It’s not bad to put one’s best foot forward, especially when visitors come. It’s a distinctly Filipino trait. We take out the best china, the best cutlery, and let the children don their Sunday best.
It’s also human nature to want to be perceived by others as living the ideal life. On social media, for instance, many people try to project themselves as intelligent, classy, or at least happy. Whether they are actually so is another story, of course.
This administration’s preoccupation with hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held next week, however, is fast exceeding normal behavior.
A few days ago we pointed out the attempts of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to hide the homeless along the path of the Apec delegates. They were given P4,000, supposedly to rent places where they could participate in workshops to be conducted by the government. It just so happened that the workshops were scheduled on the day the world leaders would be in town.
The perception-happy Aquino administration has also scheduled school and work holidays across Metro Manila on the week of the summit. This is likely to ensure the absence of nightmarish traffic jams that would embarrass the government—traffic jams that we, on ordinary days, have accepted as a way of life.
The same is said of traffic in the air. Certain flights have been cancelled to give the impression that the skies are clear, even when on regular days, air travelers have to contend with the additional trouble. Throw in the scare about a bullet or two being found on a luggage.
Class suspensions may give students a happy respite—whether or not it is actually good for them—but workers who earn their keep on a per-working day basis would be put at a gross disadvantage through no fault of their own.
The world leaders are expected to come together to discuss how the lives of people in the region could be collectively improved. Metro Manila residents who must make sacrifices during the summit might suggest more honest governments, to start.