Babe's Eye View article

President Noynoy Aquino taking full responsibility for the August 23 hostage debacle at the Quirino Grandstand is a good sign. If there’s anything people want to hear, it is for their leader to own up to this unfortunate incident. Command responsibility is the operative phrase and in this case, the buck stops with the commander-in-chief. The mark of true leadership is displayed not when things are always going good for you, but when you are ready to take the punches when things go bad.

Admittedly, many mistakes were made. And while the president has only been in office for 65 days, it’s quite obvious there are a lot of lessons to learn from this fiasco. One thing for sure—there were too many people in charge but with limited responsibilities. One glaring example is Secretary Jesse Robredo who is supposed to be DILG Secretary, yet the affairs of the Philippine National Police are placed under the direct supervision of DILG Usec Rico Puno, the closest confidante and friend of the President.

Now it’s coming out that none could possibly admit taking full responsibility for the botched rescue. Then there’s Mayor Lim who refuses to admit any mistakes were made, but reportedly told Secretary Robredo that he was in charge. So who was who and what was what? Quite confusing. And yet another classic “confuse the confused” situation is the three-headed Press Office hydra that had two conflicting stories on where PNoy was at the height of the hostage crisis. To compound the situation, no one could explain properly why PNoy could not or did not take the call of Donald Tsang.

At this point, it just won’t do anymore for government officials to keep giving the apologetic blather about being “new on the job,” because there is no such thing as a period of apprenticeship in a very problematic country like ours. Obviously, there is no school for running a country, especially a nation like the Philippines with the extremely unique Filipino psyche that is not easy to pin down. As one Senator pointed out to me, “maraming siga dito sa Pilipinas” (too many big shots in this country).

And whether PNoy likes it or not, there will be many occasions that will require him to micro-manage the country and not rely totally on too many underlings. Besides, “too many cooks will always spoil the broth,” and Filipinos usually listen only to one strong voice. As Max Soliven used to tell us, when you are President “it is better to be feared, not loved.” Noynoy does not need to be loved. There are enough people who love him already. As president he now needs to be feared and show that he means business.

Nevertheless, the decision of PNoy to take full responsibility for the hostage crisis is expected to douse the fire, with the aftermath serving as a lesson that makes it the proverbial silver lining behind the dark clouds hovering this early over the new administration. Over 15 million Filipinos voted for him and are pinning their hopes on PNoy as their “transformational leader.” What happened on August 23 might as well be the “refiner’s fire” that gets rid of the useless dirt to reveal the gold within.

One particular example and a very good sign that PNoy recently displayed was his appointment of Ma. Lourdes Sereno as Supreme Court Associate Justice (who absolutely had no “padrino” backing her up). This appointment reverberated with applause not only within the legal community but to many people as well. Injustice is what causes revolutions and the Aquino family only knows that too well. They themselves were victims of injustice.

Although President Noy wants to be surrounded by young people, our unsolicited advice is for him to get those with proven experience on many aspects of governance but at the same time, are liberal enough not to be constrained by parochial views on how things should be done—a balanced and global perspective to be precise. I also don’t see any harm if from time to time, he would ask former leaders of the country and gain insights from their experiences on peace and order, or get good legal advice from former Chief Justice Reynato Puno for example.

Moreover, he can also get some good advice or insights from people who have no agenda except to genuinely want to see him succeed—his relatives for instance with expertise in their respective fields like his cousin Tony Boy Cojuangco, an original campaign supporter with no hidden agenda and another cousin, former presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro who has indicated his willingness to help and does not want any official position in government. People like Tony Boy and Gilbert can also give him good feedback on certain matters because they will tell him what he needs to hear and what he has to know—without any sugarcoating.

Criticism is par for the course when you are president. It’s good to remember what former US president Richard Nixon once said: “Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.”