The late former President Ramos had a visual analogy for it: hitting the ground running . His famous analogy of baking the “ bibingka” – heated from above and heated from below—was his other famous metaphor for governance. A much ado about nothing, as Shakespeare would have put it — all sound and fury signifying nothing. But the multi-million megadike that saved San Fernando and parts of Pampanga from lahar is materially significant to sneeze at.
These ,among others, may not be lost on the Second Marcos President. There is also this popular infatuation , nay romanticism, with the first one hundred days, also known by the Americans who invented it and dubbed bit as the ‘hallmark holiday’ because of the huge excitement it creates and the big disappointment it brings.
Armed with a huge majority of Filipino votes tucked under his belt – 31 million votes in all but still under quiz —President Bongbong Marcos or PBBM, began his journey, adventure or mission into the Philippine presidency, apparently with a vengeance after a shameful rejection of his family by the EDSA Revolution in 1986 and clearly a vision of his own, necessarily -unfortunately but inevitably – tainted by his past. No doubt, there was an enormous incentive for him to set a high bar from the get go.
What do modern historians tell so far about PBBM’s scorecard?
It was a mixed one , meaning of good and not-good decisions –, a think tank said of PBBM’s performance.By good , intuitively, it meant “inspired’; by not-so-good, it meant the opposite. His choice of his Cabinet, especially his finance team head by Ben Diokno, was cheered and thumbed up by experts from both sides, or colors if you will, of the political fence.
The upshot?
Based on the Global Source’ report , cited on the positive column were the renewed confidence on the new administration’s fiscal and financial plans (new taxes?), bringing the country’s foreign policy to the center (vis –a- vis the West Philippine Sea dispute with China) and PBBM’s call for oil exploration in WPS given the high cost of fuel.
On the minus side, there is the uncontrolled rise in the price of food products, showing the government price control is a joke or a misnomer, and exposing the leadership skill , or the lack of it, of the Cabinet official in charge of the department; PBBM himself. On one hand, the growth in local production has been in the doldrums to the point of food shortage. On the other hand, there has been a glut on imported products due to unbridled importation.
Apparently, PBBM has displayed his leadership well as president but not as a Cabinet member.
In sum, it was a trot, not a gallop, for the country, according to the think tank, in the last five months or so. And the Bongbong Marcos, especially his Cabinet,is still evolving, with a couple or two prominent figures , already eased out. The team of rivals scheme suggested earlier by Sen. Imee Marcos may seem ignored but fully understood.
The new “baby”in PBBM’s financial crib, the Maharlika Wealth Fund, has raised concerns from economic and financial experts of mixed political colors. The plan has since been renamed , from sovereign to investment, recalling a familiar poetic line, ‘what’s in a name?’. To some, there is more to it than meets the eyes, especially those of the cynics who remember Carlos Santayana’s prophetic warning that those who forget the past will likely experience a replay of it. Maharlika, after all, is a dissonance of things past, not of the legendary golden age but of a time when nearly everybody’s official hand was on the cookie jar using ‘sovereign’ as a political shibboleth.
But the “baby” stays, the President or the Cabinet member insists. End of argument, even if the money of pensioners of the SSS and GSIS are taken out of the MWF, supposedly remaining on safe,if not sacred, ground. Every mortal, even A President, knows when to stop or moderate, greed or hunger. The popular dictum’ sovereignty resides in the people’ is not just a political theory as history, then and now, shows. Even China’s most powerful Xi Ping is forced to know when to loosen the collar on his people.
Politics is like sports, in some real way. A few days ago , Lebron James, the NBA superstar, described his team’s, the Lakers, wild, skin –of- his -teeth victory over the Washington Wizard . “Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.”,
For PBBM, in particular, luck may mean getting his dream Christmas gift on time. The death of Joma Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines in The Netherlands a few days ago, might be just that gift. JOMA, after all, was his father’s other”political competitor” As it is, it could open a whole new chapter in Philippine history. The future is not yet academic, though, although there is a palpable, if quiet, celebration in the administration’s camp. Time for some nitty-gritty statesmanship and downsizing moves on the outsize funds for intelligence as the country moves forward.
Will PBBM stay lucky as president in 2023?
Global Source has issued some caveats to remind everybody. There are strong external headwinds that still threaten the country economically, even if PBBM remains optimistic the country will weather the storm, unlike others similarly clobbered by the pandemic. And there is China, whose one foot keeps digging wider in the WPS and doesn’t show she’s a true neighbor that she claims all this time she is.
But give PBMM credit, for at least being as optimistic as majority his people are as he leads them into the unknown horizon. His graded performance with his mixed nuts may be good enough for now but the future will probably exact or extract more from him and his gang. The bucks stop where he sits or stands. The fair but purer Rene Saguisag of the original dilawan had a practical wisdom during Duterte reign: he wished him success because his is ours, too.
Bottom line: a fair and fine Christmas wish, too, for everyone .
