Pnoy’s tunnel vision makes DVD issue a low priority
THE refusal of President Benigno Aquino 3rd to take action on Secretary Ronald Llamas shows two things: that he does not have the heart to discipline a member of the KKK (Kaibigan, Kaklase, Kabarilan) and that he is a man of vision. Tunnel vision, that is.
I became aware of Llamas’ strong influence on President Aquino when Congress deliberated on the bill seeking to postpone elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao ( ARMM). An overwhelming majority of Mindanao lawmakers were against the Malacañang proposal initiated by Llamas, the presidential adviser on political affairs. Normally, in local issues, leaders vow to the consensus of leaders who represent the area. Not this time. I don’t know what means the President used, but he was able to persuade legislators from Mindanao to postpone the ARMM elections from August 2012 to the second Monday of May 2013.
Llamas’ influence did not end there. He also got his favored nominee, former Rep. Mujiv Hattaman of Anak Mindanao party-list, appointed as ARMM officer-in-charge by the President. Llamas’ anointed one was chosen over the Muslim scholar and diplomat endorsed by Sen. Franklin Drilon, former Justice Undersecretary and one-time Lanao lawmaker Macabangkit Lanto.
Of course, we already know that President Aquino laughed off the incident in which Llamas’ car was found to be a virtual armory. Now, Llamas was recently caught buying pirated digital video discs (DVDS) worth more than P2,000 in Quezon City. Again, the President said that this issue of a Cabinet-rank official of his administration embarrassing the administration by buying pirated DVDS was not a priority. Ronnie Rickets, chief of the Optical Media Board, has expressed dismay over the Llamas case. I advise Ricketts to hold his tongue. He might be the one to be forced to resign and not Llamas.
I agree that our President is a man of vision, although I must add that his is a tunnel vision. With this kind of vision, he could concentrate only on the imprisonment of former President Gloria Arroyo and the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. All other things must wait. If Malacañang has little time left for the economy, jueteng, and law and order, how can he possibly give high priority to Llamas’ purchase of pirated DVDS, which is not even a crime? Incidentally, I want to commend an old friend, Mat Vicencio, who pointed to his wife, Donna Policar, associate editor of Bandera, that the buyer of pirated DVDS they saw at a Quezon City mall was Llamas.
I don’t blame President Aquino for going after his predecessor and Corona. After all, he’s merely pursuing his campaign promise to fight corruption. But what about his other campaign promises? I remember media reports of his promise while in Dumaguete City to expand the coverage of the Cheaper Medicines Law to benefit more people, especially the poor and the elderly.
“We will do this more vigorously. Medicines covered by the law only account for roughly P2- billion of the estimated P125- billion worth of pharmaceutical purchases in one year. What we need is a government that will look out for the welfare of the people and not of big business or pharmaceutical companies,” he said.
Had he pursued this noble endeavor simultaneously with the Corona impeachment, he would have won greater respect and admiration. But no, he could not, not with his tunnel vision, which enables him to concentrate on only one issue at a time. Or is this because there is a strong lobby by pharmaceuticals as alleged by then-sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd when he was pressing for the enactment of the law? Incidentally, why is Roxas now silent on this issue after making such a big noise about it before the 2010 elections?
Impeachment prosecutors winning!
Yes, you read it right—the prosecutors in the impeachment trial of Corona are making a big headway. Unfortunately, this headway is outside the court, where they are helped immensely by Malacañang and some media outlets.
The prosecutors and their spokesmen exhibited bravado before and during the trial. The prosecutors’ performance inside the trial, however, was not commensurate to that bravado. If the House “hotshots” had only read my warning before the start of the actual trial, they would not have suffered any embarrassment during the proceedings.
In my January 14 column, titled “Will the Senate school House ‘ hotshots?”, I said of the prosecution panel headed by Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo province: “If Tupas and Co. will act as if they are the repository of all legal wisdom in the world, then watch real fireworks in the impeachment trial. It will be fun to watch when Tupas and the other House “hotshots” start parading their legal knowledge, or lack of it, before the Senate. I had seen JPE [Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile] correct the presentation of supposed ‘ expert resource persons’ in committee hearings, so woe to illprepared persons at the trial.”
If the House prosecutors got embarrassed at the trial, they have only themselves to blame!
efrendanao2003@yahoo.com