Benigno Aquino III | Prepys' Homepage

Burnout

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 Ellen Leave a comment

Regaling Miriam College highschool students.

President Aquino told an impressionable bunch of highschool students from Miriam College that he will not be putting on more pressure on his cabinet members concerned that they would suffer burnout.

This is what he said last Tuesday:

“The Cabinet is very hardworking, they’re very dedicated. You can’t ask anything more of them and perhaps I should learn to give them a little bit more breathing room. Baka naman ma-burn out lahat itong mga kasamahan natin sa gobyerno who actually do everything out of love of country. “

Burnout?

Helpguide.org gives a good definition of burnout: “A state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.”

Articles on burnout do not cover whether the person in danger of burnout is competent or has been effective in his job.

Still praising his cabinet secretaries, Aquino also said “They can go into the private sector and really make tons and tons of money and have less controversies in their life and have a more peaceful life. But they chose to make a contribution at this point in time. So I really thank them from the bottom of my heart.”

Chilling out in a concert with some cabinet members. To prevent burnout?

Aquino’s statement betrays the Palace attitude that their being in government is a great sacrifice for them and that the people owe them.

Who forced them to join government, in the first place? Did anybody put a gun on their heads to accept a government job? Weren’t their decision made out of their own free will knowing that a cabinet position, granting that it is not as high-paying as in a private sector, comes with power and prestige which they obviously enjoy?

Don’t Aquino and his cabinet members see their job as an opportunity, a privilege, bestowed by the people only to a few?

But anyway, Aquino and his cabinet members could probably use these tips from HelpGuide in preventing burnout :

* Start the day with a relaxing ritual. Rather than jumping out of bed as soon as you wake up, spend at least fifteen minutes meditating, writing in your journal, doing gentle stretches, or reading something that inspires you.

*Adopt healthy eating, exercising, and sleeping habits. (That means stop smoking, sleep early and wake up early.)

* Set boundaries. Don’t overextend yourself. Learn how to say “no” to requests on your time. If you find this difficult, remind yourself that saying “no” allows you to say “yes” to the things that you truly want to do.

* Take a daily break from technology. Set a time each day when you completely disconnect. Put away your laptop, turn off your phone, and stop checking email.

* Nourish your creative side. Creativity is a powerful antidote to burnout. Try something new, start a fun project, or resume a favorite hobby. Choose activities that have nothing to do with work. (They are already doing that: shooting.)

* Learn how to manage stress. When you’re on the road to burnout, you may feel helpless. But you have a lot more control over stress than you may think.

HelpGuide also said “The most effective way to combat job burnout is to quit doing what you’re doing and do something else, whether that means changing jobs or changing careers.”

The last one is something that some cabinet members might want to consider.

Aquino for Binay for president in 2016?

January 5, 2014January 5, 2014 Ellen Leave a comment

There’s a compelling reason for President Aquino to make sure that that he would be able to influence the people’s choice of his successor otherwise he would suffer the same fate that befell the two presidents before him.

His predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is in jail – hospital arrest, actually- facing plunder and electoral sabotage charges.
Arroyo’s predecessor, Joseph Estrada, spent six years in detention- much of it under house arrest – for plunder. Convicted, he was later pardoned. He nearly made a comeback as president in 2010, placing second to Aquino. He is now mayor of the city of Manila.

Surely, Aquino knows that in his position, it’s not a matter of good intentions as his “Tuwid na Daan” slogan trumpets. As president, he makes decisions, sometimes resorting to legal brinkmanship. Example is the Disbursement Acceleration Program, the legality of which is being questioned in the Supreme Court.

During his incumbency, a president is immune from suits and can only be removed by impeachment which is initiated by the House of Representatives. Aquino can sleep well that no impeachment against him would succeed because the speaker of the House, Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte, and Jr is a loyal ally.

The ties that bind Aquino and Belmonte are solid. Belmonte’s city administrator when he was Quezon City mayor is Aquino’s executive secretary – Paquito Ochoa, Jr.

Aquino’s concern, and for that matter all presidents’, is their vulnerability from suits once they are out of Malacañang.
Aquino’s mother, Corazon Aquino, was amply protected because her successor, Fidel Ramos, was her anointed.

Ramos did not have Cory’s advantage because the candidate he endorsed , Lakas-NUCD’s Jose de Venecia, lost to Estrada.
Ramos was investigated by the Estrada administration of involvement in the P7.3-billion Centennial Expo project in Angeles City, Pampanga . ( Ombudsman Aniano Desierto, his appointee, later on dropped him from the list of those being investigated.)
Estrada’s did not have the chance to influence the choice of his successor as he was ousted barely halfway through his six-year term.

Arroyo, who replaced Estrada, acknowledged the support of Ramos and several military generals in the ouster of actor- turned- president- now- mayor. Estrada believed that Ramos did so because of the Centennial Expo Scam.

Arroyo, who was so unpopular by the end of her nine-years in Malacañang, was of no help to the presidential bid of her candidate, Gilbert Teodoro.

It remains to be seen if Aquino’s popularity, undented by his immature leadership especially in times of crisis, would be good enough to make his endorsement valuable by 2016.

It also depends on who he would be endorsing.

Since Aquino is chairman of the Liberal Party, it is expected that he would be supporting the LP candidate for president. Right now, the one being touted as LP bet is Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

If Roxas runs for president in 2016, Aquino would look ungrateful if he does not endorse him for president considering that Roxas gave up his well-laid out 2010 presidential bid and slid down to be Aquino’s running mate.

But then, will Aquino’s endorsement of Roxas get the latter the presidency? Informed sources said in post-Yolanda surveys, which showed satisfaction rating for Aquino steady despite his bunglings, Roxas’ score dropped substantially.

Aside from Roxas, other LP names being mentioned as possible 2016 standard bearers are Senate President Franklin Drilon and Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio “Jun” Abaya. Both are considered lightweights as presidential contenders.

Outside the Liberal Party, there is someone angling for an Aquino endorsement: Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. That is if he gets past Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos as Nacionalista Party standard bearer.

At the opposite side of the administration party is the United Nationalist Alliance, whose head, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Sr, has not been shy about his 2016 presidential plans.

Binay’s national campaign machinery is formidable, it was able to make his daughter Nancy, a political unknown, win as senator in last year’s election. In many provinces, posters just carried the Binay name without pictures which made people think that they were voting for the vice president for senator.

Would it be possible for Aquino to support Binay for president? Why not? Not openly endorse perhaps but it’s not unthinkable.
After all, there’s a Noy-Bi faction in Malacañang, who includes no less than the immediate members of the President’s family. And Aquino tolerated that in the 2010 elections.

Who’s maneuvering for Gazmin’s post and why

November 5, 2013November 5, 2013 Ellen Leave a comment

Aquino and Gazmin: loyalty is what matters

Amid rumors that Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin would be replaced next year, President Aquino heaped him praises during ceremonies to honor those who have battled with members of Nur Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga last month. He called Gazmin the “timon ng ating mga kawal sa tuwid na daan (the rudder that will steer the soldiers to stay in the right path). “

Aquino said when the Zamboanga siege happened, Gazmin immediately reported to him and did not hesitate to be in the frontline. He asked: “Sinong hindi matutuwa sa tulad niyang walang pinipiling panahon sa paglilingkod? (Who would not be happy with someone like him who knows no time when it comes to service?)

As he reminded soldiers of the supremacy of civilian authority over the military, Aquino recalled again (as he has recalled in past occasions) his traumatic experience during several coup attempts against his mother, Cory Aquino.

(“Ilang coup ang dinaanan ng administrasyon ng aking ina, pero hindi po kailanman pinanghinaan ng loob si Sec. Volts. Biruin po ninyo, sa gitna ng putukan at habang nagsisimula nang umikot ang mga tora-tora sa ere, puwede siyang kinabahan, puwede siyang nag-panic. Pero hindi niya kami tinalikuran. Pinili po niyang protektahan ang ating Republika, at ipaglaban ang demokrasya. Maraming salamat kay Sec. Volts; talaga naman pong hanggang ngayon, tinatanaw ko pa ring utang ng loob ang kanyang katapatan sa serbisyo. (In the many coups that my mother’s administration faced, never did Sec. Volts waver. Imagine, he could have panicked in the midst of shooting and while we were the rebels were threatening the country by flying the tora-tora. But he chose to protect the Republic and fight for democracy. Thank you, Sec. Volts. Up to now I am grateful to you for your loyalty.”

He said he feels secure because he knows that the military’s operation and strategy is in good hands with Gazmin in the DND and Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista as Armed Forces Chief.

Aquino’s tribute to Gazmin should scuttle talks that Aquino was displeased with him for his blunder last September when he alleged at the budget congressional hearing that the Chinese put concrete blocks within Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough shoal, as foundation for structures that they plan to establish on the reef.

It turned out later that the concrete blocks had been there for many years and were put by the American military as sinkers for wreckage of ships that they used as targets in their shooting practice. This was the time when Subic was the U.S. naval base.
Gazmin’s departure from DND was being talked even before the September concrete blocks blunder. It has something more to do with his lack of vision as defense chief.

What we heard was the Liberal Party, particularly Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who has not given up his dream to become president, would like Transportation and Communication Secretary Joseph Emilio “Jun” Abaya to head the defense department.
Abaya, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, was a Philippine Navy officer.

The LP would like Hernani Braganza, former Alaminos mayor and defeated gubernatorial candidate, to replace Abaya at DOTC.
But Braganza would only be qualified to hold a government position in May 2014, when the one-year ban for those who ran in the last election expires.

An Inquirer report said Gazmin asked Aquino about rumors that he would be replaced. Aquino’s reply: “Pinagti-trip-an ka lang (They’re just making fun at your expense).”

Who could that be?

Aquino and the beetle experiment

November 4, 2013November 4, 2013 Ellen Leave a comment

“Hindi tayo pareho. Hindi kami nagnakaw, at hindi kami magnanakaw.”

President Aquino wants the public to believe that he and his team are God’s gift to democracy. That they can do no wrong. Corruption in government is confined to some members of the political opposition. His men are like him : upright, honest and candidates for sainthood.

That’s the essense of Aquino’s televised ranting last Wednesday.

Apparently, Aquino and his team have sensed the public indignation over misuse of pork barrel funds, intended in principle for the poor but ended up in public officials pockets. If everything is going well, why would he make changes in his communication setup. He enjoyed high approval ratings with the condescending Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda (aligned with Mar Roxas faction) assisted by Abigail Valte and Communications strategist Ricky Carandang as his mouthpieces. Why then the need to bring in the unassuming Press Secretary Sonny Coloma, aligned with the 2010 election Samar group that supported Vice President Jojo Binay?

Aquino rails at those who criticize his creation: the Disbursement Accelerated Program.

His reaction was to blame senators Jinggoy Estrada, Ramon Revilla, Juan Ponce-Enrile (whom he didn’t even name.)

What happens when you cut the beetle’s legs?

His off-target solution to the people’s dismay of how he is handling the pork barrel abuse reminds us of the anecdote about the beetle.

A boy wanted to find out what happens if the legs of the beetle are removed.

At first he shouted at the six-legged beetle “Move” and tapped the table. The beetle moved fast. He started with removing two legs of the beetle on both sides. Then he tapped the table and instructed “the beetle to “Move”. He noticed the beetle moved slower. He removed the next two legs and again told the beetle to “Move”, and he noted the beetle moved even slower. Then he removed the last two legs, shouted at the insect and tapped the table. The beetle didn’t move.

His conclusion: when you remove the beetle’s legs, it becomes deaf.

Hopeless.

Aquino still in deep slumber despite wake up call

October 18, 2013October 18, 2013 Ellen Leave a comment

Thanks to Dennis Garcia .

Mahar Mangahas commented on this column in my FB wall:

“Ellen, the SWS report about the 2013Q2 rating of the ADMINISTRATION was NOT a recycled piece; it was simply the final release from the 2013Q2 SWS survey. It is different from the SWS report on the 2013Q2 rating of the PERSONAL PERFORMANCE OF PNoy, which was released much earlier. Our report last week on the 2013Q3 personal rating of Pnoy was the first of a series from the third quarter survey; more will follow in due course, including the rating of the Administration (not the person) again. http://www.sws.org.ph/pr20130923.htm

“Ellen, here is the earlier SWS report about the 2nd quarter rating of PNoy, that you claimed was “recycled.” SWS does not do recycling; publicity is not our occupation.
http://www.sws.org.ph/pr20130729.htm”

Now we know why the three-month old survey of the Social Weather Station showing a high public satisfaction for the Aquino administration was recycled last Sept. 19.

At the height of the pork barrel/Janet Napoles scandal and the bungling of the Zamboanga conflict involving the Nur Misuari’s Moro National Liberation Front, the SWS survey conducted June 28-30 and was reported about in July was released again and was carried by major media outlets.

The lead of the story was the highest satisfaction rating (three out of four Filipinos) for the Aquino administration. Startling lead given the unfavorable headlines daily for more than a month.

Only when the reader read closely would he have known that the survey was conducted three months earlier when Napoles, PDAF and DAP were not in the national consciousness and Misuari’s men had not yet marched into Zamboanga.

Was that done to influence the respondents of the survey that was to be conducted by SWS on Sept 20 through 23?

The major media outlets were had. But as Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

The result of the latest survey came out and it showed that the number of people not happy with how President Aquino is performing.

Respondents consisting of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, ±6% for area percentages) were asked: “Please tell me how satisfied or dissatisfied you are in the performance of Benigno Aquino III as President of the Philippines. Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, undecided if satisfied or dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, very dissatisfied, or you have not ever heard or read anything about Benigno Aquino III?”.

Sixty-eight percent said they are satisfied and 19 percent said they are not satisfied resulting in a net rating of 49 percent. Still good, the SWS said.

Of course, it’s good. It is still plus 49. Not minus compared to the ratings of Gloria Arroyo.

But the decline is 15 points. This is the biggest dip in satisfaction ratings.

He got his highest satisfaction rating of 67 percent in Aug. 2012, and then declined to 55 percent four months after. A 12- point slide. Even when he got his lowest satisfaction rating of 42 percent in May 2012, it was just a seven-point decrease from 49 percent March 2012 survey.

The decline in the President Satisfaction rating may hurt his ego but it should do him and the people around him good.

It should clip, even for a bit, their arrogance and their air of “we can’t be doing anything wrong because, look, the President is popular.”

It should be another wake up call. The question is, magigising ba?

The President’s reaction putting the blame on Gloria Arroyo and ignoring the rot in his administration tells us he is still in deep slumber.