Fearless and fearsome forecasts
AND just like that, it’s already 2018. What a whirlwind year 2017 was. Every day seemed like a mixed bag of good and bad news. Whether looking into domestic or international news, there was this sense of relief and an equal sense of foreboding on what is to come.
Auspiciously, January 1 falls on a Monday. The beginning of the week ushers in what many hope for will be a better year. For the politicians, this is the year of positioning. You will see the would-be candidates jockeying in for the plum positions which will be up for grabs in the 2019 elections. Many will resurrect from political oblivion. The silent will once again be heard. The political noise will be tempered by prudence and caution. The pundits will be keenly watching, always on the lookout for the telltale shift of trends and preferences. Social media will be abuzz with news that is often tinged with truth and laced with humor, vitriol, and well, bias.
Policy-wise, there are signs that this government will crack down on the well-traveled appointees, the non-performing assets and services that, ironically, provide no use or service at all to the public. Government agencies tried and no longer trusted will be dismantled. The fat off the bloated bureaucracy will finally get the trimming that it so deserves. Change in this administration is coming and many will surely find it an unwelcome gift in 2018.
Fake news will rear an even uglier head and the spin doctors will be working double time so readers need be more discerning. Elections, whether imminent or forthcoming, have a way of molding fiction into fact so expect the blurred lines between the two to disappear as this new year turns into a preview of the battles royal in 2019.
On a more somber note, Mindanao will still be a priority – as it should be. I once frequented Marawi, Jolo, Isabela, and a host of other cities as Comelec regional director and eventually as Commissioner and it saddens me beyond measure to see what is now a painful reminder of countless bitter struggles. The war continues in the lives of those who have been displaced and it is my hope that the alleviation of their plight won’t get lost in the rhetorical spectacle that will surely come as elections near.
New years are all about new beginnings and recycled resolutions. But it should also be a time for new resolves. A more definitive commitment to be part of the noise that builds, uplifts, and inspires and to be silent in protest of the noise that destroys.