Abnormal

Lowdown

By JoJo Robles

Normally, a government official who resigns under suspicion simply disappears like the proverbial thief in the night. But we’re obviously way, way outside normal here.

Rico Puno may be out of the Department of Interior and Local Government—but he is certainly looking forward to being a continuing force to reckon with in the administration of President Noynoy Aquino. And those who still have a problem with that will just have to grin and bear it.

Puno has been going the rounds of media lately to explain how he has been the victim of a smear campaign to get him out of DILG. But while Puno has left the department under questionable circumstances, he exudes the confidence of someone who enjoys the absolute trust and confidence of the only man he needs to impress.

Indeed, Puno sounds like he’s actually glad to be out of a job. And even if he doesn’t get new employment soon, he says he will remain close to Aquino and probably even get to spend more quality time with his close buddy and former boss on the firing range and elsewhere.

Not for Puno, apparently, is the common fate of government officials forced to leave their positions under a cloud of doubt, and who try to fade into anonymity in the hope that the forgetfulness (and implied forgiveness) of a people with a notoriously short attention span happens as soon as possible. No, sir.

If anything, Puno may have emerged even more powerful without a limiting portfolio— and with new, unlimited access to Aquino. That is the unmistakeable message that the unbowed and definitely unembarrassed presidential crony so clearly sends.

Aquino himself has little to say to disabuse anyone of the widespread impression that Puno is unsinkable and irreplaceable in his tight circle of presidential pals. As if to bolster the belief that nobody can besmirch his close friend’s reputation, the last public announcement the President made about Puno’s fate is the promise that he will be given a new job.

Why no one seems to find this situation anomalous is the big mystery. What it says about Aquino’s loyalty to his friends is eminently clear.

As for Puno, he may accept some high-profile job like director of the National Bureau of Investigation or no position at all, if he prefers to play Rasputin to his enthralled and admiring friend. One thing is certain: Nothing can separate Puno from Aquino—even if no one will likely find out why.

Just don’t let anyone tell you this is normal. Because we left normal behind a long time ago.

* * *

The Singapore foreign ministry has denied reports which said that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong supports the Philippines’ position for a peaceful resolution of the South China Sea territorial dispute. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement was as terse as it was uncharacteristically snarky:

You all know how free the Filipino media is; they can even be very free with the facts. There has been no change to Singapore’s position. When PM Lee met President [Noynoy] Aquino [at the APEC summit in Vladivostok, Russia], he reiterated Singapore’s consistent position, namely that we do not take sides on the merits or otherwise of the various specific disputes in the South China Sea. PM Lee called on all claimants to exercise restraint and for disputes to be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law. Unlike the Filipino media reports you refer to, we deal with facts not fiction.”

This newspaper didn’t publish the report that has gotten the Singaporean ministry’s underwear in a bunch. But that doesn’t mean that the supposedly fact-free Manila media is to blame for insinuating that there has been a change to favor whatever the Philippines’ position is on its territorial dispute with China on the part of Singapore.

It was Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario who tried to twist the Singaporeans’ position. Del Rosario and his boss, Aquino, probably thought that since the Manila delegation to APEC was being treated like an unwanted leper by China and many of the other delegates in Russia, they had to show that some country was on their side in the territorial spat.

The Manila media simply reported what Del Rosario said, that “Singapore has committed to continue its support in terms of a peaceful resolution of the disputes in accordance with international law.” Aquino, Del Rosario said, thanked Lee “for the very strong support that Singapore has given the Philippines in terms of its position in the West Philippine Sea.”

Del Rosario, Aquino and the others who went to Vladivostok were just going for brownie points back in Manila when they tried to make it appear that Singapore was the Philippines’ ally against China. In the same manner, the Singaporeans wanted to express their displeasure at what Aquino and his foreign secretary did, but did not want appear to be chastising them directly.

So the media gets blamed when government lies—or when officials of another government can’t criticize their counterparts for lying. And people wonder why media (the unconscripted media, that is) is always critical of the governments they watch.