Aquino’s legacy of embarrassments

Exiting President Noynoy Aquino introduced the world to his presidency with an early major international embarrassment. This was the hostage-taking incident at the Luneta where several tourists from Hong Kong were either killed or wounded.

It was embarrassing that the inability of our policemen to handle the crisis was played out before the world.

Much more embarrassing, however, was Aquino’s demeanor, both during the crisis and in its aftermath (where the world saw him smiling and apparently amused while viewing the scene of the bloodbath).

How his term began was also how it ended: with an international embarrassment.

A few weeks before he is to step down from office, the Abu Sayyaf killed a Canadian hostage. The embarrassing case merely served to underscore that after six years of sitting at the most powerful office of the land, Cory’s son miserably failed to check the problem of terrorism in the country.

The unfortunate incident reminded the country of another major international embarrassment that also happened in Mindanao and which betrayed the serious weaknesses in the outgoing Palace occupant’s leadership.

This was the massacre of 44 young members of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police. It will be recalled that in what appeared to be an obsession with the capture of an international terrorist, Aquino opted to keep the operations secret from government officials who mattered most.

These included the heads of both the police and the military, and his Cabinet alter ego who was in charge of the police – defeated presidential candidate and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. It will be recalled that Aquino opted instead to put a suspended police officer who happened to be close to him on top of the operations.

To this day, many continue to wonder whether or not the SAF 44 would be alive had Aquino opted to follow the chain of command and disregard his apparent emotional dependence on cronies and cohorts. The recent filing of charges by the Office of the Ombudsman against the suspended police official and the field commander of the botched operation serve as a stark reminder of the outgoing President’s propensity for such embarrassments.

Of course, the communication team of the outgoing President would be quick to deny that their boss was embarrassed at all by these incidents, and that his actuations were embarrassing to his office and to the country he was supposed to represent.
They would similarly deny that the outgoing administration’s failure to address the traffic situation in Metro Manila also constitute an embarrassment on his administration.

Another embarrassment has been the outgoing administration’s terrible failure to address the drug and criminality problems.
Again, just a couple of weeks before the current Palace occupant exits, the media highlighted the misfortune of two lady office workers who were reportedly raped and molested while riding on a UV Express mega taxi on their way home. One of the suspects admitted he was under the influence of illegal drugs when he assaulted his victims.
Embarrassments of this sort merely heightened public excitement on the assumption to office of President-elect Rody Duterte.

It will be recalled that Duterte campaigned on won primarily on the promise that he will eradicate crime and deal decisively with drug syndicates.

If Duterte delivers on his promise, that would end the embarrassment on the part of the national government to curb these maladies.

It would do the outgoing Palace occupant well if he opts now to stop undermining Duterte and let the latter do his job sans the heckling that political losers are prone to engage in.

Aquino’s biggest embarrassment, of course, was the agonizing defeat suffered by Roxas in the presidential elections. As mentioned in an earlier column, Aquino had expressly branded the recent elections as a “referendum” on his presidency. That Roxas was beaten by more than six million votes merely underscored the Filipino voters’ rejection of whatever it is Aquino wants the country to acknowledge him for.

It is expected that forces identified with Aquino would continue to undermine Duterte.
After all, it would be another big embarrassment on the part of Aquino if Duterte succeeds and delivers on his promises.