YEAREND of 2012, the buzzword that latched on to President Nonynoy Aquino was “Noynoying,” meaning doing nothing or doing trivial or less important things. P-Noy was rumored to have preferred gun-range shooting, driving a fast car, or playing video games with a nephew to tackling a problem of state.
He admitted then he was annoyed by any Cabinet member who’d pour out a problem to him instead of solving it. One Palace story was that he rated members of his official family according to volume of woes each would unload to the President. In Cabinet meetings, he’d look at a department head with the “rating” in mind and know what to expect.
That might have changed in 2013, or so his quote of the year suggests. In effect he said that while grappling with problems is tough, it’s also a problem not to have a problem as it would be “boring.”
From Noynoying or shunning crises to wrestling with them to beat boredom seems to be a big leap, unless the claimed shift is just p.r. exercise to persuade us he’s not playing hooky and will be bored if no problem grabs him by the collar.
2013 issue
Work habit, though, was less of an issue last year than his vaunted honesty. When critics tried to question presidential lump sums (DAP), equating it with congressional pork barrel (PDAF), P-Noy bristled over the tag “Pork Barrel King” which threw him into Janet Napoles’s depth of muck.
Other than suspicion that it was used to “buy/reward” anti-Corona senator-judges in 2011, DAP money hasn’t been tainted. It may be a lot easier to prove Noynoying than to prove a fund scandal in the Palace.
[paseares@sunstar.com.ph]