Just when you think the Aquino administration couldn’t do anything more to show its anti-people bias, it proves you wrong. Pretty soon, if they keep at it, even President Noynoy Aquino’s sarcastic remark implying that we should be thankful that we’re still alive may not even ring true anymore.
As the new year arrived, Aquino’s government, like a bunch of twisted Magi, brought gifts to the Filipino people in the form of whopping fare increases for the riders of both the MRT and LRT train lines. Then its supposed regulators of the water and sewerage industry fell asleep on the job, allowing rate increases to be inflicted on consumers of water (meaning, everyone), as well.
Both increases will be decided, ultimately, by the Supreme Court, on which many hard-up Filipinos have come to rely for protection from their own government. Meanwhile, the people who have decided that we’re paying far too little for mass transportation and water can be expected to go ahead and collect their higher rates, regardless; even if the court stops them with restraining orders, it will take another order to force them to give refunds, after all.
And what, you might ask, was Aquino doing while all this was going on? Why, he’s there on TV, getting interviewed by a stand-up comedian about his views on his love life and gays in the police force.
(Aquino’s spokesmen tried their best to tackle the issues that Aquino had no time for. But their explanations —to the effect that the people had been informed beforehand and that only a few were protesting—showed just how their boss’ insensitivity had afflicted them, as well.)
I don’t really know what Aquino wanted to prove by allowing himself to be subjected to the ultimate softball, powder-puff interview conducted by Vice Ganda, who gushed about the President’s supposed good looks and even convinced him to sing his favorite Freddie Aguilar tune about the slacker student life. All I know is, this is just the sort of interview that Aquino will allow, because it is confined to topics that he is eminently well-informed about.
Let all those hard-nosed journalists and pundits bewail their lack of an opportunity to talk to Aquino about Asean market integration and energy policy. Vice Ganda wants to know what Aquino thinks about the comedian’s resemblance to the stylist Liz Uy and nothing can be more important than that right now.
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But I’m really scared, for Aquino’s sake, about the cavalier treatment that his administration is disdainfully displaying to the poor. Attending a showbiz wedding while a typhoon is lashing a large part of the country is one thing; hitting the working class where it hurts by increasing their train fares by up to 80 percent and allowing its water concessionaire to raise rates is just playing with fire.
Why would the government risk incurring the ire of the citizenry at a time like this, when none of the government’s promises of a better life while traversing the daang matuwid have come to pass? Is it really hell-bent on forcing the people to take to streets when they have finally had enough of the insensitivity of the government that is supposed to work in their interest?
I don’t know. I’ve always thought that this once-immensely popular government would somehow leave office with some of the goodwill that swept it into office intact; no more.
It seems like the Aquino administration is its own worst enemy, as it continues to dream up ways to alienate more and more people as it limps to the end of its six-year term. And a government that started out with a bang, suffused with the good feelings and best wishes of the majority of the population, will reach the end of its days in a whimper of disaffection, hounded by lawsuits and a populace angry about being hoodwinked on such a massive scale.
I wonder if Aquino, in his less starstruck and uncaring moments, wonders if his failure to deliver on his lofty promises is an appropriate legacy. As the new year begins, maybe he also muses that perhaps he should have never sought the office he holds, something thrust upon him by his opportunistic political buddies, who just used him to perpetuate themselves in power and to make even more money by stealing from the taxpayers.
But perhaps not. For all I know, Aquino is just dying to get another chance to discuss his love life with some showbiz personality or to get invited as best man at another fabulous wedding.
Of course, we’re not nearly at the end of this feckless government just yet. And if he’s not careful, Aquino may be denied even the opportunity to leave his exalted office on his own steam.
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Yesterday, I joined the popular and long-running radio show Karambola on DWIZ, which airs from 8 to 10 a.m. Monday to Friday. It’s at 882 on your AM radio dial.
If you like what you’ve been reading here, maybe you’ll enjoy the radio show, as well.