‘Whether he likes it or not President Marcos Jr. should take the narrow but upward path to create confidence-building measures.’
PRESIDENT Bongbong Marcos often mentioned his hope for unity in his inaugural speech as our 17th president and that “everyone should put his shoulder to the wheel.” He could have mentioned — as he seems given to pleasant and inviting ideas — his presidential rivals and lauded their earnest campaign efforts, even outgoing Vice President Leni Robredo, in his 28-minute speech. He could have taken a truly reconciling and admirable step if he had lauded Robredo’s remarkable work during the pandemic. It would have been a welcome exercise against demeaning partisanship.
His nearly profound statements on empowering the people to help in his governance should have gone hand in hand with urging opposition leaders to work together with him. It is certainly more politically essential to bury the rancor and bitterness of the past before genuine unity is accomplished, which indisputably does not rest on rhetoric and propaganda.
Whether he likes it or not President Marcos Jr. should take the narrow but upward path to create confidence-building measures. It seemed amazing that the new President did not seem to exhibit any of the animosities of the terribly-bruising and grueling presidential campaign and looked and sounded sincerely gracious and deferential.
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President Marcos Jr. should seriously crack down on agri-smuggling by officials of the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Customs. Reports reaching the office of the President showed that top officials of DAR, including two undersecretaries and four regional directors, have conspired with Customs officials since the tenure of President Noynoy Aquino on the smuggling of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products, to the detriment of local producers. Joel Reyes-Zobel of DZBB of GMA7 commented that “tuwing may konting kibot sa agri products, gawain nila import agad.”
Outgoing Senate President Tito Sotto has strongly recommended to the new President the immediate suspension of the officials involved while an investigation is going on. During radio interviews, some of the officials even blamed each other, and even accused Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco as one of the smuggling culprits, which the latter vehemently denied.
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The President’s inauguration at the National Museum seems to send a strong signal that his administration will not go the way of his predecessors, who mostly had their inauguration at the Luneta Grandstand. He desires that his leadership be framed on the deeply heroic and patriotic shadows resonating in the halls of the historic museum, memories of our beloved motherland, such of those of the most gifted and most illustrious senators ever — Claro M. Recto, Lorenzo Tanada, Emmanuel Pelaez, Soc Rodrigo, Jovito Salonga and Gerry Roxas, among others.
