IN April 2010, towards the end of the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, I wrote a biting piece entitled, “May Angal???” I wrote it out of sheer frustration over the abuses of the Arroyo administration that we, as citizens, could only helplessly protest. Here’s how that piece read:
“If you grew up in the streets and had to deal with a bully, you may recall having been told this to your face: May angal? Literally: Any complaints? If the bully was much bigger than you, and especially if he had other toughies backing him up, you simply swallowed your pride, meekly shook your head, and took whatever abuse was heaped on you.
“Your only recourse was to weep in self-pity and complain to the heavens about your fate. If you were the type with some measure of braggadocio, you told your friends that you didn’t have the heart to embarrass the bully or you didn’t want to dignify his lack of manners. But deep inside you, you felt really puny, impotent, and helpless. And ashamed of yourself for not fighting back.
“In this country, which has deteriorated into one governed, not by laws but by people wielding raw power, we are being bullied and told to our faces: May angal???
“We make a lot of noises, organize marches, sign petitions, hold up placards, write letters to the media, threaten to go to court, and curse the bullies to high heavens. But after so much sound and fury, the bullies in government still get away with their abuses. In fact, in a literal sense, they get away with murder.”
That was the situation then. And that still seems to be the case now, even as the tenure of President Benigno S. Aquino III nears its end.
At least, at one point, Arroyo said, “I-am-sorry…”, no matter that she obviously did not mean it and that she promptly took it back. But Aquino’s self-righteousness appears to be cast in stone. He seems to be a staunch believer in that kiddie taunt, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me!” In the face of protests and accusations – even being told to his face that he lied – he has brazened it and, in effect, has shot back: May angal?
Thousands of victims of super typhoon Yolanda are still living in pitiful conditions in Leyte, two years after the tragedy, and yet P10.28 Billion in rehabilitation funds have not been released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and nearly P4.5 Billion in quick response funds allocated to various national government agencies have remained idle – a clear case of government incompetence and insensitivity. Aquino himself did not even bother to show up in Tacloban for the second year’s commemoration of the disaster, choosing instead to attend the wedding of a taipan’s son. And who can forget how, amidst the death and destruction, Aquino and Mar Roxas, then Interior Secretary, made the most heartless remarks ever mouthed by national leaders? “Buhay ka pa naman, hindi ba?”(You’re still alive, aren’t you?) and “Bahala na kayo sa buhay niyo!” (Loosely: You’re on your own!)
May angal???
Some P10 Billion in public funds were spent, thousands of Metro Manilans were made to suffer monstrous inconveniences, businesses had to bear massive financial losses and, in effect, the entire country was swept under the rug, along with the filth of the metropolis, in order to present an impressive façade to the delegates of the APEC summit. In the aftermath, with a straight face, Aquino claimed credit for a “successful” summit, making the inconveniences and financial losses “worthwhile.” Meanwhile, Metro Manila promptly has returned to “normal” with its shanties, vagrants and horrible traffic.
May angal???
Forty-four members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force were slaughtered in Mamasapano, in an operation in which Aquino clearly had a direct hand.. Worse yet, when the remains of the troopers were flown to Manila, Aquino did not bother to honor them with his presence. He preferred, instead, to attend the inauguration of a Mitsubishi facility in nearby Laguna. Former President Fidel V. Ramos was also at that event but left early to meet the SAF remains, along with Vice-President Jejomar Binay.
Ignoring the facts, Aquino has stubbornly refused to acknowledge command responsibility for the tragedy, choosing to blame others, including suspended PNP Chief Alan Purisima, for having “misled” him. And yet it was Aquino who had gotten Purisima involved in the operation, in spite of the latter’s suspension. In his last State of the Nation Address, Aquino made no mention of the Fallen 44 and, to this day, their families’ cries for justice have been in vain.
May angal???
Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares fudged her birth, residency and citizenship records en route to the Senate and, she hopes, the presidency. Three Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, sitting in the Senate Electoral Tribunal, wrote incisive positions against Poe’s claim to being a natural-born Filipino citizen, but five other members of the SET – Senators Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar, Tito Sotto, Bam Aquino and Loren Legarda – ignored the Justices’ arguments, as well as their Constitutional underpinnings, in the name of political expediency..
May angal???
The Department of Transportation & Communication (DOTC), once headed by Liberal Party presidential standard bearer, Mar Roxas, and now by LP Acting President Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, has been a glaring example of government incompetence and insensitivity. In spite of the daily torment that commuters have to suffer in taking the MRT and LRT, the congestion at the country’s airports, the frequent sea mishaps due to lax government oversight, and the infernal traffic made worse by the delayed implementation of infrastructure projects, Aquino has shown no intention of replacing Abaya. “It’s not fatal!” was how Abaya described the traffic situation, while Roxas called it “a sign of economic progress.”
May angal???
Hundreds of travellers have reportedly been victimized by extortionists manning the security process at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The incidents have been bannered in the international media, further eroding the already tarnished image of the country’s principal airport. Instead of vowing to immediately get to the bottom of the problem, the government responded like a bunch of kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
President Aquino dismissed the incidents as having been “blown out of proportion by media,” Secretary Abaya cited figures to show that the affected passengers constituted an insignificant percentage of total travellers, and Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado disclaimed any accountability because, according to him, his function is simply to “coordinate” airport activities.
Meanwhile, the mysterious single bullet appearance in the bags of departing passengers continues and a new “profit center” has been devised at the NAIA: an “escort service” to guarantee hassle-free departures.
May angal???
The good news is that the Aquino administration will soon make its exit and the citizenry will have a chance to choose a new set of leaders with more competence and compassion than the ones in power. The bad news, however, is that our cherished hopes could be dashed by gold, goons and an automated version of Garci.
May angal??? ([email protected])’
