Contact Details

Rm. N-411, House of Representatives, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
+63 2 931 5497, +63 2 931 5001 local 7370

365 DAYS OF SOUND AND FURY

Press Statements

 

365 DAYS OF SOUND AND FURY

 

              It is not advisable to grade the President on a scale of one to 10. A periodic report card with graded achievements and failures is for school kids and students, not for the nation’s Chief Executive.

 

             It would be better to send regular wake up calls to the President on his performance versus his campaign promises and on the state of the economy and governance versus the current data on prime economic and social indicators. This way, the President could grade himself if he has sufficient discernment of crucial data and a serious commitment to his exalted position.

 

             Otherwise, no amount of faltering grades will jolt him to reality and action, and no diminishing marks from critics will convince him to abandon an offensive agenda of vindictiveness and a defensive aura of braggadocio.

 

             Despite the President’s allergy to bad news, he must be made aware repeatedly that virtually all principal economic and social indicators of growth and progress are down, just like his plunging popularity and trust ratings.

 

             The President’s major campaign sound bite of “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” has become a relic of partisan sloganeering and faulty premise. It is a candidate for a museum artifact, not a pulsating reality in the podium of fulfillment.

 

             The President’s centerpiece program against corruption is becoming a centerfold for being bare propaganda. The country’s corruption rating has even worsened to 8.9 from 8.25 on a scale of one to 10 in a survey covering the period from November 2010 to February 2011 which was conducted by the Hong Kong-based Political and Risk Consultancy, Ltd. (PERC).

 

             The Aquino administration has also failed to assuage the problem of persistent hunger. According to the SWS, a total of 20.5% of Filipinos surveyed experienced involuntary hunger in the past three months as of the first quarter of 2011. This translates to 4.1 million Filipino families suffering hunger up from 3.4 million families (18.1%) in the fourth quarter of 2010. Similarly, the incidence of poverty has escalated.

 

             The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported that the unemployment rate hit 7.4% in January 2011 even before the thousands of displaced Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) returned as a result of the crises in the Middle East and Northern Africa and tens of thousands of new graduates bloated the ranks of the unemployed in March and April this year. Likewise, a recent SWS survey revealed that 11.3 million or 27.2% of Filipinos over the age of 18 are jobless or an increase of 1.4 million jobless over the 9.9 million unemployed in November 2010.

 

            Verily, the President has failed to deliver his promises of more jobs and less corruption.

 

            Both foreign investor and Filipino consumer confidence indices have plummeted. The latest ASEAN business survey showed that majority of foreign investors would refuse to invest in the Philippines. The unresolved PIATCO controversy, the recent abrogation of consummated major contracts of foreign investors and the projected PPP undertakings still in suspended animation have compounded the reluctance of foreign investors.

 

            The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported that the Filipino consumer confidence index went down to -23.1% and -24.1% for the first and second quarters respectively of 2011 from -8.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010 as the Aquino administration fails to arrest the spiraling of prices of food, fuel and other basic commodities. The BSP also disclosed that the business confidence index went down from 47.5% in the first quarter to 31.8% in the second quarter of 2011.

 

            The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the first quarter of 2011 dropped to a low of 4.8% from a high of 7.1% in the last quarter of 2010, although the average for the entire 2010 was 7.7%. Verily, the Aquino government failed to sustain the sound and growing economy left by the previous administration.

 

             While all these economic and social indicators are bleak, President Aquino gloats over artificial savings and cash surpluses.

 

             Appropriated funds should not be immobilized in a showcase, but must be released with reasonable dispatch and utilized with judicious alacrity to finance government operations and prime up the economy. Forced savings are like drugs locked up in a medicine cabinet while an epidemic rages.

 

             The electorate makes a President, but only talent, experience, competence and dedication make a good President. These solid attributes are not legal qualifications for the Presidency. But they are invaluable standards which the voters must consider and assess in choosing their President.

 

             The Filipino people were expecting too much from President Aquino. Shibboleths and promises during the presidential campaign concealed and overshadowed his inadequacies. These were the same inadequacies he brought to Malacañang and as the truism goes, one cannot squeeze blood from rock.

 

             Those who have less in capabilities must have more in good counsel and worthy subalterns. But is the President appointing the right people? This dilemma will bedevil the President and this country for the next five years. The people should be prepared to expect the worst because their mistaken choice is the big problem. Blunder begets disaster.