Our country under President Aquino’s Administration

a.       National Economy

A year ago, Nonynoy took power and promised change. He promised under his government that all Filipino citizens will be the “boss”. According to Philippines Online Chronicles, around 80% of the population remains poor and is barely surviving with P104 or less income per day but according to National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) only 30% of the people are poor. I can’t believe that according to Aquino’s government 30% of the people are poor, how can he say that? We’re living near the area where most of the people’s job is to earn money through junk (kalakal); I can see how people were starving to death, how they do different things just to earn money. They don’t have permanent jobs and most of them are informal settlers. Oil, gas, LPG, fare hike (LRT/MRT) and other basic goods such as bread, continuously increase its cost under his administration. Overseas Filipino workers were losing their jobs due to conflict with other countries and not just overseas workers but also those Filipino people living in the Philippines. The number of jobless people remains large. The unemployment rate continuously increases same goes to the basic needs and the country’s poverty. Things have remained the same since the year he took the power and sometimes I think it’s getting worse. What happened to Aquino’s promises? Because of his lack of brilliance and competence, I’ll give PNoy two out of ten.

b.      National Security

The National Security under President Aquino’s government is half a messed.  As of this area I’ll rate President Aquino five out of ten. First, the hostage taking that took place in August last year.  What was wrong with it was the handling of the crisis and what was happened after the hostage taking. The whole world got to see how Filipino policemen were not well-trained.  The media, the government, and the policemen it’s been all a messed. Second, according to PNP, crime rate decreased by 40% last 11 months, which was I think is hard to believe. Whenever I tend to read newspapers, more killings of journalists, unabated child, drug trafficking and other crimes was happening here in Metro Manila. Third, our military don’t have modern weapons to use. Aquino increased the budget for military, but where does it go? He should train our military well enough and our weapons should be more modernized. Last, in terms of overseas defense, Aquino’s administration was building upon defense partnership with the United States and other countries to improve our security and I think it’s good but that’s not enough.

c.       Provisions of Social Services and Infrastructures

Aquino reduced the budget of education and social services, as a student I’m against for what Noynoy did. Most schools don’t have enough rooms, books and buildings. According to Philippines Online Chronicles, the public schools and secondary education sector lacks more than 100,000 classrooms, 150,000 teachers, 13M armchairs and 39M textbooks. The government’s solution to the education crisis is the K+12 program which will add 2 years to our present 10-year basic education that will only add burden to parents and the education sector. I saw my elementary sister’s book and I used to used it when I was in elementary that proves the publication was last 1990’s and proves that we don’t have well-improvised version of textbooks. Most of the youth were still can’t afford to attend classes. Aquino has tolerated tuition hikes and profiteering of private school owners resulting to an increasing number of drop-outs. Under his government, demolition was done in several places affecting huge numbers of poor families. Even though government has housing units for relocation, most relocation places were far from their work and livelihood and have no water and electricity. The government not just reduced the budget in education but also slashed the budget for public hospitals and health services while reducing these important sectors, Aquino increased the budget for military and foreign debts. For this improper distribution of budget and lack of social services I will give PNoy three out of ten.

d.   '   Leadership and Political Stability

It’s been almost a year since President Aquino won the presidency of the Philippines in the country’s first automated elections. So much hope and changed in our country we expect from him.  As of this area, I’ll rate PNoy four out of ten. Aquino promised too much and those revelations about the former administration’s mishandling of funds. What we want is an action from him.  He promised a government that will be no longer insensitive to the needs of the people and Filipino citizen will be his boss. According to the story of BizNews Asia April 11 issue, the survey tells that his net approval rating was decreased by 13% in the last nine months, from 61%of trust rating down to 51%. This shows that those who voted for him are now waking up to the reality that PNoy who has promised so much, may not actually be able to deliver although a year is not good enough to prove, we should see some steps towards the changes he has promised. President Aquino was elected because of his honesty and good intentions. Sad to say, honesty is not enough. It has to go with perception, brilliance and competence. Being honest will be nothing if there’s no hard working, brilliance and an independent decision making. Contrary to what Aquino always said, “if no one is corrupt, no one will be poor” the most progressive countries in the world are the most corrupt countries in earth. What Noynoy said was right, but his no corruption policy will be nothing if he does nothing to reduced and help his countrymen in terms of poverty. President Aquino’s style in leading his country is low. It’s hard to think what exactly he is doing to improve all the things that should need an improvement. He is the president with no issues and scandals attached to his name, but while he is a saint-like president, there aren’t great news stories either.