The first year of President Aquino III’s administration is a struggle of some sorts. On one hand, the government that they would take over is predictable and consistent – if you talking about corruption and public anomalies. On the other hand, it is mandated to govern a mix of people who have lost faith in government, who wanted to go against the thieving government officials, or who simply wants to have a better life. Essentially, this dynamics created a ‘Band-Aid Administration’ out of a government trying to put a sense of closure to the entire decades of looting public coffers and twisting realities.
The idea of a Band-Aid Republic is two-prong. On the positive side, being a Band-Aid Republic attempts to provide quick solutions to existing problems, to protect the country vulnerable points and to prevent social conditions from deteriorating. On the negative, a Band-Aid Administration could also connote the non-existence of a strategic and forward-looking plans and programs, the limitated application (and effect) of government intervention, and the continued existence of social maladies despite government interventions. Such idea could sum the discourse the government has taken under the first year of Aquino Administration.
+ Actual Results May Vary
As a new administration, Aquino has to establish a base in a relative wasteland. Quoting him, he said:
Hindi ko po inambisyon na sagupain ang dambuhalang problema na ipinamana ni Ginang Arroyo – mga problemang pilit kong hinahadlangan noong nasa Kamara at Senado pa ako. At nakita ko na rin naman, sa karanasan ng pumanaw kong ina, kung gaano kabigat ang tungkulin ng isang pangulo, lalo pa kung mamanahin niya ay sistemang nilapastangan.
Such statement reflects two major problems that the new administration should face. One, he needs to contend with the already established government minefield courtesy not only of the former administration but those administration before her. Second, he has to contend with an equally dyfunctional social system, one that brought out and was brought by a dysfunctional government system.
After one year of the administration of Aquino, however, much of the things he has said he would change was not changed. At least not yet.
First, there was an issue of where the President gets his figures. For example, in his Ulat ng Bayan statement he said that: one, there are some 21,800 could-be family-recipients of housing programs for police and military personnel; two, there are 240,000 farmer beneficiaries of some 2,000-kilometer farm-to-market road projects; and two million family-recipients of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program; and that rice imports have been slashed to 800,000 metric tons. He added that with fiscal discipline, his administration was able to provide so and so programs and projects without rising taxes (though a good number of tax measures are pending before the House Committee on Ways and Means).
While these program may or may not be a good indicator of performance, TRANSPARENCY — the key element in assessing the Aquino government’s Tuwid na Daan – is not there. It is not clear whether Aquino really initiated the plans, or if he just claimed credit for the 21,800 houses (much of this figure has yet to be constructed though). The transparency as to the recipients of the CCT program is not yet established. He claimed that the increase in rice crops yield was due to irrigation, rice breed selection and upland farming he sponsored; he failed to consider that better weather condition allowed the agriculture sector to grow and expand, thereby contributing to the increase of farm outputs. Moreover, he failed to disclose the level of rice reserves accumulated based on over-importation of rice during the Arroyo Administration. Not everybody knows where DPWH constructed to those 2,000-km farm to market road, or if they were appropriated by the present or the past administration. Even the so-called economic growth was erroneously attributed to the anticipation of the end of Arroyo’s administration when it was obvious that the combined increase in spending during the election season and in foreign remittances aid in bolstering domestic production and consumption in ther country.
Secondly, there is the issue of incompetence (and corruption) not only on the part of the president, but also on the part of the people who is supposedly there because of their expertise. During the first few weeks of the administration, there is the MC 01, which summarily (though temporarily) terminated a good number of bureaucrats in the civil service. Then the President, along with some executives and police officers, got his baptism of fire with the incident known as the Manila Hostage Tragedy. Then there is ASec Mislang’s post regarding Vietnamese wine and men during the 17th ASEAN Summit. Then there is the Php 6B Belgian lawsuit against the Philippine government when it cancelled the Laguna Lake Rehabilitation Project. Then there is the issue between Stradcom and LTO. And the list would go on.
Thirdly, the first year of Aquino Administration is focused on persons, not institution, which could probably see in the ‘Hindi ako magnanakaw’ slogan. While the president admitted that the change in leadership style is only the first step, there has been no clear cut vision of institutional reforms as of now, a view aired by Paul Hutchcroft in his essay The Limits of Good Intentions. The focus of reform had always been the people, not the institution; Dr. Prisco Nilo, former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and a list of other personalities are testaments to this president’s stand. It should be pointed out that merely replacing the people in weak political institutions would have little or no effect in the end.
Lastly, there is an apparent lack of strategic direction on the part of the Aquino Administration. After one year in power, a political observer could ask, ‘Saan papunta ang Tuwid na Daan?’. It seems that, to a common observer, the administration simply stumbles on an error of the past and pin the blame on his predecessor. That is why we have so many expose regarding ill-doing in the government, and little (of there’s any) move to combat it in the future. This is exactly the observation of the Economist when it said that the president’s approach to fighting corruption is to punish the sins of the past rather than try to prevent crimes in future. It is akin to a driver who keeps looking at the rear view mirror; he would be in lots of accidents before he could even reach his destination.
Patching the Holes on the Old Roof
The persistence of social maladies and the seeming incapacity of the social system to address it prompts the Aquino Government to initiate interventions. While government intervention to address problems is welcomed, the manner by which such intervention is crafted and implemented simply adds up to the Band Aid-type governance the current administration pursues.
The Conditional Cash Transfer and the Pantawid Pasada Program is anchored on the same strategy , the differences is that CCT is backed by the World Bank and the former requires the family recipients to send their children to school and to seek maternal healthcare service. The idea behind these programs is to provide buffer against the rising prices of commodities, much like the Oil Price Stabilization Fund. However, this quick-fix approach in solving price problem depends solely on the support of the administration, providing no sustainable way to address rising prices in the future. Moreover, in the case of CCT, lack of money is not the sole reason why families cannot send their children to school and the mothers to a medical facility. The accessibility of school and health facility also affects the propensity of the Filipino family to avail of its services. Unless the government can address the lack of school and medical and health facility in far-flung areas of the country, the solution to problems relating to education and healthcare will remain elusive.
After one year in office, the government has yet to go beyond the bureaucratic witch-hunt they have been implementing for over a year. While such action prompted ‘ineffective and/or corrupt’ government officials like Nilo, Pichay, and Gutierrez to leave their posts, much of the so-called ‘targets’ are still roaming free. Furthermore, the personalistic approach in solving corruption problem in the country has conveniently forgotten the institutional component in protecting the coffers from thieves in bureaucratic clothing. The administration has yet to provide amendments to the Ombudsman Law. The bills pending for development of BuCor and the GOCCs would remain ignored in Congress had it been for the recent scandals involving them. Policies concerning freedom of information did not even made it to the list of 23 legislative agenda of the Aquino Administration. As such, after one year in power, institutional weaknesses that provide avenues for corruption remains largely unaddressed.
Polishing the Silver Lining
Despite the seeming failure of the Aquino Administration to harness the legitimacy and numbers it has gained in the previous election, there are still things that the Filipino should be thankful for. There are projects that the President initiated and prioritized which in turn, have tremendous impact in the Filipino daily lives even though many of them failed to realize it.
For one, the appointment of the esteemed Leila de Lima to the Department of Justice has been a boost in the Aquino Government. While the Aquino Administration has erroneously attributed the Millennium Challenge Fund to itself, the administration’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) has done much in human trafficking efforts. By empowering the anti-trafficking efforts of the country, the Aquino administration has saved (and will continue to save) tens if not hundreds of Filipinos as well as million dollars worth of international grants and agreements. Other executives who are harnessing their powers for the betterment of the Filipinos are likewise present in the administration. There’s the tandem of the VP Binay, Labor Secretary Baldoz and Foreign Affairs Secretary del Rosario in handling the Middle East, China and Japan crises. Budget and Management Secretary Abad should also be cited for reducing the government’s budget deficit. These achievements, as well as those beyond the Filipino’s knowledge, polish the silver lining in the Aquino Presidency even further.
To sum it all, there are several actions have been undertaken by the president, but much of things the administration has done are quick-fix and unsustainable. To be able to make a difference by using the ‘Straight Path’, the Aquino government should start looking beyond the term of office. As a president, Aquino should provide the platform for a much more sustainable path to a better government and improved lives of the people. No more campaign rhetoric; no more band-aid projects; a year has passed, and a year has been wasted, Mr. President.
