The past few weeks had been furiously confusing. It is difficult to see who is friend or foe, which is probably why many stayed away from the Ayala rally even if they are angry about pork. But one thing is clear to me… the game has changed. We now have a more engaged citizenry obsessed with scrutinizing every move of our government officials.

I believe it is all for the good. This is why we elected P-Noy to begin with. Daang Matuwid resonates… perhaps to the surprise of some of P-Noy’s boys.

It is worth reminding here that to criticize P-Noy and his boys is not being anti P-Noy. For many of us, it is a way of reminding everyone, specially P-Noy what Daang Matuwid is about.

Recent events have made us wonder if the so called “political pragmatists” around him, those with checkered careers in Philippine politics, have sabotaged Daang Matuwid. We are worried that P-Noy had been convinced to skew his Daang Matuwid here and there to get cooperation from members of Congress.

But the nation is holding P-Noy to a higher ethical and governance standards. That’s why the anger level is high.

One other thing remains clear to me. After a studied look at the political environment, I still cannot see a moral alternative to P-Noy. He may still be all talk about Daang Matuwid but his honesty and sincerity to serve remains. I see him going back to Times Street in 2016 not much richer than when he entered Malacanang. This is more than we can expect from the presidential hopefuls out there.

It is scary, in a sense, that P-Noy is still our only viable hope to clean up our government between now and 2016, short of an extra constitutional event. But even in a coup, one never knows how the new leaders will turn out. Idealistic as they may present themselves, they will owe their power from the gun rather than from the ballot. Our experience with authoritarian rule is a nightmare.

Hopefully, P-Noy would introduce enough reforms to the institutions and ways of government that will be difficult to change whoever succeeds him in 2016. Time is running out, the enemies of change are not resting and that’s reason enough for all citizens to be shrill and for P-Noy to listen and act.

It is worrisome that P-Noy does not seem to get it. He and the Ricky Carandangs working for him can’t seem to understand that we are worried beyond P-Noy’s term. It isn’t just about how they spent the funds, as Ricky insists. Assuming that P-Noy did not abuse DAP, the Malampaya Fund, the Pagcor and Sweepstakes funds, can that be guaranteed of his successors?

We have to look at basic principles here. These lump sum funds are presidential pork. Besides, didn’t P-Noy introduce a bill while he was a senator to prevent Ate Glue from doing what he is doing now? P-Noy should be instituting safeguards even if it means curtailing his prerogatives for the rest of his term. If P-Noy can’t do that, the nation is screwed because no ordinary politician who will come after him will want to do that.

Here is another basic principle that should be taken into account. Allowing the Budget department to gather savings from various government agencies into a DAP is wrong. It gives an incentive to over budget or under spend at the start of the fiscal year because savings can be pooled later and spent at will on anything you want.

My good friend, Ed Yap explained, they can also provide excess plantilla positions with no intention to fill them. The appropriation for the unfilled positions is considered a saving that will be realigned.

What made the DAP more despicable is that Butch Abad went to senators and congressmen and told them they can identify more projects to be funded by it. That is plain and unadulterated pork to me, no matter the denial. It also happened in a way that makes it look like a reward for impeaching Corona. In politics, how it looks is often more important than what it really is.

In the beginning, I thought it was good that seasoned politicians from the Liberal Party are there to help P-Noy get some political savvy so his programs can get done. Even I thought in 2010 that P-Noy’s Daang Matuwid will be dead in the water without political support.

Over three years after, I get the feeling that the ethically agnostic politicians around P-Noy have taken control. And since P-Noy is not comfortable consulting people other than those he already knows, he has become more and more isolated from the rainbow coalition of people that brought him to office.

The Palace is also misreading the high public opinion ratings as total endorsement. I take the high ratings of domestic opinion polls as well as the favorable reviews of foreign observers as essentially and merely reflecting hopes and dreams of P-Noy delivering on good governance. They are looking at him as the game changer of Philippine politics and are going to be terribly disappointed if he fails to deliver.

Well, the game changed alright but with P-Noy as a mere observer rather than at its lead. It was all accidental too… sparked by a greedy woman who supposedly imprisoned an aide who was starting to get ideas about competing with her in the business of transforming congressional pork barrel funds into illicit personal wealth.

The public anger had generated a momentum for change. I find it amazing that public anger has remained strong after three months. No scandal lasted more than two weeks in the past.

If P-Noy knows what is good for him and the country, he will now ride on this public clamor for change. That’s how to move his Daang Matuwid faster despite reluctant bureaucrats and party mates.

Worthy of praise is the Herculean accomplishment of the Justice department and the NBI in gathering what is hopefully enough evidence to convict the bastards behind the Napoles pork and Malampaya scams. We ought to encourage them, COA and the Ombudsman to finish the job of getting the pork scoundrels to account for their plunder.

No ifs and buts, we have to jail a few senators, congressmen and other high officials to serve notice that we mean business. Unless we are able to do that as quickly as possible, the credibility of our institutions will continue to sink in the hearts and minds of our people. That’s not a good thing. It makes us susceptible to a savior on horseback.

The game has changed and the next moves are P-Noy’s. He no longer has to “bribe” members of Congress. P-Noy is no longer hostage to their greed.

There are, however, a few things P-Noy must do to convince people he means business. He needs to do some housecleaning. It was embarrassing for him to find out that the PR operator of Napoles is also working for his executive secretary. He must take steps to ensure there is no one in his administration whose ethics and sense of political morality is questionable. 

The old congressional kalakalan is over. Our politicians, specially in Congress, are in a state of shock. They are now defensive.

You can see the body language of Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada and you can sense apprehension and fear. But we must all be angry for as long as it takes to send the porkers to jail… no ningas cogon… eternal citizen vigilance must be our way of life.

One other very important thing: P-Noy must realize intention alone is not delivery...not for good governance nor for infrastructure. Listening to reports of his statements in Bali during the APEC Summit, I got concerned that P-Noy thinks inclusive growth will happen because he said so. A good sound bite does not make a reality, Mr. President. 

A good intention, like inclusive economic growth or eliminating corruption, will not happen unless P-Noy is ready to make bold moves to make it happen. The Conditional Cash Transfer will not accomplish the goal of inclusive growth. Creation of jobs through massive private sector investments will. That likely entails Cha cha.

The good news, Mr. President, is that you have an engaged citizenry behind your program for good governance. But you need a change in your mindset too, and so do your advisers. Otherwise, we will all miss this golden opportunity to finally reform government.

Gov’t shutdown

Last week on Jay Leno, made me think of our own gov’t.

It is day three of the government shutdown. Right now 33 percent of the government is doing absolutely nothing, which is not bad considering that before the shutdown 80 percent wasn’t doing anything.

DEMAND AND SUPPLY is Boo Chanco’s column in the Philippine Star. E-mail the author at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.