IT seems to be the fashion these days for public officials to ascribe sinister intentions to honest criticism.
Sometimes, the attempt to deflect blame is so nonsensical that it enters the realm of the absurd. Thus we could only shake our heads in disbelief when the disgraced Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr.—whose nomination was rejected by the Commission on Appointments for lying about his American citizenship—blamed his woes on “destabilization” attempts that were aimed at “the appointing power,” a none-too-subtle reference to President Rodrigo Duterte.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, before he was gagged in favor of presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella, famously claimed that Senate reporters were offered $1,000 each to attend a press conference that was embarrassing to Duterte as part of a plot to destabilize his government. To back up his accusation, Andanar cited vague “intelligence reports” and never explained why bribes might be denominated in US greenbacks.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, too, sees “a pattern of destabilization” against the administration, beginning with the accusations of a former police officer who said Duterte was the brains behind the Davao Death Squad when he was still mayor of Davao City.
Alvarez blamed supporters of the previous administration, saying they were using “big money” to destabilize the government.
Ironically, the administration’s own defense officials have consistently said that they have seen no sign of a destabilization plot against the government. This suggests three possibilities: 1) the intelligence capabilities of the defense establishment are extremely poor; 2) the plotters are much too clever to be detected; or 3) Mr. Duterte’s people are paranoid—or are using destabilization as a way to deflect valid criticism about themselves.
In the absence of solid proof of any destabilization plot, we must lean toward the third explanation.
But this makes the latest example of this paranoia all the more worrisome, since the words come straight from the President’s mouth.
In a last-ditch effort to save his Environment Secretary, Regina Lopez, from being rejected by the Commission on Appointments, Duterte accused mining companies who opposed her confirmation of trying to destabilize his government.
Several of them, he said, were funding the opposition against him to undermine his leadership.
He then threatened to impose a total nationwide ban on mining and use the military to enforce it, saying: “If they won’t arrest them, I’ll make them enter those pits and close them.”
In taking this path, the President has taken very specific—and valid—criticism of one of his appointees and turned it into an even bigger issue than it is. The opposition to Lopez’s appointment has nothing to do with Mr. Duterte’s leadership and everything to do with his secretary’s biases, lack of knowledge and competence, and imperial style.
The sooner the President accepts this, the sooner we can stop seeing plotters in every corner and move on to more substantive concerns.