When trust
is gone

She calls for an energy summit to discuss ways and means by which the nation could weather the high price of oil. Ho-hum is the general reaction. Fart is all they will produce from the talks. And before she could get anybody interested in the summit, other than her misplaced Secretary of Energy who probably wants to impress upon the public that he has already learned something about energy, she comes up with a token cut on the import tariffs on oil products. So there goes her summit. Para que pa?

You think she got the nation to applaud, let alone thank her for her small mercies? No. Everybody and his mother wants her to suspend the collection of the E-VAT on oil, at least until the world market for oil cools down. As we mentioned in last Tuesday’s article, she and her Teves obviously cannot, and will not, even if Mar Roxas goes kneeling before her. (See what you get for supporting your Doña’s E-VAT, Senator Mar? You went along with Ralph Recto and pushed for the E-VAT and saved your president from collapse. You allowed the increase, which you then called "reformed" VAT to cover basic necessities like oil and medicines; surely you had the foresight to see what could happen when oil prices hit the roof? Now you want relief for the "masa" you hope will elect you in 2010, and does your Doña care one whit?)

In crises like these, the nation ought to hear from her, and nobody else but her, an explanation as to why the fiscal requirements of government cannot afford to suspend the VAT on oil. On how such a suspension could mean 50 billion pesos, maybe more, of foregone revenues, and how government could not afford that at this time. But she cannot. Because no matter how she explains, people will not give her the benefit of any doubt. That’s what happens when trust is gone.

Her trade secretary tries to revive that mothballed idea of a tax on text. It had been proposed three years ago, and thrashed, because it was "unpopular." Text messaging is a minor luxury, certainly not the "necessity" some politicians copiously claim it to be. It is a "venial" sin, if alcohol and tobacco are "mortal" sins, and slapping another 10 centavos on the habit should not hurt so much, except perhaps cut on the corny jokes peddled through the technology.

But as soon as Peter Favila had spoken, his own cell phone was inundated with text messages calling him such an ogre. If a highly credible leader had called for such sacrifice, and identified the reasons why the nation’s finances need the shot from text, people should understand. But Peter works for a president who has lost public esteem, and any sacrifice she calls for will be met with hostility.

Why, even doubling the cost of a super lotto ticket has caused so much furor. If I were president, I wouldn’t mind if gambling, which to me is a vice less mortal only to substance abuse, is priced so high it becomes virtually unaffordable. But then again, I may be testing the limits of price elasticity. I seriously wonder if gambling to the addicted is as much a necessity as rice is to most everyone else. In which case, let the market bear whatever its cost.

But then again, no amount of explanation could assuage the bettor, and even Malacañang wants to backpedal. First it disclaims any prior approval, leaving it to PCSO to explain. Which we all know is a lie. PCSO used to be under the Office of the President, which means every resolution has to have the nihil obstat of the presidential office, at the very least the incredibly abusive Eduardo Ermita. But she has placed PCSO under Francisco Duque of Health, and would anyone think Duque is capable of doing anything important without clearing from his Doña, misma? Not Duque.

Which gives you an inkling about this "good" economist’s priorities. She is worried perhaps that increasing the cost of a lotto ticket will reduce sales, which in turn reduces her own "take" from PCSO, through her social fund. What worries her to death is the possible demand elasticity of gambling, and its impact on her revenues. (Sanay sa jueteng, probably because of her Comadre Baby Pineda’s tutoring. Mabenta kasi pwede maski beinte-singko sentimos na taya.) At the end of the day, everything is measured in terms of money in. But think of money as a way to alleviate public suffering due to oil price externalities? No way Jose, and I mean Mar.

A cabinet secretary who is focused on his work and who understands how the economy functions, and sees his department as a vital cog in that economy will always have a hard time justifying his plans and defending his performance, let alone asking for more resources from such a president. But inutile cabinet secretaries rewarded for personal loyalty after retirement from the military or the police need not worry about such oral examinations under this economist-teacher. Whatever they do, or not do, they are untouchable. Just as Esperon is sacred, and as this column reported first months ago, will be extended beyond February 9. Because he and the military cabal in her cabinet are to her mind, absolutely essential for her survival.

Not the people, who love her not anyway. Only "her" generals constitute her life support system. That’s what happens when trust is gone.

The other night on television, a self-styled financial analyst commented on a news forum where my friend Bayani Fernando was the main guest. Expectedly, Bayani rather immodestly trumpeted his qualifications to be Numero Uno beyond Marikina and into Malacañang. (BF no longer is, and I hate to say this, Marides seems to be better at being Mayora. Wait till Tala succeeds her. She will beat both mom and pop.)

The financial analyst rued this early pre-occupation for electoral politics that will culminate two and a half years down the road, saying this would detract us from needed economic focus. The economy, my foot, exactly as GMA’s mantra. He, he, he, this openly supportive disciple of Doña Gloria probably hopes to be drafted by the Boss Woman one day into her stinking government.

Don’t you get it, Mr. Del Castillo? Everyone is thinking ahead (which is very atypical of the average Pinoy, who can’t think beyond today), looking at 2010, because that to them is deliverance. Deliverance from "evil." Deliverance from this government of cheating and lying and stealing. People just can’t wait to bid her "adieu."

Such is the tragedy of this incredibly lucky woman. Unlike her father who exited with dignity and public esteem relatively intact despite his loss to Marcos, hardly anything this Macapagal does or does not, from now until she goes seem capable of regaining the public trust.

Which is why she and her hard core of dark eminences are plotting incessantly how she could prolong her stay in the stinking palace astride the stinking river. Believe me, she will keep trying and trying and trying.