Now, P-Noy’s daang matuwid’ (straight and narrow path) has taken  a new meaning given the latest statements of Presidential Communications Development and Strategy (PCDS) Secretary Ricky Carandang and Sen. Frank Drilon, two of P-Noy’s closest allies. It is now equivalent to palusot, roughly translated as sly/pathetic excuse, pretence/alibi/false example) which, if we go by the administration’s bloggers, caused the ouster of then Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona. It seems the administration has so imbibed a Goebbels like culture of double speak and sloganeering that it has been passing off white lies and half truths as the real ones. Stretching the truth and name calling are fast becoming second skin to these people, they simply cannot shed these off. Apparently, they are used to such contortions.
Is it any wonder these guys gloried in the perorations of Ilocos Norte Rep. Rudy Fariñas as he skewered then CJ Renato Corona for his alleged SALn palusot? Well, it really takes one to... you know. Let’s take the latest Carandang and Drilon palusots.
Carandang has been quoted as saying that the administration was in dialog with the Chinese to lower tensions in the disputed areas in the South China Sea even as he was taking about plans to ask the United States to send P3C Orion spy planes to “monitor the disputed territories.” Then he proceeds to advise that the move “should not be construed by Beijing as a provocation since the spy planes would not be armed.” How naive if not utterly stupid can one get?
Did Carandang believe for one second that any self-respecting Chinese official will take his word for it? Would they ever believe any of his assertions at all? For that matter, will such senior leaders like Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile ever give Carandang the benefit of  the doubt, as it were, and join him in insisting that the Chinese should not look at such posturing as “non-provocative?” I seriously doubt it. The best response that Carandang could probably get from the Senate Chief and other like minded officials would be silence. They will probably let him show off his ignorance and irresponsibility until the stand off with China gets so heated they will be forced to shove him off and take over before things get any worse than it is now.
The time to shove off Carandang and his ilk may come sooner than we think after yet another unnecessary remark from his colleague in the three headed communications group, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda.
Taking off from Carandang’s naive jingoistic assertions. Lacierda warned the Chinese in their own language ‘Xiao xin i tien?, that is, be more careful with their ( China’s) statements, repeating in the process the skulduggery that the administration is not being provocative and not escalating tensions with China. Those acts and statements are not only misplaced and childish. They are pure and simple palusots. Enough already!
On the other hand, Drilon’s palusot is less provocative but still offensive. The Iloilo solon was quoted as having said that the ruling Liberal Party of which he is vice chairman (P-Noy is chairman and Secretary Mar Roxas is president) has gotten the “real Magsaysay” to run in its 2013 senatorial ticket after inducing two term Sen. Ramon “Jun” Magsaysay Jr. to return to active politics. That was, of course, a dig at opposition Rep.Mitos Habana-Magsaysay who was earlier tapped by the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) as one of its senatorial candidates. Drilon’s remark was recorded on camera and reported all over the papers after.
When he was chastised for such a crude and cavalier statement in suggesting that  Mitos was a fake Magsaysay, Drilon tried to distance himself and make palusot by insisting that he never said the lady solon was a bogus Magsaysay. Well, Mitos simply asked him to review the tapes and, if he as much as believes his palusot, censure the papers which reported his statement almost verbatim. He did not but kept on insisting he did not mean to demean or diminish Mitos’ credentials. Or her relations. Which only raised the lady’s hackles as she shot back: “If she is a fake Magsaysay then what would that make of Mrs. Drilon?”
End of exchange?
Well, No. It just reinforced the lingering public impression that making palusot has really become a matter-of-course, a kind of second skin to many senior leaders of the ruling party and this administration. In fact, after Carandang and Drilon were exposed for those statements and smart alecky assertions in trying to wiggle out of the holes they have created for themselves we were inundated with loads of palusots attributed to other administration officials including P-Noy and their allies outside of government. Which only goes to prove that indeed there is a deepening culture of palusot which has wormed itself into the highest ranks of this administration that, left unexposed and unattended, may well be injected into the cracks and crevices of society, infecting not just our politics but our very life as a nation beyond P-Noy’s term. Which is a pity indeed especially since P-Noy has made daang matuwid a centerpiece, nay, the very foundation of his presidency. Pity.


By the way, continuing with our Whatever Happened To Series, people are asking PNP Chief Bart Bartolome whatever happened to the  “two strike” policy directed at eliminating jueteng and other illegal numbers games as well as violent crimes addressed to all PNP officials down to the lowest station commander. Based on the reports, it appears that the administration’s vow to get rid of jueteng as well as lessen if not entirely eliminate violent crimes in each and every corner of this benighted land has not really materialized. In fact, it has gotten worse. Jueteng and illegal numbers games have proliferated like crazy, again giving lie to the daang matuwid administration mantra and, of course, violent crimes and other killings have become almost common place a lot of areas in the country are now being compared to Mexico’s “badlands.” It is time P-Noy and our police and security forces show some will and exert more efforts to get these unworthy undertakings off the stage and return order and stability to our communities.