Let this game be a warning

Two months into his presidency and PNoy 's much celebrated political capital seems to be dwindling.

Still well within what is supposedly his honeymoon period, President Aquino's administration has been marked by a defective (and subsequently recalled) first memorandum circular, an obvious reneging on his promise to not impose new taxes as shown by a stubborn insistence to impose VAT on toll fees (despite objections by his own partymates, even by the very author of the R-VAT Law, and slyly justified by claims that it's an old but hitherto uncollected tax), sounding (in his first SONA) more like he's still on the campaign trail by focusing on lambasting his predecessor rather than on laying out a detailed plan of government and in having overlooked key pieces of legislation like the Freedom of Information Bill, and a seeming failure to lead by example with the dismal state of affairs in Hacienda Luisita.

As though his domestic woes were not enough, PNoy's credibility is now severely tarnished, even internationally, with last Monday's hostage crisis. And, in a seemingly kidding but ultimately mocking twist, PNoy now finds himself as the object of (virtual) aggression in the online game Bus Hostage by Policeman: Smiling President Edition. Rightly or wrongly, presidential blunder is seen as having contributed to and having aggravated last Monday's turn of events. What's more, his failures seem to resound more clearly at home than they do abroad. As of this writing, six of the top ten scorers in shooting the 'smiling President' are supposedly Filipinos.

Now, a paltry online game is by no means a substitute for a scientifically conducted survey to gauge PNoy's trust rating. But I'm inclined to think that the creation of a mocking game (even if it may have been by foreigners) and its (apparent) appeal to Filipinos is something that should seriously concern this administration. After all, while it is but a game, that it entails the virtual shooting of a disliked personality makes it a cathartic exercise; and it being a cathartic exercise, clearly, there are ill feelings that are simmering and in need of venting - ill feelings that, while innocuous today, could fan the flames of future troubles for this administration.

As Rep. Walden Bello (in a Facebook status message) put it, "The administration must realize that if there's anything citizens hate more than corruption, it's incompetence." Thus, lest President Aquino is courting the same rebuke that his predecessor has earned (or perhaps worse), it's time to shape up.

LUIS JOSE F. GERONIMO
Entry No. 12