of Notre Dame, to serve as ambassadors of hope and
help other damaged youth choose life.
The meeting took place right after the
re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross. The dramatization of the
Way of the Cross was one of the World Youth Day events. It was just
like a senakulo.
Addressing them as “Dear friends,” Pope
Benedict said, “I see you as ambassadors of hope to others in
similar situations. You can convince them of the need to choose the
path of life and shun the path of death, because you speak from
experience.”
“All through the Gospels, it was those who had
taken wrong turnings who were particularly loved by Jesus, because
once they recognized their mistake, they were all the more open to
his healing message.”
“It was those who were willing to rebuild
their lives who were most ready to listen to Jesus and become his
disciples,” the Pope said. “You can follow in their footsteps,
you too can grow particularly close to Jesus because you have chosen
to turn back toward him.”
rq_bas@yahoo.com
rqb@manilatimes.net
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