‘Weather-weather lang,’
or ‘waiver-waiver lang yan?’

A DECADE AGO, a crony of deposed President Joseph Estrada immortalized the phrase “weather-weather lang yan,” to refer to the ups and downs in the life of a politician.

These days, the appropriate phrase would seem to be “waiver-waiver lang yan.”

Two years and three months after he pledged to waive his rights to bank secrecy as a grand gesture of transparency, President Benigno S. Aquino III now says he really sees no need to do so. In fact, if one reads carefully the statements from Malacanang, it almost sounds as if the idea of a waiver is almost like a gimmick of sorts.

According to the President and his spokesmen, Mr. Aquino does not want to sign a waiver of his right to bank secrecy because he does not want to be lumped together with guilty wealth hiders like one former Chief Justice, or because he already signed a similar bank waiver, one in favor of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

For those who have forgotten, or may have missed the announcement, then Senator and Presidential Candidate Benigno S. Aquino III proudly announced on February 23, 2010 (incidentally the 24th anniversary of the People Power Revolt that gave us press freedom, democracy, and rumor has it, transparency and accountability) that he was waiving his rights under the bank secrecy law to let the public know his assets. Aquino had made the announcement at the Second Integrity and Human Rights Conference at Hotel Intercontinental Manila, apparently to put the oomph on his campaign pledge of transparency, honesty, and accountability.

Aquino was not the only one inspired by the Holy Spirit to make a virtual financial confession of sorts; fellow Presidential wannabee Jamby Madrigal also announced she was waiving her right to bank secrecy as well. The difference was that Jamby lost the Presidency, and Aquino won by a landslide. No matter – both promises were forgotten anyway, at least for the moment.

Fortunately for history, government’s PR machinery is the one cog in the bureaucracy that never really sleeps. And so, one can find in the Senate website’s archives a press release dated February 24, 2010, entitled Aquino will waive right to bank secrecy.

In the press release, written concisely and precisely to amplify Aquino’s campaign platform, Aquino was quoted as saying that he wanted to set an example for others in government.

“Liberal Party standard bearer, Senator Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino III, said Tuesday (February 23) he will waive his rights under the Bank Secrecy Law to set an example for others in his administration if elected president,” the press release reads.

Interestingly, Aquino was quoted as saying that he would “not presume” that others in government should sign a similar waiver. Nay, this example of good behavior applies only to Noy.

“I am willing if necessary (to waive my rights under the Bank Secrecy Law)…but I will not presume for others who will join government,” Aquino was quoted by his press release writers as having said.

Two years later, his supporters presumed that Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona should sign such a waiver as well. Corona was under intense pressure during his four month impeachment trial to disclose his peso and dollar accounts. In the end, Corona admitted to owning $2.4 million in dollar accounts, and P80 million in peso accounts that he did not declare in his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth.

As if that were not enough of a surprise, Corona stunned his judges, prosecutors, and the nation when he proceeded to sign a waiver allowing the disclosure of his bank deposits. The gesture appeared half-hearted at first, as Corona refused to submit the signed waiver unless all his accusers submit a similar waiver. In the end, he relented and offered to submit the waiver anyway. The Senator-Judges said thanks but no thanks, and then convicted him.

But that’s not the end of the story, it seems. Corona’s flip-flop appears to have gotten the wheels of transparency turning. Earlier this week, a youth group launched a campaign against windmills, and also to get all senior public officials to sign a similar waiver. So far, those who have signed such waivers are those who appear to have little to disclose – first termers, partylist representatives, progressives, and a lonely smattering of politicians.

Topping the list of targets for this campaign is President Aquino, the man who, in case anyone but the writers of press releases has forgotten, was one of the original proponents of the “sign a waiver” movement. As for the members of his Cabinet, they may have taken to heart Aquino’s 2010 statement that he wanted “to set an example for others in his administration.” Just like their principal, all the Cabinet members are being urged to sign a waiver, to no avail.

That’s because by this time, the President no longer seems interested in such things as waiver-waivers.

The President and his spokesmen were quoted in several news reports in the last few days as saying that he had nothing to prove with such a waiver, that he was not guilty as Corona, that, horror of horrors, the bank secrecy waiver was “overrated,” and that he had already signed a waiver of bank secrecy anyway.

Well, perhaps not THAT kind of a waiver that he offered in 2010, since this waiver that he did sign is one that all government officials and employees submit as part of their SALN, and is only for the use of the Ombudsman and not the general public.

But if, in February 2010, Noynoy Aquino was really just referring to the mandatory waiver in the SALN, why did he have to make it part of his campaign promise in the first place?