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Three Years ofPax Aquino :Unbridled Yellow Optimism?

Draft, Department of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila UniversityVersion as of July 12, 2013

The annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) by the President of the Republic of the Philippines is anoccasion marked by multiple questions and answers. More than a glorified presentation of the incumbent

administrations achievements, it is also the opportunity of the state to legitimize itself in the eyes of itspeople. From the beginning of his administration, President Benigno Noynoy Aquino IIIs policies havebeen projected as a conscious and overt reaction to the technocratic, results-based form of administrationformer President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has established on her nine-year tenure.

As would be gleaned from the 16-Point Social Contract his administration launched at the start of hisoffice, his stewardship projects far-reaching but precision-targeted changes that will benefit and transformFilipinos social and economic lives. In attempting to address pertinent national concerns like aseducation, economic development and social security, the administration was quick to herald problem-solving programs such as the transition to the K-12 system, proliferation of public-private partnerships(PPPs), and the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR). In dealing withinternational concerns and the Philippines position in the region, his administration attempted to jugglewith focusing on diplomacy while improving the national security infrastructure and trade linkages withmultiple partners in both the developed and developing nations.

To his credit, President Aquinos three previous SONAs are somewhat thematically consistent, insofar ashis claims of advancing accountability and effective governance are concerned. Recounting the stories ofthekaraniwang taowrit large in the narrative of nation- and state-building has become the norm ofpresidential rhetoric. This is quite remarkable, considering its origins in the quite infamous bangkangpapelstunts of the Arroyo administrations SONAs.

The myth of the second Aquino administration has in its core the very simple slogan of matuwid na daan the straight and narrow path less-travelled by traditional politicians, where good governance andpolitical savvy come together wonderfully and without contradictions. For all of the previous three SONAs,the President made the case of what happens when government institutions are unchecked by citizenvigilance and driven by a cabal of interests. The public suffers the aftermath of public procurements andinefficient service delivery, leading to the decrease in quality of life.

Enter the Aquino administration and his super-team of cabinet secretaries, inspiring the bureaucracy todo its functions and deliver its targets, with the revamping of a civil service now offering pay-grades up tothe level (and sometimes even beyond) of private sector posts via Performance Based Initiatives. Guidedby the values of rationalization and professionalization, the cabinet secretaries, with Presidential fiat, haveappeared to produce results that benefit not only the productive industries, but more importantly thegeneral public. The top-performing cabinet members are almost consistently name-dropped over thepast three SONAs, such as Energy Secretary Rene Almendras, DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson,DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman, Health Secretary Enrique Ona and DOST Secretary Mario Montejo.

The President also lost no opportunity in asserting the sovereignty of the state with regards to our tussleswith China over territorial boundaries in the West Philippine Sea, inflaming the latent nationalisms of apublic hungry for icons and raising national self-esteem in ways not much different from the Arroyo

administrations hailing of private sector icons and athletes such as Manny Pacquiao . On the economicproductivity side, the 2011 and 2012 SONA have very marked claims with regards to the current potentialof the Philippines in the shifting trends of the global market. The President was quick to celebrate thecredit upgrades ofMoodys, Standard and Poors, Fitch, Japan Credit Ratings Agency and many others.They also brandished the fact that many financial analysts in Europe and Asia have hailed thePhilippines remarkably-healthy investment situation. That government has once again resurrected theRamos administrations 1990s-era projection of the Philippines as Asias Next Tiger is perhaps atestament to their brimming confidence despite the historic aftermath of such hopes in 1997-1998.

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Despite these very positive projections, the political rhetoric is still marked by multiple instances ofblame-games and moral high-horse posturings about ones actions. President Aquinos SONAs are noexception to this rule, if all the unsubtle jabs to former President Arroyo and her allies in the bureaucracyin 2010 and 2011, and against deposed Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012 are any indication.

The Presidents proclamations have also been marked by multiple instances oftampoordisappointments with national and local mass media for supposedly neglecting the good news hisgovernment has been bestowing on the Filipino people. It is perhaps the indication of a government toocomfortable in its position of power a government that has taken many politically-calculated tensionsnot only with its critics within and outside government, but more so with the limits of checks and balancesmandated by the 1987 Constitution, all at the behest of populist beck-and-call.

That being said, it is quite remarkable how President Aquinos administration has managed to cram, inmany instances, good news and testaments of a satisfied national constituency that stumps its critics despite glaring indications of the fact that there are still so many issues and socio-political tensions that ithas not addressed.

Despite claiming to promote social welfare in prioritizing the legislation of Reproductive Health laws andthe Conditional Cash Transfer Programs, it does not go beyond its rhetoric about how social securityconcerns do not end in dole-outs but necessitates more comprehensive human development

opportunities. The economic miracles the President has been brandishing remain largely in the financialinvestment sector. These neither translate to the production of consumer goods, nor the cultivation oflocal industries which can sustain our economy in light of the Philippines upcoming integration into theASEAN Economic Community by 2015.

Most importantly, for a government that claims to have inherited the values and aspirations of the 1986EDSA Revolutions call for inclusive growth, development and democratization, it has still not sufficientlyaddressed growing societal gaps between class ABC and DE. Social justice issues like agrarian reformand labour rights are still neglected. Issues of transparency, accountability and peoples empowermentwhich have been brought to the administrations attention more often than not by his allies remainwoefully ignored. Worse, some of these come from the shortcomings of his people-in-confidence (aswitness the still-contentious continuation of the Angara family-backed Aurora Pacific Economic Zone orAPECO). With socio-polit ical resentments still unaddressed, it is unsurprising that persistent communist

insurgencies and continuing tensions in Mindanao still exist despite the signing of the BangsamoroPeace Agreement earlier this year.

Now in the midterm of his administration, President Benigno Noynoy Aquino III still faces many issuesand questions. While his Liberal Party-led coalition somewhat dominated the mid-term senatorialelections of 2013, it is quite marked that the political situation in the local and provincial levels have notexactly reflected the rosy, reform-oriented panorama the administration has been painting of itself. Whilethe administration takes this as a sign of its legitimacy and continuing support (as many other analystswould like to claim), one might as well look into this another way. We can actually make the case that thisis a sign of demobilization and resignation from the general public: that this is the best theyre going to getout of this administration, and they might as well not rock the boat the very contradiction of what theideals of democratic empowerment are supposed to be.

Considering his claims of government efficiency and popular support, one would expect these to havebeen already addressed sufficiently. The previous State of the Nation Addresses, while presenting abeautiful picture of what the Philippines can likely achieve in the foreseeable future, is still fraught withcontradictions and sectors left out of deliberation and participation. With calls for economic restructuringand Charter Change from his allies just around the corner, the second half of his administration will facefurther challenges. The now-parallel tradition by many groups that organize Peoples SONAs orgenuine SONAs for the majority of our post-EDSA revolution political history will remain with us, as ahead-shaking reminder of how the second Aquino administration, very reliant on the mythology of the firstone, might also run the risk of wasting so much potential for empowering the sovereign people where itsmandate comes from in the first place.