The time to speak clearly is now, Mr. President

FOR a person who believes in the qualifications and readiness of Ferdinand ‘Bonget’ Marcos Junior to be the country’s next president after the 2022 presidential poll, it truly saddens yours truly to witness that it has become one of apparent drift, lack of direction and purpose during the first half of his term.

And entering the second, many are seeing that everything now appears no longer about governance but about “survival,” of just making it through past 2028, when his term ends.

President BBM is a kind person, make no mistake about it. However, it is now very clear that his kindness has been abused and exploited by those surrounding him for their own benefit—and at his expense and that of the legacy of good governance that I am sure he wants to be remembered by.

Those days of staying silent while his appointees in the Executive and his allies in the Legislature are having their merry ways—either in the manipulation of the budget, projects or policy formulations have now come to haunt—not them—but him.

In this day of the Internet, there is no hiding or “spinning” how PBBM has been poorly treated by his peers at the just concluded ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur and the subsequent APEC Summit in South Korea.

While not admitting it, one can suspect that he tasked our foreign affairs department (DFA) to arrange a meeting for him with US President Donald Trump or Chinese President Xi Jinping, meetings that should add feathers in his cap, but which never happened for the obvious reason that they don’t like to meet with him. What are they to discuss anyway?

President BBM is a kind person, make no mistake about it. However, it is now very clear that his kindness has been abused and exploited by those surrounding him for their own benefit—and at his expense and that of the legacy of good governance that I am sure he wants to be remembered by.

Uncle Sam already got what it wants from us– free military bases and free entry of US goods– and Trump was there to woo Xi to avoid a collapse of the US economy. Xi is not interested either after hearing PBBM again demonize China during the ASEAN Summit.

And while his breaking protocol just to shake the hand of Xi during the APEC Summit is sincere, his message of rapprochement failed to register with the Chinese leader.

Why would it when Xi knows that Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro just discussed with US War Secretary Pete Hegseth further measures to contain and provoke China over the issue of Taiwan and the South China Sea during the US-ASEAN meeting.

No official meeting too was announced as regards with his fellow leaders in the region, particularly with the rising powers like Malaysia and Indonesia.

Worse, on October 28, when the chairmanship of ASEAN 2026 was turned over to PBBM, photos appearing on the large screen were those of former President Duterte, a subtle message by the ASEAN leaders that they prefer Duterte’s brand of leadership over his.

But the optimist that I am, I continue to believe that PBBM still has a chance to prove that he is a man made of sterner stuff, although the time frame is indeed narrowing.

What it would take of course is a show of decisive leadership from hereon on all major issues we are confronted with, especially in the areas of foreign relations– too many officials are free to say what they want– and the massive and entrenched corruption in government.

PBBM must show in no uncertain terms, not only his displeasure, but also, his anger, to all those who have abused him.

The time to speak—and speak clearly—is now, Mr. President.