‘We believe Espenilla because he has credibility.’
We have a suggestion to
Ernesto Espenilla, the Bangko Sentral deputy governor in charge of supervising
the banking industry. Steer clear of those characters in the Palace who people
believe have been infected by their principal with the highly contagious disease
of lying through their teeth.
We understand the need to reassure the public of the health
of the banking system. When Espenilla said the exposures of local banks in the
failed US financial institutions are manageable, we believed him. When he said
the local banks are well positioned to weather the financial crisis which is
already spilling over to Europe and, it is feared, soon to Asia, we believed him
too. When he said monetary authorities are prepared to infuse money into the
system in the event of a liquidity crunch, we have no doubt the central bank
would deliver.
We believe Espenilla because he has credibility. Same with
Bangko Sentral Gov. Armando Tetangco and his other principal, Diwa Gunigundo,
who is in charge of research and policy.
Thus, we were uncomfortable seeing Espenilla seated at a
table, with the logo of Malacañang directly behind him, along with Secretaries
Rolando Andaya of the budget, Peter Favila of trade, Gary Teves of finance and
Ralph Recto of planning during a press conference on the likely effects of the
US financial crash on the local economy.
So many lies have been spun and delivered at similar
occasions in the same venue that the people tend to believe the contrary in
every pronouncement coming that way.
That Malacañang logo is a subliminal signal to the viewer
that he is again being treated to a lie-story like when Ignacio "I Have Two
Tapes" Bunye came up with a copy of the genuine recording of Hello Garci
conversations and a fake one involving a low-level political operator. Bunye
assured us the former was the fake and the latter was the real one. For his
blatant lying, Bunye after a time was rewarded with - of all sinecures - a seat
in the Monetary Board.
The appointment of Bunye, who was patently unqualified to
occupy the Monetary Board seat reserved for a representative of the private
sector, already mocked the independence from politics of the central monetary
authority, that is, the BSP, as mandated by the Constitution.
Let the integrity of the BSP not be tarnished by the presence of monetary
officials at dog and pony shows scripted, directed and produced by Malacañang.
