Political pundits who have observed President Aquino for six years must be aware by now that the Malacañang tenant knows how to use the vast powers of the presidency. Under his watch a chief justice was impeached, and three powerful senators jailed. These acts earned plaudits for Aquino. But the applause ended when the public learned that the matuwid na daan author abused his power through the immoral use of taxpayers’ money.
Catapulted to power on his campaign of good governance, Aquino was caught repackaging the source of all evil in government—the pork barrel—into two entities that were baptized with saintly names: the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). Thanks to the Supreme Court justices who chose to be brave in showing their independence, they called the PDAF and DAP with their proper names—illegal and unconstitutional.
Observers say these unfortunate events represent the culmination of the encroachment on the balance of power in the government, led no less by the President. Aquino’s strong-willed subordinates, who had their own sense of morality, perpetrated these affairs in their desire to make Aquino’s matuwid na daan campaign succeed, or look successful at all cost.
To be fair, the Aquino administration posted great achievements in growing the economy. There is no question that Aquino’s accomplishments have exceeded many expectations as he outperformed all previous administrations. Inflation has remained steady under his watch. Since 2010 GDP growth was an average of 6.2 percent—the highest in four decades for the country. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the competitiveness ranking of the Philippines greatly improved under Aquino. “The country’s gain of 33 places since 2010 is the largest over that period among all countries studied,” WEF said.
Aquino also managed to improve the country’s credit rating. Standard & Poor’s credit rating for the Philippines stands at “BBB” with stable outlook. Moody’s credit rating for the country was last set at “Baa2” with stable outlook, while Fitch’s gave us a credit rating of “BBB”—with positive outlook. A credit rating is generally used by sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors to gauge the creditworthiness of a country. Thus, a good rating has a big impact on our borrowing costs.
Now comes the May 9 presidential election. One of the pillars of a strong democratic society is its ability to conduct fair and honest elections. The story of an attempt to corrupt the electoral process by a President trying to protect himself from being hauled to jail when he steps down for a myriad of illegal acts done in office is endlessly being peddled by Aquino’s opponents. But the willingness of 54 million Filipinos to participate in the election deserves continuing vigilance to protect the sanctity of the ballot. We owe the restoration of our right of suffrage to Cory Aquino, hailed all over the world as an icon of democracy. Cory’s son knows what is at stake in the May 9 elections. President Aquino must not do anything to subvert the will of the Filipino people.