Saturday, November 25, 2006 Carvajal: ‘Victim’ or ‘responsible’? By Orlando P. Carvajal Break Point
PGMA is blaming the Media for her slipping popularity rating. This is nothing new. It’s probably the reason why she was unable to restrain her husband from filing those libel cases against 40 some journalists, a clear case of Media intimidation.
In any case, to blame Media for her unpopularity is practically the equivalent of attributing to Media Manny Pacquiao’s popularity. Whereas she is ‘victim’, he is ‘product’ of Media. But nothing can be farther from the truth.
Manny’s popularity rides on the punching power, speed and maturity of his boxing style. He decks his opponents in clear convincing fashion and all Media has to do is report it so people can savor it over and over again. In short, Manny is responsible for his success and is by no means the ‘product’ of Media.
In the case of PGMA, she is probably right in saying that Media harps on the negatives in her administration. But she would be wrong to insinuate that her administration has clear and demonstrable successes that Media intentionally passes over in silence. Her failures are fact while her successes are propaganda.
Media does not cause the many negatives in her administration. She does. Clear and demonstrable are the still unchecked killings of activists, priests, labor and peasant leaders and journalists, the ongoing graft and corruption in high places, the lack of priority for education, and the stark poverty in the rural areas and in urban slums.
She claims that her government is on track in balancing the budget. But this does not mean a thing to the millions of poor Filipinos who remain poor even as the budget is being balanced.
She might also be on track in the creation of ‘Super Regions’. But then again people will not feel the effect of these very long-term macro-economic projects until much later, if at all. People who are in the throes of poverty cannot afford the luxury of long-term planning. They need food, clothing shelter and education now.
On top of all that, she is very unpopular because the legitimacy of her government is under question. She has not done anything to clear herself of the allegations of cheating beyond blocking any and all forms of investigation.
An ‘Apec Special’ in Time magazine (Nov. 20), listed China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and India (in that order) as the fastest growing economies in the region. Does she blame Media too for the prospect of lowly Laos and Cambodia joining the Tiger economies of Asia ahead of the Philippines?
As Andrew Marshall (Time Nov. 27) so accurately summed it up, “poverty, corruption and joblessness still plague the Philippines.” Unlike Manny, PGMA has simply not delivered and hence the unpopularity. She is not ‘victim’ but ‘responsible.’
