The Administrations of two "President Aquino"...Cory and her son, Pnoy
Posted on Monday 11 April 2016
The
Administrations of two “President Aquino”
…Cory
and her son, Pnoy
By Apolinario Villalobos
Many still view President Cory Aquino as an
“accidental president”. The death of her husband, fuelled by the pent-up
emotion of the Filipinos against the Marcos dictatorship, propelled her to
presidency. Many are still wondering what would have happened if Ninoy Aquino
made it back to the Philippines via Malaysia as was the original plan. Would he
be the “best” option, as the Filipinos were tired of the Marcos-style of
dictatorship? As recalled, Ninoy was alleged to have a “left wing” leaning, so
that, would have the Philippines been under a communist administration if he
got elected as president?
The hope of the Filipinos when Cory took
over the reins of the government from Marcos, to have a “better” life did not
materialize…dashed to dust in a puff. Ass-lickers in the government just
changed their color, from red and blue (Marcos) to yellow (Cory Aquino).
Sanitizing cordon around the president still prevailed, as were “whisperers”,
because even Jovito Salonga, himself, as the first chief of the PCGG complained
of not having enough liberty of approaching the lady president for matters
about the “stolen wealth”, cases of which were being heard in the United States.
The administration of Cory was also characterized with several attempts of take
over from disgruntled junior officers of the military, albeit, did not succeed.
The perpetrators are now active senators and even running for the
vice-presidency. But worst, Cory’s tenure saw the occurrence of the celebrated
Mendiola and Hacienda Luisita massacres, the blackest mark ever to what her
followers consider as an “immaculate administration”.
The only significant accomplishment of the
Cory administration was the reduction of the price of “galunggong”, touted as
the poor man’s fish. The hoped-for recovery of the country’s wealth, supposedly
stolen by Marcos became just but a dream. The subsequent administrations that
were expected to double the effort for the recovery were also disappointments,
as corruption, instead, became just more apparent.
The son of Cory Aquino, Benigno III (Pnoy) took over as president, as a result of alleged political
manipulation which is common in Philippine politics. He made use of the “tuwid
na daan” (straight path) as the essence of his administration, which was
supposed to be “the way of a non-corrupt government”. This quixotic quest
proved to be a worse disappointment right at the beginning, and still got worst
at the closing of his administration. The slogan became a big joke and
boomeranged on the president with a big bang.
Just like the administration of his
mother’s, Pnoy’s own is also characterized not only be indifference but more
massacres – those that happened in Zamboanga City committed by MNLF; Mamasapano
(Maguindanao), still being investigated; and Kidapawan (North Cotabato)
committed by the police against the farmers who just want a few kilos of rice
to tide them over the onslaught of the El Niἧo. Still worse,
the devastations that whipped the country, particularly, the eastern Visayas
area by typhoon Yolanda has put the country in a shameful spot in view of the
misused donations from foreign donors, and the unchecked pilferage of same, as
well as, the embarrassingly inferior quality of government habitation projects
for the victims, and which until today, after many years, are not yet complete.
What the government people, especially, the DSW, present in their reports as
completed are projects of the NGOs.
Government facilities that are supposed to
counter the worsening of traffic, such as the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and
Light Rail Transit (LRT), have become subjects of investigation for incessant
commission of corrupt deals. It took a long, long time for Vitangcol, the chief
to get down his post. Accordingly, he was a close associate of the secretary of
the Department of Transportation and Communication, Jun Abaya. Even the
national police chief, a close friend of the president was not spared by the
resignation calls, but they proved useless as they fell on the deaf ears of
Malacaἧan Palace and the guy, himself, Allan Purisima.
There were calls for the resignation, too,
of Abad, the chief of DBM, also Soliman of the DSW, and many more of Pnoy’s
people….but his indifference is such that they remained shamelessly glued to
their seats. Such display of arrogant assurance has manifested the famous line,
“what are we in power for?” As if the puns were not enough, Pnoy Aquino’s
administration was dubbed “Student Council”.
Finally, even though the administration
swears to high heavens about the absence of pork barrel in the approved
trillionic budget, expert lookouts and observers are insisting that they are
hidden behind new references. It’s as if Pnoy has just paved the way for
another wave of corruption after he leaves Malacaἧan Palace. Such
unwavering indifference is like not giving a damn to a people who, for him, has
not had enough of misfortune under the administrations after the Martial Law!
Discussion