JUST TELL THE TRUTH: Discordant notes keep emanating from the Palace on the involvement of US forces in our anti-terrorism campaign, because President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is not ready to tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me God.

It has been more than a week since news broke out about US Special Forces joining the fray — in fact the Americans are already here — yet until this late date there has not been a definitive policy statement from the President. Her comments on the issue come in random snatches, mostly in reaction to what is being raised in media.

As a consequence, the people around her, including her own spokesman, find it difficult carrying the official tune. We’re sure they all know the score, but with the President herself being over-cautious, they would not dare stick their neck (tongue) out and tell it as it is.

Our guess is that GMA is unable to wield the baton with confidence and play out the entire concerto in full, because she is afraid of possible adverse political repercussions. She has to think of 2004.

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HEAVEN-SENT SCENARIO: The President may not realize it, but instead of being a problem with frightening ramifications, the coming of the Americans to help crush the Abu Sayyaf is actually a heaven-sent scenario. She should grab it and ride on the issue.

Since her first day in office, which was one year ago, the usual gadflies in media and the opposition, using each other for their own separate agenda, have been buzzing her.

Partly because she came upon the presidency in an unusual (some say extralegal) manner and because she lacked a solid constituency to carry her through thick and thin, GMA blinked. Instead of getting on with the job, she spends too much time now trying to build first a consensus. She ends up politicking.

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REACTIONARY PRESIDENCY: The result is a reactionary presidency. Instead of rising above the crowd to lead, to seize the moment and dictate what we should all focus on and do, GMA has been reduced to just reacting to what the media, and the opposition through the media, throw at her.

Content-analyze her pronouncements and study her peregrinations and you will find most of them mere reactions to issues, and even non-issues, raised in media.

The Arroyo presidency is generally media-driven. Instead of the media reporting and reacting to bold presidential initiatives, it is mainly the President who is reacting to media superlatives. (And the media enjoy this reversal of roles since a reactionary, and jittery, president feeds their own bloated regard of themselves and boosts sales.)

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SUPERVENING EVENTS: This takes us back to the issue of foreign forces… The correct basic position for a sovereign nation, which we presume the Philippines is, is for the country to solve problems of security and criminality on its own without having to borrow foreign troops.

President Arroyo was being honest when she told President George W. Bush that we would solve the Abu Sayyaf problem without need for US troops, provided we are able to upgrade our weaponry.

That was last November. Since then, however, many supervening events have changed the parameters. Why should the President now stick to her old position based on facts already overtaken by contemporary events?

But because GMA has to contend with media used to having officials dance to their music, and because she has to be careful about not losing precious points for her 2004 candidacy, she is cautious about announcing a radically new position.

So we see a President afraid to confess the new reality. She and her chorus cannot belt out the real official tune. They thus get caught in inconsistencies. They bob and weave, lie a little here and there, hoping that the public would be able to read between the tortured lines and somehow get the message that “Yes, indeed, we will use US forces in this fight!”

Huwag nang patumpik-tumpik pa. Nangangalay na po kami. Just say it!

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GRAB THE OPPORTUNITY: The President may not realize it, but the coming in of US forces is more of a positive break than a problem.

It sets the stage for her to grab back the initiative from media, with a little drama if you will, and tell the nation “Yes, it’s true, the Americans are coming — they are here already — to help us solve this nagging Abu Sayyaf problem.”

Then let the media and the public react. We’re sure that above the usual heckling from the usual directions, there will be a loud roar of approval from the population so spontaneous that Palace operators need not crank it up.

With the President having snatched back the podium, she should continue to hold sway and dictate what this nation should talk about and do.

The usual kibitzers in the opposition and the media are likely to unleash their combined firepower. That’s good. That would raise the decibel of the national dialogue on what the President just did.

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LEGAL BASES COVERED: We see no legal problem. The US forces are here in joint operation with Philippine troops under the expansive cover of the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement that has been ratified by the Senate (despite its not being a treaty but a mere executive agreement).

Dismiss the voices squeaking from the sidelines warning that the Constitution bans foreign troops. What is prohibited under Section 25 of Article XVIII is not mere presence but the permanent basing (as in Clark air base and Subic naval base) of foreign troops and their military facilities.

That was why the constitutionality of the VFA was upheld by the Supreme Court when challenged after its approval some years back.

If mere military presence were banned, we would end up with the absurd situation of turning away friendly airplanes and seacraft and their crew or a complement of foreign servicemen on transit or R&R (rest and recreation) or of allied forces coming over for a joint military exercise previously agreed upon.

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INVENTING STORIES: There’s just too much noise being emitted by politicians, some of whom have not even had the chance to study the issues in depth.

The public has to be told, for instance, that many of those stories in the papers quoting Mr. Politician are just rewrites of press releases issued in his name. In many cases, the politicians in whose names the press releases were being issued had not even read them.

Oozing with pork barrel, some politicians hire media specialists to crank out press releases for them. Any hot topic and angle that would land them in the papers would do. These releases are often quoted by lazy or conniving newspapermen and carried as legitimate news.

If the media specialist handling the releases is good, he is able to keep his client on the front pages most days of the week through this device and some, huh, legal tender.

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DIGNIFYING FALSE REPORTS: These are some of the false stories that President Arroyo is sometimes asked to react to. The wonder of it is that she sometimes dignifies a dubious press release by commenting on it!

It sometimes also happens that a big newspaper or network hits upon a good angle and seeks out its friends in high places to say it. The paper or station then rushes over to the other party and gets a reaction. A plausible story is thus pieced together and peddled to the unsuspecting public.

Imagine the President of the Republic being made to react to such stories invented through press releases or some contrived statement of somebody who has the resources to gain media time and space.

That’s why we keep saying that the President should be choosy about the issues and stories she dignifies.

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DISREGARDING ALTER EGO: On Foreign Secretary Teofisto Guingona’s supposedly having been left out in the drafting of Executive policies on US forces, it should be pointed out that all members of the Cabinet are mere extensions or alter egos of the President.

In foreign relations, the President is the sole spokesman of the country. If the President asks for inputs from the Cabinet and then disregards them in laying down policy, the Cabinet or subordinate official concerned has no reason to sulk or complain.

There had been instances when Malacañang asked for inputs from the foreign office in putting together important policy documents, but the Palace was not impressed by the “too conservative” and verbose draft and so looked elsewhere for assistance.

In such a case, the foreign secretary need not feel slighted. Nor should he complain or threaten to resign. If he cannot stomach it, he should be man and proper enough to just quit, period, instead of “threatening” to resign.

The problem is that such ”threatening to resign” stories are sometimes mere inventions of the newspapers intended to lend a desired angle to the story. These are some of the bogus stories that the President is sometimes asked to react to.