I promised myself I would not give any unsolicited advice to President Noynoy Aquino, but after his Inaugural Address yesterday (video and text w/ English translations), I think I have an idea to share.
The whole concept of One Tama came alive today when PNoy said these lines: “Kayo ba ay nagtiis na sa trapiko para lamang masingitan ng isang naghahari-hariang de-wangwang sa kalsada?” and “Walang lamangan, walang padrino at walang pagnanakaw. Walang wang-wang, walang counterflow, walang tong. Panahon na upang tayo ay muling magkawang-gawa.” The whole concept of nation-building-through-my-own-small-deeds just came alive. Two Facebook pages (here and here) about wang-wangs are now up and running.
President Noy promised to do his part, and suddenly, Filipinos wanted to do theirs, too. The President captured people’s imaginations with those lines, and here is my suggestion how he can continue doing so: Make a commercial of you doing deeds that are proper, doable, and things we always knew but for some reason, we always forget. For example, if the President has a video of him using an overpass instead of crossing highways, I think a lot of people will finally use the overpass (or pedestrian lanes for that matter). Or what if he has a video segregating trash properly, or him patiently waiting in line for his turn to get a driver’s license? I’m sure this will greatly address the problem of lack of discipline. Tinitingala ang presidente; take advantage, Mr. President! Stopping at the red light and not using your wang-wang is a good start; push it further, President Noy!
As much as our problems are economic and political, a lot of our faults are also behavioral in nature. We should also address these problems. If former President Gloria Arroyo (oh my, we can finally say “former”) can spend some money advertising her legacies, I’m sure President Noynoy can do the same for the sake of information and education of the ordinary Filipino. Go PNoy and Pinoys!
Tags: Noynoy Aquino, politics
Social Landscape 
July 1, 2010 at 08:49
From a sociology professor in the University:
No more wang-wang, no more kotong, no more counterflow! The imperative of the new regime: start with small things and everything follows! Reduction of structural problems to microphysics of power. So, we’re all Foucualdians nows! Let’s get busy analyzing details, so we can forget the Totality. The imperative against the new regime: Let’s Totalize!
Hahaha! Humorously, of course.
July 1, 2010 at 15:59
Dino, hahaha! Gets ko. Macro thinker ako, so first time ko mag-advocate ng something like this. Pero sakyan natin habang pwede pa.. Tingin ko may positive effect.
Actually, I remembered this morning that Bayani Fernando did this when he was MMDA chair. It has been done, pero iba siguro ang epekto kung presidente ang gumawa.