Pwede Na Yan Mentality Led To #SAGASA2016

Today in history is the failed #Sagasa2016 event. I guess many people wanted to see both Noynoy Aquino and Joseph Pabaya get ran over by a train, right? As the year ends, I decided to write this post before it's 12:00 Midnight or January 1st at 12:00 A.M. So how did the whole problem start?

Three words "Pwede Na Yan" or "that will do" in English. You could consider how neglect on the part of Pabaya gives him the best renaming of all. While his real name is Joseph Emilio A. Abaya but he got called as Pabaya for his lousy performance. Noynoy's refusal to dismiss Pabaya for his lousy performance would have also contributed to the deterioration.

Is it possible that Noynoy thought that as long as there's still an operational train and people can still breathe instead the crammed MRT then pwede na yan? If he thinks that those two will do then he's already sadly mistaken. When you refuse to do maintenance check then you can expect performance to deteriorate. This is the problem of the presidential system's lack of voice which is present in the parliamentary system.

This event could have been minimized or even put under control under a parliamentary system. Since both Noynoy and Pabaya didn't have much scrutiny, since there was no direct competition from the Minority Bloc then no one could have provided better solutions. Would have Noynoy and Pabaya have to answer to the Majority Bloc and their fellow party members then think of how performance check would have been done. The parliamentary system would have had more engagement in finding solutions not only for maintenance but also for improvement.

Just imagine it if every week if both Noynoy and Pabaya had to answer the opposition with active debates until all feasible answers from both sides are done. Just imagine what if the active debate with the Minority Bloc required the Majority Bloc to present MRT performance. This may have had addressed several problems of the MRT and provide more feasible solutions including the proposed expressway from Baclaran to Bacoor. But no, the presidential system fails to put the necessary scrutiny and balancing in the parliamentary system.

The parliamentary system would have probably encouraged and coerced Noynoy to get out of his Pwede Na Yan mentality or get ran over by a vote of no confidence. Pabaya would have been fired under a parliamentary system. Instead, the presidential system only kept encouraging popularity-based leadership. Unfortunately, even popularity-based system didn't keep the trust ratings of Noynoy and Pabaya up for long.