Aquino’s blame game

It is not at all surprising that President Aquino would attribute conspiracy to the move of Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III to assert the proprietary rights of the Sultanate over Sabah. It’s hilarious that the President is now resorting to his usual blame game, fixated as he is on the Arroyo administration.

I’m not laughing, though.

The Sabah issue and its consequences have dire implications not only on the 800,000 or so Filipino Muslims who have made Sabah their home, but on the economic and political relations between the Philippines and Malaysia.

I am in total disagreement with what the Sulu sultanate did in asserting its proprietary rights over Sabah.  But the issue now is what to expect from the Aquino administration, considering the fact that even the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is imperiled.

Worse, the government of Malaysia has to do what’s best for its own national interest and security.  It has to prevent a spillover the confrontation between Kiram’s followers in Lahad Datu to other places in Sabah.

With regard to the alleged conspiracy, that’s a stretch of the imagination.

Now they want to find out whether former President Gloria Arroyo was behind all this – she who is in hospital arrest due to a debilitating ailment.

How far will the President go in demonizing his predecessor?

At the rate non-issues are developing, the Sabah dispute is likely to stay on the back burner.  Unfortunately, lives have been lost. In the meantime, the President has resorted to his usual blame game.

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The  United Nationalist Alliance had questioned the recent Social Weather Stations poll survey. According to the recent survey, nine of the administration candidates are in the Magic 12 while only three among UNA bets are in.

When I was public affairs manager of KBS (Kanlaon Broadcasting System) during the martial law days, managing Channels 2, 4, 9 and 13, I got involved in a lot of surveys on program ratings. I know how easy it is to manipulate results, depending on the questions asked, there areas where the surveys were made, and the people commissioning or sponsoring the surveys.
In the case of the SWS survey where UNA candidates like Greg Honasan, Jack Ponce Enrile and Dick Gordon suddenly dropped below No. 12 (other recent polls show them doing well), that is really a big surprise.  As they say, it’s statistically improbable. The improbability lies on the fact that suddenly two administration candidates found themselves in the Magic 12 not as No. 11 or 12, but Nos. 5 and 6.

I’m not saying, however, that the SWS survey has been manipulated.  The suspicion remains, though. This is why polling companies must disclose who commissioned the survey, what questions were asked and what  areas the survey covered.

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Speaking of poll surveys, they are just that—surveys indicating where a candidate is at the moment when the poll was made.

If he is winning, then he should make sure he maintains his advantage.  If he  is losing, he should exert more effort to do better.

Poll surveys at this point in time are mere indicators.  They are not infallible.  I have seen contrary results.

What should be avoided, however, is having surveys two or three weeks before election.  This could result in trending.

People don’t rely on surveys, but they are still influenced by them. After all, we all want to identify with the winners and not the losers.

Many things can still happen. There is vote buying, violence, natural disaster of manipulation of the precinct count optical scan machines.

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It’s now clear that what fueled the raid of the Department of Social Welfare and Development warehouse in Davao City by hungry Pablo survivors was that it took so long for the DSWD people to distribute the 10,000 sacks of rice stored in that warehouse.

The reason? DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman was waiting for the arrival of President Aquino and his Team Pinoy. The plan is that they would be the ones to distribute the rice to endear themselves to Davaoeños.

The typhoon victims just could not wait. Damn the law and due process when one is hungry. Blame Soliman who wanted to take advantage of the distribution for popularity.

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Is it true as some bankers are saying that the huge amount of Gross International Reserves amounting to close to $90 billion come from China? Some Chinese are reportedly trying to avoid paying taxes or being scrutinized by the Chinese government since they came from illegal sources?

Is this what the Aquino government is saying as a huge amount of dollar inflows from the country’s economic turnaround?

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/03/06/aquinos-blame-game/