If not now, when is the guy ever gonna be ready?

Still navigating “learning the curve” more than  one year into the job?

Oh, we’re worried. We thought there was no internship for the job of President of this poor excuse for a Republic.

And by the way, wasn’t’ it only days after he signed the country on to an international covenant on open government that binds the country to firm commitments to commonly accepted standards on transparency, accountability, and citizen empowerment?

If President Aquino fails to honor the country’s commitment to this new international protocol, then we would again be considered a “wimp” among nations which have strong political will to make governments truly above board in its official conduct.         

And so we are truly embarrassed, thoroughly disappointed, and completely outraged  as a people to hear the President say Thursday night that his administration was not yet ready to support any existing version of the Freedom of Information Bill because there were people who ask for information but do not use it for the proper purposes.

Explaining away the continued absence of his administration’s support for the FoI bill pending in Congress, he warned of the possibility of widespread panic caused by little information used improperly.

“A freedom of information act sounds so good and noble, but at the same time, first of all, you’ll notice that here in this country there’s a tendency of getting information and not really utilizing it for the proper purposes,” he told an open forum at a gathering of Southeast Asian business leaders.

“There are so many people who will always look at the bottle half empty, or, sometimes, the half empty bottle even becomes a quarter,” he added.

He noted that some of the country’s newspapers also present their opinion as fact.

“[Let] us have our people completely informed as mandated by the Constitution but at the same time make sure that idea of little knowledge becomes a lot of danger doesn’t happen in our country. That is the debate as to where to draw the line. We have a working group talking to all the stakeholders, trying to come up with that law that everybody can live with and comply with,” he said.

“And if I may add just one last point, all you have to do is read our newspapers every day, and I think you will agree that nobody can state a fact exactly the same in all of these newspapers. An opinion commenting on a fact is okay, but an opinion masquerading as a fact does not do anyone any good,” he added.

But then again, Mr. President, such facts or commentaries have no intrinsic value of their own unless fully appreciated by their consumer – the general public.

It is the general public perception of official government action that determines the moods or sentiments of the citizens.

And a more informed citizenry makes for a stronger, more vibrant democracy.

And this doesn’t do anyone good?