The Dichotomy of Competence and Integirty

     Originally published in the CA and NV Examiner 10/22/2010 issue 

    

      When Pres. Cory Aquino passed away, an overwhelming nostalgia engulfed a grieving nation. The people terribly missed the true democracy the late President propagated and the heroism and martyrdom that the late Senator Ninoy Aquino had demonstrated. The name of their son, Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III or P-Noy, as he wants to be called, at that time crossed the people's minds and became their symbol of hope, to a nation that is plagued with unparalleled corruption, in and out of the government.  Unfortunately, Noy was not even among the names of Presidentiables in this year’s 2010 elections. Because in reality, PNoy never sought the Presidency of the land.  But the Filipino people nonetheless, wanted him to be their President.

     And it came to pass...PNoy took the challenge and fifteen million Filipinos gave him the mandate, second only to Pres Gloria Arroyo’s 16 million. But contrary to Arroyo's being a recipient of perennial accusations of  massive electoral fraud, PNoy came out an undisputed winner, in a generally clean and honest presidential elections.  He holds the second biggest margin over his closest rival of 5 million in the presidential race second only to Joseph Estrada’s 6 million over Joe De Venecia in 1998. While PNoy stands as an antonym of Arroyo’s “dirty” election tactics, he became synonymous, at least during the election campaign, to former Pres. Estrada's questionable ability to discharge executive competence.  It was indeed during this campaign period that PNoy captivated his constituents with his aura of integrity but fell short in competence.

     That's done. That was the campaign period. Let's get to the real deal now that he is in office for more than 100 days. The following question now joins us at this point: “ Must we dichotomize integrity and competence in choosing a President?”  I honestly feel that  President Noy in exercising his leadership abilities must radiate both the qualities of sincerity and competence. You agree with my position, right? Question is, "did P-Noy demonstrate both qualities of Competence and Integrity in his first 100 days in office?" Let’s take a short review. First of all, let me give credit to my Fraternity brods, Christian Cardiente and Karl Barlaan in their article "Aquino’s First 100 days," which inspired me and gave me the material to write this article.

Case in Point: The Economy

     The Philippine economy grew by 7.9% in the first 100 days of PNoy mainly attributed to the stimulus that was created owing to the influx of money circulating in the economy at the aftermath of the elections and also to the export industry. Foreign investments is up by $1 billion in investments pushing up the peso against the dollar. Many economists attribute these positives to higher corporate earnings, increased exports, favorable expectations on the new government and renewed investor confidence. In this area, I would give my grade to PNoy as Passed in Competence.

    However, according to the World Bank, inspite of the economic growth of the Phil economy in this period almost half of the entire population remain poor and more than 38% of the population did not feel any difference or improvement in their living standards during this "robust" economy. These figures are confirmed by the SWS (Social Weather Stations).  A truly sincere leader should implement economic and social mechanisms in his government machinery so that the progress of the economy should trickle down to the poor, not only to the middle class or rich people in the society.  Maybe my comment here is in line with Economist and Professor Ben Diokno (who was my teacher in Microeconomics at UP Diliman), who said, “Where’s the road map?”  This map, Mr. Diokno might be looking for is one that will show us where the PNoy Administration should begin, in concert with all concerned, and how the benefits of our labor could  ultimately lead to the greater masses of the Filipino people.

     My personal grade  to the PNoy administration in this area is Failed in Integrity.

The August 23 Hostage Taking and the Jueteng Scandal

     This August 23 incident as well as the Jueteng scandal hurled numerous attacks against PNoy from his critics. The first, August 23 hostage taking, questioned his competence and the second, jueteng scandal, questioned his integrity. These two big issues penetrated and put  out in the open the fact that there is a tremendous partisan infighting going on inside the walls of the Malacanang Palace. During the August 23 crisis, PNoy distanced himself and did not want to interfere with Police matter. The two Palace Communications officials, Secretary Sonny Coloma and Secretary Ricky Carandang, according to press reports, gave conflicting advisories. They conflicted each other and only led to the unfolding of the fact that there are two warring factions among the Aquino supporters. Those that belong to the Samar group and the other the Balay.

     The DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) is also another image and scenario of the same warring factions. Secretary Jessie Robredo is not in good terms with the shooting buddy of PNoy, DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno. One is said to belong to the Samar and the other to the Balay.  The President should really do something about this. If these people cannot work together for the good of the Administration, the President should start purging these warring government officials and bring in people who can work with each other in harmony.

     Many too question PNoy’s sincerity when the IIRC review took a long time at the Palace, because Malacanang  officials needed to make sure that they can have all the legal grounds covered to absolve Undersecretary Rico Puno of any administrative or criminal charges. As of press time, Puno had already been absolved of any administrative and criminal charges contrary to Justice Secretary Leila De Lima’s recommendation.

     But before Puno was absolved of these charges, Bishop Cruz accused the Aquino administration of condoning the flourishment of the illegal numbers game “jueteng” wherein his Undersecretary and best friend, Rico Puno, as one of the biggest jueteng protectors. This was confirmed by a privilege speech by Miriam Defensor Santiago who identified both Puno and former PNP Chief Verzosa as jueteng protectors. By the way, did you know that jueteng as reported by PNP Director Raul Bacalzo is  now a P37B industry?

     The grade I am giving PNoy Administration in this area is Failure in both Competence and in Integrity.

     I believe that PNoy who is well loved by the Filipino people as manifested by his overwhelming mandate will not have a problem in discarding the elements in his Administration who are pulling him down. PNoy can and will deliver the results expected of him to his true bosses-the Filipino people. While 100 days cannot really be a measure of his true competence and integrity, as well as the competence and integrity of his Administration, at least it gives us a sneak preview of the future. But one thing for sure Mr. President, please do not dichotomize competence and integrity.