Wednesday, January 17, 2007 Wenceslao: Payback time By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
PRESIDENT Arroyo used the phrase to sum up the accomplishments of the 12th Asean Summit, hosted by the Philippines and held in Cebu. “Payback time for the grassroots of Asean,” that was how she said it. The hope was that the pacts forged in that gathering would benefit not just the elite but also the masa of Asean member-states.
Payback time can also be used to describe the period immediately after the summit, when joy over the successful hosting is still in the air. I use that in relation to the taunting the summit’s organizers, specifically the builders of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), got from some sectors, most especially some media people.
For proof of that, you just have to scan Sun.Star’s Opinion pages for the letter of Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia. His suggestion: media people should make a post-summit accounting on some of their pre-summit claims. By the way, Pablo John has a web log (onion-skinned.com) filled with critiques on selected works of Cebu media.
Actually, I don’t have any objection to Pablo John’s call for a review of some media people’s pre-summit claims considering the attacks Capitol and Asean summit organizers had to fend off. With great power, as Spider-Man would say, comes great responsibility and for opinion makers the great responsibility is adherence to the truth.
Besides, that is what I have pointed to Capitol officials all along when the CICC issue seemed to have made them lose their cool. My take was that the better option was for Capitol to wait until the summit unfurls and when the CICC has been used as summit venue before hitting back at those taunting at them. That time, obviously, has come.
One of the lessons that I think should be learned in this episode is for so-called analysts to be reminded of one adage that has become a cliché: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. There should always be an effort to get the needed correct data before making criticisms. Objectivity is never a product of shallow thinking and data gathering.
Let us not dwell too much, however, on the past. After the evaluation of past actuation and after the lessons have been learned, there should be no more reason to linger long. To harp too much on past errors would be counter-productive in the end.
