PBBM’s problem and the way forward towards genuine reform

In the Philippine system, no reform of national consequence can prosper without the go-ahead of the President. That is the plain truth.

- ANDREW J. MASIGAN

The question is this: is the President truly committed to dismantle the rotten system that enables flood control scams? Should we believe him when he says that the guilty will be held to account and that genuine reforms will follow?

Let’s not forget — it was the President himself who placed the spotlight on these flood control rackets during his SONA. His fiery rebuke of the scams was staged to be his grand finale, a repeat of last year’s popular ban on POGOs. The entire SONA was populist, meant to salvage his plunging popularity. But this time, he misjudged the political fallout. He didn’t expect this level of blowback. This is because the abuses of politicians are not just a passing irritation — they are an open wound in the public’s psyche.

Public outrage escalated as the real scale of corruption unraveled. To this, the President needed to show his solidarity with the people. He did so by shedding tears on camera. It was a public relations masterstroke that succeeded to divorce him from the guilty, even if the budget that enabled the scams was designed by his cousin and approved by him.

Still, | would like to believe that those tears were genuine — at least to some degree. But the reality is that the President's hands are tied.