I think NEA will try to seize BENECO by Fake People Power
Pre-Semester Non-Lecture Analysis 37
In this day and age of social media channeling heightened public awareness, public opinion is no longer an abstract factor in policy formulation. There remain a few holdouts, mostly in the government sector ironically, who think they can still bulldoze their way through adverse opinion. In the private sector, it’s a whole new ballgame. Corporate America even goes so far as intitutionalizing opinion metrics as the most important consideration in business planning. Cambridge Analytica, Gallup Consumer Polls, Amazon Analytics—these are some of the most influential polling institutions in the US known to shape corporate philosophy.
We here in the Philippines are not foo far behind, albeit lagging substantially. There was a time when spending billions to buttress a company’s social responsibility programs was considered a waste of both time and money. But name any big corporation today—San Miguel, PLDT, Ayala, Globe, SM Group, ABS-CBN, Meralco etc.—these giant conglomerates all spend billions endearing themselves to public opinion. Since these are also the ones posting record profits each year, they must know something other companies don’t.
In fact, it is old hat that even tyrants and dictators heed public opinion—some even while defiantly denying it. During the declining phase of the Marcos dictatorship in the late 1980s, almost all the foreign chambers of commerce in Makati, and the trans-local Makati Business Club itself, began distancing themselves from Marcos and his cronies. Converging with the largely middleclass-powered campaign of civil disobedience, public opinion showed to all and sundry what it could do: topple down one of the deepest-entrenched authoritarian regimes in history, namely the conjugal dictatorship regime of Ferdinand and Imelda.
So why is Bongbong Marcos seemingly able to stage a not-so-ignorable comeback? My answer is because while public opinion is potent, quantifying, substantiating and harnessing it remains an underdeveloped science in this country.
I’ll give you an example. Asking around Baguio, I’ve discovered that up to 7 or 8 out of 10 people watching what’s happening in BENECO think that NEA is rocking the boat. In fact, some even see the meddlesome posturing of this government regulator as borderline economic sabotage in the way it threatens the power supply security within the franchise area. But so far, no major business chamber of commerce in Baguio or Benguet has come out openly to red-flag the situation. They’re waiting for the standoff to be resolved in court. They’re waiting for a government institution to rule against a government institution—yes, that’s not naïve.
What is my personal expectation otherwise, somebody asked. I said I would have bet heavily that by now a group of major commercial and industrial players would have banded together already and hurriedly filed an intervention in the Court of Appeals. A sector that relies heavily on steady electric power stands to be irreparably injured by any management intramurals within BENECO—that certainly gives them standing to intervene. Mayor Benjie Magalong couldn’t have put it any better: if it ain’t broke, stop fixing it. But forced to be circumspect by the complex dynamics of political factors, he can only go so far. Private sector has to pick up the cue. It hasn’t.
And this is why people behind the remnants of the martial law apparatus—make no mistake about it, NEA is a martial law creation, one of many that Cory Aquino overlooked to dismantle—are emboldened. There could be sound sentiment residing within the core of public opinion, true that. But as long as it is not organized and legally weaponized, it’s not a factor to reckon with. On the other hand, the lesson of history is clear, if the genuine article sleeps, the pretenders will lose no time putting together a convincing counterfeit of it.
So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if two things happen swiftly within the next few weeks if not days. ONE, the CA will come out with a ruling limply upholding NEA (I have always thought this can only be thoroughly debated and sorted out in the Supreme Court), and TWO there could even be a manufactured version of a “people power” demonstration in support of a NEA takeover of BENECO.
I’m sure the authentic public opinion will scramble to react and mobilize then. If it’s not too late.
The author is a writer and lawyer based in Baguio City, Philippines. Former editor of the Gold Ore and Baguio City Digest, professor of journalism, political science and law at Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF). He is a photographer and video documentarist. He has a YouTube channel called “Parables and Reason”