Philippines: Annoying P-Noy

Because the Reds have time and again failed to sell to the majority of Filipinos their offered prescriptions to our national problems, they’ve resorted to all sorts of gimmicks in order to get our attention.

The latest concoction of the Reds is this term NOYNOYING, which is a pun on the president’s nickname and associating it with LAZY, CLUELESS and INEFFECTIVE. It’s a very cheap form of argumentum ad hominem. Their NOYNOYING term has no basis at all.

During the worst period of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, a period when the Reds, or the extreme Left as they’re sometimes called, should have grown by leaps and bounds — they could not even muster enough public support to pose a strategic threat to the dictatorship. Their controlled areas grew but not to the extent where strategic victory could be attained. To many Filipinos, yes Marcos was a mega problem but no, the extreme Left is not the solution.

Deposing Marcos was finally successfully undertaken thanks to the sacrifices of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. Ninoy gave up his life in order to stir the nation. Cory guided an angered nation to regaining democracy by ways of democracy. Because of these developments that culminated in the 1986 People Power Revolution, the extreme Left found themselves bitter bystanders to one of the finest moments in Philippine history.

It’s not surprising that they hate Ninoy and Cory Aquino with a passion — and that extends now to their son, President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy). It’s the oppressive and corrupt regimes that enable the extreme Left to recharge their batteries and expand their controlled areas of operation. They grew under Marcos and also under the regime of now detained former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. When the regime is oppressive, many folks become disillusioned because they cannot run to the government for the solutions to their problems. In effect, the oppressive and corrupt government has become their biggest problem.

the extreme Left disintegrated during the Cory presidency. The Cory administration’s policy of attraction caused many of the extreme Leftists to abandon their armed struggle and rejoin the mainstream of Philippine society. What subsequently happened was the darkest chapter of the extreme Leftist movement in the Philippines, the era of the Killing Fields. The term Killing Fields took off from the massacre of Cambodians at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime, when the Communists ruled Cambodia. In order to stop the defection to the government by their members, the extreme Left here, the CPP-NDF-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-New People’s Army) started killing their own members.

During the GMA regime, the extreme Left was again starting to gain some momentum, although not to the extent of their expansion during the Marcos dictatorship. Thus, it’s not surprising that from Day 1 of the P-Noy administration, the extreme Left, especially their front organizations, have become the president’s severest critics. They’re all over in many fronts — youth, women, farmers, students, migrant workers, urban and rural poor and so forth. Even when the P-Noy administration is doing something noteworthy, expect the extreme Left to brand P-Noy as doing nothing, lazy, ineffective and so forth.

During the turmoil in many Middle East countries last year caused by the so-called Arab Spring, the extreme Left was still attacking P-Noy even if the government was diligently working to bring OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) home from high risk areas. Since they could not credibly attack the government’s diligence, they’ve pinned the blame on the government for failing to provide jobs here that pay decent wages. They were to repeat this mantra all over again when three Filipino drug mules were executed in China. Sometimes, they get some traction because of our lazy and incompetent media, especially those shallow (if not corrupt) radio and television commentators who are unable to see through the extreme Left’s posturing and utterances and fail to challenge these.

Nobody will argue that all of us in the planet are reeling from high prices of important basic commodities that are caused by the continued rise of oil prices. High prices here are not the result of government inefficiency or fiscal mismanagement but are caused by the rise of the price of oil brought about by two factors — the dwindling supply and the Middle East turmoil that is hampering oil production and distribution.

An expert, Nouriel Roubini, New York University economics professor and co-founder and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics, recently predicted in an interview with Foreign Policy that if Israel attacks Iran and Iran retaliates by shutting off oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz — we might be paying $200 per barrel of oil. “The worse-case scenario is a protracted conflict (US with Israel versus Iran). If there’s an effect on the supply of oil and gas from the Gulf, and production and exports from Iran go for a while to zero, oil could go to $170, $180, $200 a barrel,” Roubini was quoted.

“The reality is that if you think about the last three major global recessions, there were all caused by a geopolitical shock in the Middle East that led to spike in oil prices. The Yom Kippur War in 1973 led to the global recession from 1974 to 1979; the Iranian revolution in 1979 led to spike in oil prices and the 1980-1982 recession; and even in 1990, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait brought a temporary spike in oil prices that led, among other factors, to a US and global recession,” Roubini explained the previous impact of oil globally.

Roubini’s forecast is not the worst part of it. The bigger problem for the world is that the IEA (International Energy Agency) has long warned that at the rate of present consumption, the world’s oil reserves will be exhausted in 20 years. The prognosis of NO OIL is worse than the current situation of expensive oil. These expensive and no oil scenarios are on the main agenda of many countries. The no oil scenario is scary because global instability and anarchy in weak States would be the logical consequence.

These are the two big realities that affect oil prices and both realities are beyond the control of the Philippine government. So why are these extreme Leftists still blaming the government for the rise of oil prices and the corollary rise of the prices of basic commodities that expensive oil had caused.

Clearly, the extreme Left is not after reaching a solution to expensive oil. All the extreme Left wants to do is to pander to their deep hatred for P-Noy and blame him for something that’s totally beyond his control.

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Roxas likes ‘Noynoying’ too

By Jeannette I. Andrade

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II on Monday redefined the term “Noynoying,” giving journalists a rundown of what he believed were President Benigno Aquino III’s virtues.

“For me, Noynoying means somebody who always tells the truth,” Roxas said in a speech at the weekly Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel news forum. “For me, Noynoying means somebody who is so careful about the people’s money, who does not borrow recklessly and who does not spend recklessly.”

“Noynoying,” a play on the President’s nickname “Noynoy,” is a new protest form characterized by lazing around, also known as the new planking.

Roxas expounded on the newly coined term for over three minutes.

“For me, Noynoying means somebody who never allows politics to tramp on the people’s interests, or conversely, the people’s interest is always ahead of politics.”

Inquirer Lifestyle columnist Gilda Cordero-Fernando tackled the same issue in her column on Sunday titled “Noynoying also means … trying to govern a country that has so many opinions.”

“Noynoying is knowing how to tell the truth. He never said he was poor; he never wore a wig; he never said he loved Corona,” Fernando wrote. “Noynoying means never to stop believing in the possibility of a clean government.”

Roxas cited the case of the last National Economic and Development Authority board meeting where Mr. Aquino, for nearly eight hours, went through 13 projects costing approximately

P150 billion with his executive family.

He said the President asked each member of the Cabinet where and how the funds would be spent, if the spending would be for the best and if the project had been well studied. That, Roxas said, is what Noynoying means.

“Noynoying for me means somebody who is putting our country on the straight and narrow path, which is why we are currently being admired and why investors are pouring in. For me, Noynoying means somebody who has so established a level playing field where businesses are left alone and where businessmen know they will get a fair shake and not a shakedown.”