Destab rumors as diversion: a turnoff

No doubt that Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts would encourage dissatisfaction with the Aquino government but floating a destabilization rumor to divert attention from the Malacanang’s public management bungling of the Oct. 18 Albarka tragedy is a big turnoff.

Peace adviser: MILF to be charged if P5-M aid misspent

The Aquino administration on Thursday vowed to hale the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to court if a P5-million “aid” for a leadership institute is found to be spent for “lawless elements” instead.

But presidential peace process adviser Teresita Deles insisted the P5-million transaction was above board, and that the money was for establishing a Bangsamoro Management and Leadership Institute.

“Certainly if we can see the P5 million was spent for lawless elements, criminal charges will follow. That is the way it is in any such transaction,” Deles said in an interview on dwIZ radio.

Probably anxious to contain the public’s outrage over the seemingly lack of anger by the President against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which killed 19 soldiers in an encounter last Oct, 18, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte confirmed rumors of destabilization plot against the Aquino government in the wake of talks of widespread demoralization in the military.

Immediately, she corrected her own statement saying, “we would like to correct initial reports that we had confirmed there are destabilization plots…It is not true.”

She explained that she was “just jumping off the President’s statements [on Monday] that there are some who are taking advantage of the recent incident in Basilan.”

There’s a word for what she did. It starts with the letter “S”.

Aquino’s propagandists should go slowly in using destab scenarios to gain sympathy for the President unless they want to end up like a boy who cried wolf.

One good thing going for Aquino is that he succeeded the very-much-disliked Gloria Arroyo. More and more people, even those who supported him in the 2010 elections, are getting frustrated with his clumsy, immature, and weak leadership. But that doesn’t mean that they regret seeing Arroyo out of power.

But Aquino should now go beyond Arroyo and be a competent leader. He can’t forever cover-up his weaknesses by resurrecting the sins of the Arroyos.

The best way to counter attempts by Arroyo and her loyalists is for him to do good. And that would entail not being too onion-skinned with criticisms.

Aquino should realize that there are times that only people who sincerely care for him and his presidency will tell him if he bungled. And it can’t always be on a confidential basis. There are things that have to be said publicly.

It took quite a while before Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV commented on the latest Albarka tragedy but when he did so, he was a voice of moderation. Typical of Trillanes, he gave it to Malacanang straight. He said in an interview with ABS-CBN’s Anthony Taberna that Malacanang can be faulted for being insensitive in its initial statements considering the circumstances.

Asked to elaborate, he replied: Public po ‘yung command conference. ‘Yung pagre-reprimand po kasi basic ho ‘yan sa mga military leaders. You praise in public, you reprimand in private. And marami ho kasi doon na mga commanders na hindi naman directly involved doon sa operation parang hindi ho maganda ‘yung mga ganyan.”

Be that as it may, Trillanes said, “They have to deal with that and move forward. Hopefully this time pag-aaralan na nila ‘yung mga statements nila bago nila ibitaw.”

Trillanes also said there is no denying about the demoralization among members of the military.”Ang information ho natin on the ground is talagang low morale ho ang mga sundalo natin, mga junior officers, senior officers, mga enlisted personnel, lahat for that matter. It was brought about by several factors, primarily ‘yung nangyayari na back and forth sa media.”

Trillanes has filed a resolution calling for a Senate inquiry on the. He said basic, important questions have to be answered: “Unang-una bakit sila pinadala doon ill-equipped sila, wala silang basic load, ang magazine nila – isa, dalawa lang, ‘yung iba apat at the most. Tapos 40 lang silang pinadala doon, sa isang lugar na ‘yung 100 plus na Marines were pinned down a few years ago by the same person na kukuhanin nila. At bakit walang nag-reinforce after six to nine hours of firefight and finally scuba diving course ito, hindi pinapadala sa test mission ‘yung mga ganito. Mayroon ding kapabayaan on the part of some ground commanders and isa pa diyan ‘yung failure of intelligence bakit hindi naging maayos. “

He said the Senate inquiry will also cover policy like the parameters of the ceasefire agreement and more importantly, if the MILF are in full control of their commanders on the ground.

It is expected that by the time the inquiry commences, emotions would have cooled down and discussions would be rational. Maybe it’s good for presidential spokespersons to keep their mouth shut for awhile.