by Edcer Escudero
When Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, the first native politician ever to win such an honor, the newspaper headline read: “Mandela wins presidency.” Then it posed the question “Can he run the country?”
On May 10, this year, Benigno Aquino III won in the country’s first ever automated presidential poll. The skeptics among us asked the same question: “Can he run the country?”
Well, Capt. Rolando Mendoza gave us a good clue as to Aquino’s capability to rule or govern. That bloody, hostage taking comedy of errors was Aquino’s first “major, major” test as a leader, and he failed that test miserably. On a scale of 1 to 10, he gets a one.
It is appalling that the entire Aquino pools of bungling sub-ulterns has tried – and continue trying to this day to wash their hands from any culpability for the hostage-taking caper. In utter desperation, they make it appear that the failed rescue operation is traceable to lack of training and poor equipment. They even hinted at ex-president GMA as the culprit. They must be disciples of Pontius Pilate!
Absolving Mr. Aquino of blame, his greenhorn mouth-piece Edwin Lacierda, proudly told the nation that his boss was fully aware of the situation because he was monitoring the event from Day One (or Hour One). He added that Aquino was on top of the situation. (Now, wasn’t that simply marvelous?). But then, how come it ended in a bloody mess?
I think we should take Lacierda’s word for it. Noynoy Aquino was, indeed, on top of the situation, so much so that he failed to see what was happening below.
A friend, who was a supervisor in a big company, told me that one of his main duties was to monitor the performances of people in his department. When monitoring, he said, he had to remind, warn, advise, caution and check their conduct in performing their assigned tasks. Monitoring he stressed, is not just watching and observing what is going on, but one has to involve in solving a problem. That’s being a hands-on leader.
President Aquino monitored the hostage drama, but was he involved? What did he do? How did he handle the situation and help resolve the crisis?
He said he thought it best to leave the matter to the experts, and just hoped for the best to happen. So, not being an expert, he kept his distance. Is that a leader?
How does Benigno Aquino III run the country? By monitoring. It’s the newest game in town. And Noynoy is its number one exponent. And its being played only in Malacañang.
A lady columnist of a national daily detailed in her column how Mayor Lim and VM Isko Moreno praised the policemen involved in the rescue operation. They said “we are not the bad guys.”
Well, then, who are the bad guys? The Hong Kong tourists? Or, Edcel Lagman and GMA allies?
Lim and Moreno are disgusting, if not moronic. They should think before they open their mouth.
Noynoy Aquino and his bright alter egos should quit before they bungle future crises and emabarrass our nation in the eyes of the world.
Let’s clear them of culpability, and in return, they clear their desks and bid goodbye to public service which they are not fit to perform.
