Insensitive

Timing is everything in politics. Whether you opt to make a speech, file a bill in legislature, or run for public office, timing play a vital role in all these actions. A public official ought to be consulting his peers and advisers on the timing of his/her actions lest s/he faces the consequences it may incur. In politics, observance of good timing can be a tool to build up trust and confidence, even integrity; the lack of which only spells catastrophe especially for novice politicians.

In a time when Filipinos are hoping that this new year would be a hopeful and prosperous one, we have been greeted in the first week with news of price hikes in road toll, mass transport, petroleum products, bread and more. In a time when Filipinos are contemplating of tightening another notch in their already stretched belts, we hear of President Aquino’s purchase of a luxury car. 

Bad timing. Very bad timing.

And he’s got a very bad alibi for it as well. Not everyone can escape shame by saying “Hindi ho gobyerno ang nagbayad niyan.” The rich may think that they may continue in their richly activities in these dire times, but not for a public official like PNoy. He cannot get away too by saying it could be his last opportunity  to drive such a car. Such statements sounds as if coming from a 10-year old spoiled brat boy. To buy a Porsche in a time when Filipinos are worrying how to make ends meet is just insensitive.

A public official, let alone a president, should be one with us in these difficult times even if it means sacrificing some of his perks and privileges. It is not as if he is being denied of such luxuries. Having the money is no reason for someone, let alone a public official to be totally indifferent to what the rest of the country is suffering. What a president must do is to be a poster boy of austerity and not of prosperity.

This insensitivity only creates a bigger crack in his already tarnished reputation which has been turning around at record speed since his election. A lot of questions are now being raised if we are really being driven towards the Daang Matuwid. I seriously don’t want to be driven to it in a Porsche.