A strong president

I was surprised to learn that President Aquino’s rating remained high despite the challenges he faced early on in his presidency. This proves one thing: our president is strong. And ,despite some misgivings about his ability to lead the nation, the people remain confidently on his side.



Interestingly, PNoy has beaten his mom’s record. He earned a +60 percent rating, according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS), weeks before he wrapped up his first 100 days in office. Tita Cory, in the same period decades ago, got only 53 percent.



From all indications, PNoy must be on the right track. He better be.



I eagerly waited for the release of the latest SWS surveys and find out if his popularity rating has waned amid a series of debilitating setbacks such as the row in Philippine Airlines and the bloody massacre of eight Hong Kong tourists by a demented cop.



On Monday, PNoy himself announced the recommendations of a legal panel that made a comprehensive review of the Incident Investigation Review Committee (IIRC) report. As expected, administrative cases of misconduct in office and simple neglect under Section 60 of the Local Government Code was recommended to be filed against Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and a number of police officials involved in the botched hostage taking-crisis.

Lim did not take the recommendation lightly and again publicly vented his ire on the IIRC panel headed by Justice Sec. Leila De Lima. One thing good about Lim, a former police general, is that he acts as if to defend not only himself but the other police officials who “are being paid to be shot at and die.”

I understand where he is coming from and I sympathize with the good mayor. He was right when he ordered the rowdy Gregorio Mendoza handcuffed minutes before the bloody ending of the crisis. The only mistake was the timing. Lim’s order came at that particular hour for primetime news. The cameras were rolling and airing live the events that were unfolding. If the handcuffing happened an hour earlier or an hour later, things would have ended differently.

Recommending administrative or even criminal sanctions against certain government officials involved in the tragic hostage drama is not a job fit for a weak president. Causing some generals’ heads to roll is a task far from being easy. But PNoy did it.

Former Manila police director Supt. Rodolfo Magtibay, Dir. Leocadio Santiago of NCRPO, Supt. Orlando Yebra, Chief Inspector Santiago Pascual III and other police officers were cited for gross incompetence.

They now bear the brunt of the problem caused by one of their own- a policeman who was once among Manila’s finest cops.