• Office of Minority Leader Edcel C. Lagman
• 0916-6406737 / 0918-9120137
• Official Website: http://www.edcellagman.com.ph
• 06 October 2010

Instead of grading President Benigno Aquino III on his first 100 days in office, I suggest standards on how to assess the President’s performance now and for the rest of his term:

            1. Ability, agility and alacrity in responding to a crisis situation and its aftermath;

 2. Existence, substance and viability of the Aquino administration’s legislative agenda;

 3. Adequacy and import of the President’s policy prioritizations and budgetary allocations in the National Expenditure Program (NEP);

 4. Choice of presidential appointees on the basis of qualification, experience and integrity;

 5. Capacity to confront the present and plan the future, instead of perpetually complaining about the past and castigating predecessors;

 6. Response to criticisms and critics;

 7. Decisiveness of actions and judiciousness in resolving options;

 8. Statesmanship over partisanship;

 9. Sincerity and credibility over bare propaganda and populist pronouncements; and

 10. Resoluteness in confronting and solving the population issue without fear or favor.