President Benigno Simeon “BS†Aquino has been included in TIME magazine’s 2013 list of 100 most influential people in the world. It is interesting to note that Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s Supreme Leader, the one who is threatening to annihilate the U.S., is also included in the list. The inclusion of Kim in the list of “influential†people is enough proof that BS Aquino’s influence is debatable. It could be argued that he is as influential as any cult leader whose followers don’t use their critical analysis or are bullied into submission.
One can be forgiven for thinking that TIME’s news director Howard Chua-Eoan who wrote BS Aquino’s two-paragraph write-up was scraping the bottom of the barrel to piece together something that could justify inclusion of the Philippine leader in the influential list. As is the usual case, a BS Aquino article is not complete without a mention of his only claim to fame prior to being elected President — that of being the son of famous parents Ninoy, the “famous political martyr†and Cory, the “most beloved President.†In other words, in Philippine society, any Tom, Dick, or Harry can be as influential as BS Aquino if they have famous parents like Ninoy and Cory.
The TIME write-up also mentioned that BS Aquino stabilized the country’s “sputtering†economy and made it “hotâ€. The very short write-up was evidently lacking in detail about how BS Aquino managed to do it. What exactly did Chua-Eoan mean by “sputtering†in the first place? It’s not like the economic gains in recent years have not been as sporadic as they were in past governments. The sputtering or particles of saliva spray rather, could have been coming from BS Aquino’s minions who kept boasting about the economic “growth” rate supposedly going up to 7.1% percent in 2012 from 3.2% in the last quarter of 2011.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
It seems TIME’s standards applied in saying that a country’s economy is “stable” is a bit low. As mentioned before, government spending and consumerism funded by the remittances of overseas contract workers (OFWs) fuel Philippine economic growth. Both activities were already there during former President Gloria Arroyo’s term. It is certainly not a phenomenon unique to BS Aquino’s administration. What’s different now compared to GMA’s term is that the media is playing along with the illusion that BS Aquino is tackling corruption and dismantling cronyism to improve the country’s reputation as being “business-friendlyâ€.
But is doing business in the Philippines friendly? A report by World Bank-International Finance Corporation (WB- IFC) says, “Doing business in the Philippines remains difficult owing to the slow and tedious process reforming the country’s business climateâ€. Of a total 185 countries, the Philippines ranked 138th in the survey. The 2013 report noted that the “Philippines did not implement any institutional or regulatory reforms to make it easier for small and medium enterprises to do business in the past year.â€
Here’s an excerpt of that report:
Starting a business in the Philippines is one of the most complicated in the world, ranking 161 out of 185.
The Philippines continues to lag behind other countries, especially members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) which have showed the biggest improvements in starting a business between 2009 and 2012.
“Consider the process for starting a business. In New Zealand it requires only 1 procedure and 1 day and costs 0.4% of income per capita; in the Philippines it takes 16 procedures and 36 days and costs 18.1% of income per capita,” the report said.
While it takes 16 procedures for an entrepreneur to start a business in Manila, in Canada and New Zealand it only takes one day. The only countries that have more procedures than the Philippines are Equatorial Guinea with 18 and Venezuela with 17.
The Philippines is also one of the countries that make it difficult when it comes to securing construction permits, with 29 procedures that take an average of 84 days. Other countries that had more procedures are Russia with 42, Malaysia with 37 and India with 34.
It’s hard to imagine how BS Aquino’s popularity continues to defy hard data saying that excessive bureaucracy and endemic corruption still exist in the country. But you would be in TIME’s 100 most influential too if your family and friends owned and operated a media empire such as ABS-CBN or the Inquirer.
Kris: The Aquino clan’s secret weapon
Mrs. Aquino reportedly said they had to rely on the popularity of her youngest daughter, actress Kris, her husband basketball star James Yap, as well as her own political pull.
It seems the power behind BS Aquino is really Kris Aquino. In fact, Kris Aquino still comes to the rescue when her brother finds himself in trouble. Quite a number of BS Aquino’s critics have noticed Kris playing wag the dog in times of crisis. Using her shows or her celebrity friend’s talk show as her platform, she would often cry out in public about her personal troubles just to distract the Filipino people from her brother’s seeming incompetence.
To be fair, BS Aquino does wield a strong influence on many members of Congress in the same way former President Marcos enjoyed his rubber-stamp Batasan. But this has nothing to do with BS Aquino’s charisma, which is to a great extent is non-existent. It’s been said that he successfully pushed for the passing of the Reproductive Health Bill by strong-arming members of Congress using the pork barrel funds as leverage. It also helped his cause that more and more Filipinos have long been becoming disillusioned with the Catholic Church. One thing is for sure; it seems some consider BS Aquino a cult leader. His followers apparently think he is infallible.
The Supreme Court has suspended the reproductive health law’s implementation until oral arguments about its constitutionality is done.
TIME likewise praised BS Aquino for his “brave†stance on the South China Sea. The article author conveniently forgot to mention that BS Aquino wasn’t as brave in managing the crisis surrounding the country’s claim on the Malaysian state of Sabah. Some can’t make sense of this inconsistency considering the Philippines’ claim to Sabah seems more legit if the argument is based on historical claims. Not even the deaths of Filipinos in the hands of Malaysian authorities could compel BS Aquino to seek mediation from the UN to help resolve the crisis. Conspiracy theories abound. Some reportedly say BS Aquino’s father Ninoy gave up Sabah to Malaysia in exchange for the latter’s support of his bid to oust his political enemy, former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1983.
In conclusion, Philippine President BS Aquino’s influence is only as good as the work of his public relations machine. His “influence” in Philippine society is an example of what propaganda can do. Just as it had taken a massive effort mounted by the entire Aquino clan to get Noynoy elected to the Senate, the entire Aquino clan could be working just as hard to get everything they can get out of BS Aquino’s position in office.
In life, things are not always what they seem.
Influential? i dont think so. The guy is useless and tackless barely even passed a law during his time as a senator and a congressman.
You mean, tactless.
If you have nothing else to say other than ad hominem, your comments will be placed in the spam section. Be warned.
And oh, don’t forget that he plays the “blame GMA” card whenever he’s on a tight spot.
Anyway, props to the reference to The Great Escape.
The guy is scared of his own shadow. Always hiding behind yellow skirts. Does not have an ounce of originality. Never ever given responsibility in his adult life until mommy died. Aided by the most notorious KSP known to man. The guy can’t even influence Josh.
I wonder what will happen to the philippines if her sister kris the promiscous woman ran for vice president and won.
Excuse me, KrisTD will not settle for vice. She will run for President, and the sheep will vote for her. Question is, whom among the Aquino clan will “go” in order to put her on there?
Worst case scenario for the philippines.
Kris being the president of the philippines is equivalent to the philippines getting nuked.
Good figure of speech, Chibi. Both will wipe the Philippines off the map or make it totally uninhabitable for a long time to come
I can already sense that our “favorite” idiot from malacanang will make another pathetic attempt to troll us.
Some people clearly can’t accept the truth about their precious “leader”.
Time magazine has clearly put aquino in their list out of pity since their write up on aquino is clearly LACKING.
Maybe it is his/ her day off.
bs aquino’s inclusion to the 2013 time magazine’s list of the most influential people in the world surely infuriated many posters and writers of this blog. this contributor didn’t even bother to copypaste the complete excerpt here from that time piece. i still had to google that article and read it from another site and then went back here. i wasted my precious time in this back and forth process. instead of unbiased content, hatred was so well-written in this blog. and instead of balanced reporting, ranting was summarily expressed. now i know the big difference between a blogger and a journalist. copy that. lol
@johndoe
Excuse me, good news about BS Aquino hardly affects me. I have long accepted that his PR machine will try to do their best to keep his image clean. His popularity seems more important to them than finding a permanent solution to the problems plaguing the country like the energy crisis in Mindanao or implementing the necessary changes to make doing business in the Philippines “friendlier” to both local and foreign investors.
I am flattered that you read Get Real Post first before other publications. Thanks! 😉
Please be specific. Which part of the article made you think the article is biased? I’d say the two-paragraph article from TIME is biased for lack of specifics as to why they think BS Aquino is “influential”.
I tried hard to look for any hate words or any statement to express hate in the article, there were none…the writer just stated facts.
Nobody forced you to exert the effort and waste your, oh so precious time, to read the article and go back and forth within sites.
If you have any valid views to share in contrast to the author’s “rantings” then feel free to post it here.
Unbiased content? Balanced reporting? Oh dear. The day this site does those is the day hell freezes over. LOL.
The negastars and sourgrapes just probably couldn’t accept the fact that this is the second time an Aquino president was cited by a highly prestigious magazine like TIME for their admirable accomplishments.
Enjoying the former Cory and the current Noynoy regime?
Then the joke is on YOU then. Ha ha. In fact, being cited in a TIME magazine doesn’t mean you’re great after all. Media pundits, if you ask me.
“I guess GRP is way more credible and trustworthy than TIME Magazine. Being cited by this blog would be more remarkable.
LOL. I’m pissing myself laughing.”
LAWL at least GRP is a better alternative compared to many BIASED Pinoy media outlets. And being featured in a TIME magazine doesn’t mean as a symbol of your political achievements.
Not to mention that even TIME magazine made an article 3 years after Cory Aquino was featured. That time, they documented about her incompetence and the allegations of corruption against her own brother Jose “Peping†Cojuangco.
Keep busy on laughing but please don’t choke on your own tears.
@ivan
You do have something to say, don’t you? Well fire away, if you have something of value to tell the people to sway their opinions.
Otherwise, STFU.
@Ivan
So what if Cory Aquino was featured on TIME magazine before? Did it change the country for the better? The Aquinos only managed to make Filipinos too emotional for their own good.
So what if another Aquino has been featured again? Even North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was featured. Big deal.
Bozo is there for a reason.
The Philippines is trying to consolidate an International image of a business friendly country, with an upwardly expanding economy, and as a bastion of democracy. That is why he is on the list, he is good for business.
All that belies the fact that the Philippines is not foreigner friendly, just check out Vega’s last article. With people like that all over the country, the highest electricity prices in the world,massive institutionalized corruption, the murders of American/foreign Ex-pats (and almost never a conviction of the perps!), the ridiculously lengthy business start-up time and costs (a needed to be greased hand at every step in the process) are that is not all of the reasons that make it necessary for TIME to use its considerable clout to hoist something positive about the country up the flag-pole for all to see. The International media keeps a pretty good lid on what actually happens inside the country( for example:Ex-pat murders receive virtually Zero on-going coverage in the International media) but when foreigners do get there it is all but avoidable and obvious that the country has not progressed as its prospering neighbors have(NAIA surrounded by crumbling infra-structure, massive traffic jams,etc,etc). AHAHAHAH!!!! but have no fear: B.S.Aquino is here! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
Amen to all that! 2 down in 2 weeks. I’m wondering when it’s my turn.
You can roll shit in sugar all day long, and try to call it a donut BUT BUT BUT… it will still just be sugar-coated shit!
Time magazine’s man of the year 1938 – adolf hitler.
that didn’t turn out well
And they also had Ayatollah Khomeini on the cover in 1979. Josef Stalin made the cover both in ’39 and in ’42.
The whole idea of using “influence” as a criteria is kind of debatable to begin with. It is interesting to note that US “rock star” politicians appeared on the list several times. People like Barack Obama and the Clintons. Then there are also actual musicians like Lady Gaga. So — I really don’t understand why this is a validation of BS Aquino when his name is placed on a list that includes characters who are infamous as well as world figures who change the world only because they happen to have been elected president of the US.
I’d rather be on a list that includes people like Russian chess master Garry Kasparov who, in 2005, created the United Civil Front a social movement whose main goal is to “work to preserve electoral democracy in Russia.” Or UP’s Pedro Escuro and Sierra Leone’s Monty Jones, both of whom have made great strides in rice breeding and genetics. People who have actually contributed to society.
—
Here’s something curious. Each year Time Magazine reveals its person of the year, they also publish a list of “people who mattered” i.e. runners up. Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was included in that list back in 2005, the year of “Hello Garci” scandal broke out. For whatever reason, Time Magazine now omits her name from their website.
There are, however, online articles that still mention this fact:
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/philippines/arroyo-on-time-list-of-people-who-mattered-1.308754
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/314012/gma-makes-it-time%C2%92s-%C2%91people-who-mattered%C2%92-list-2005
All it takes for the americans to get what they want is to massage aquino’s narcissistic ego and pander ti his need for approval.
Honorary degrees and awards in return for rh bill, control of mindanao mineral resources ( valued at 1 trillion us dollars in leaked us embassy cable) , and someone to prod the chinese so that us can keep their diplomatic hands clean, plus army/naval basis if wanted ( word is this is a done deal).
Never let aquino negotiate for anything. He just gives it away to uncle sam
And the inquirer bought the fake Time magazine cover! Just how yellow of a newspaper is that?
http://spinbusters.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/lol-yellow-paper-falls-for-fake-time-magazine-cover/
Ok fine, ilda. Ikaw na ang mas magaling kaysa sa mga editors ng TIME magazine. LOL.
Ilda is articulate and intelligent unlike your pikon retort. Possibly you are the bald one’s date for the evening. If you love him so much, why are you here? No amount of trolling will ad a point of IQ to your precious president.
Ilda is articulate and intelligent unlike your pikon retort. Possibly you are the bald one’s date for the evening. If you love him so much, why are you here? No amount of trolling will add a point of IQ to your precious president.
Did you even bother read the whole article? Becase all i read are BASELESS accusations we’ve all read before in some second-rate philippine-hating blogs like this one. She is merely repeating them.
I know one thing about this blog, you are here. I have no idea why you bother dignifying something you claim is irrelevant when you worry about it, unless you were assigned to this website, Then that would make sense why you are here,
Seems someone is butthurt because Ilda’s points are indeed correct. It seems you are even part of the ignorant Pinoy pleb crowd or something.
Only EMO losers like you would say that this blog is ‘second-rate philippine-hating’ stuff. Enjoy your blunder.
@Ivan
Which part of the article do you consider “baseless accusations”? Please be specific or otherwise, you’re the one who is spewing baseless accusations.
Sige nga, where else did you read what’s been said here?
Why are you here if you’ve read everything elsewhere?
And yet again, a troll goes silent whenever they are asked to present facts to their baseless claims.
So predictable.
Are they really the best trolls that the malacanang mis-communications group can hire?
I think its justified to let our President in the list. He managed to influence the Filipino people with his idiocy and can immediately get away by saying the word “Arroyo”
TIME must have not written the real reason for they fear the yellow crowd will chant “RACIST”. Or maybe it’s just a popularity stunt to get the Pinoys to read their magazine! 😉
‘It’s been said that he successfully pushed for the passing of the Reproductive Health Bill by strong-arming members of Congress using the pork barrel funds as leverage.’
Uh-oh! Looks like someone is gullible enough to believe in any horse sh*t created by the CBCP.
LOL
I so envy you Ivan, You treat Lacierda like his every word is Gospel. Maybe one day I will be as enlightened as you . How does it feel to be working. Sunday’s ?
Elaborate, please.
Just because he doesn’t believe in Yellow propaganda doesn’t really mean he believes in Arroyo propaganda. What a fail logic you have there.
Enjoy your blunder. 😛
@Ivan: And believing in Yellow propaganda ans tsismis is better?
Nice logic you got there.
TROLL. 😛
Thanks for proving that you’re indeed a gullible fool, resorting to personal attacks instead.
Calling someone a ‘TROLL’ merely because his opinions are different from yours is NOT a personal attack?!
Congratulations for successfully redefining hypocrisy.
@Ivan:
I don’t use opinions. I state FACTS. If you’re gonna give me empty rhetoric and stuff, then there is something wrong with you.
I thought the biggest hypocrites are the people who are too ignorant. How’s that for ‘successfully redefining hypocrisy’?
EMO people are hypocrites.
@Ivan
Please be reminded that you are a visitor of this site. You can behave however you want in your own blogsite.
Until you learn how to follow the GRP commenting guideline, your comments will be placed in the spam section.
If you want to retain the privilege of commenting here, you should quit attacking the writers of this site.
Ta-ta!
@Ivan
It is a fact that there were people who alleged that BS Aquino managed to strong-arm some of the members of congress to pass the RH bill. Where in the article did I say that I believe their allegations to be true? Read the article again because you seem confused.
However, it was not the first time he was accused of bullying members of congress. Congressman Toby Tiangco even swore under oath on the witness stand during Corona’s trial that Malacanang used dirty tactics to convince members of congress to sign the hastily and badly written impeachment cases against the former Chief Justice.
…and Toby Tiangco, UNA campaign manager and staunch ally of Estrada and Binay, is credible because???
Well, your point?
I know someone will be butthurt when I say this. Cory and her son Noynoy were both featured a highly prestigious magazine like TIME but here’s a jinx-
Cory: Internal strife in her admin, screwed up constitution with dated laws that allow no real financial progress or growth, oh and the constant brownouts. No wonder people couldn’t remember, it was REALLY the *puts on shades* DARK AGES!
PNOY: Pork barrel. Got away with murder. Defying rule of law in the name of ‘eradicating corruption’. Gets all the credit, especially on the present economy. INCOMPETENCE. Fun stuff. Potentially could have been linked with narco-politics but we’ll never as that is an unsolved mystery.
the common link – both brown nosed uncle sam and were too naive to realise that the US see them as low class, as any westerner would, and play them when it suits.
the aquino’s are hardly fit for the hamptons etc.
no breeding and hence no moral terpitude.
@ilda
you’re telling yourself you weren’t “affected†by good news about bs aquino but it doesn’t add up to your writing of this highly negatively charged article. why even bother, right? lol err, fyi, every philippine president have had pr machine. every american president and every political leader in the world have had one. don’t tell me you’re that naive. if you think pnoy’s pr machine had anything to do with that time 100 list, then prove it. sounds like another conspiracy theory from never never land, eh? the inclusion of kim jong un is enough proof that bs aquino’s influence is debatable? something tells me you skipped the part were time magazine highlighted the filipino president’s positive governance, while only mentioned negative remarks on nokor leader’s nuclear-bluff leadership. was that intentional or accidental? i’m sure it’s the latter. tsk tsk. do you even know what the word “influential†means? check its meaning first from your grimy dictionary then go back at me, ok? and did i say i’d read first about the good news here? i usually start my day watching news on tv, and reading reports from newspapers before going online. so go figure and stop hallucinating. 😉
@ivan
i almost fell from my ergonomic chair laughing at your graphic compound words, “negastars†and “sourgrapesâ€. you nailed it, bro. hahaha
“lol err, fyi, every philippine president have had pr machine. every american president and every political leader in the world have had one. don’t tell me you’re that naive. if you think pnoy’s pr machine had anything to do with that time 100 list, then prove it. sounds like another conspiracy theory from never never land, eh?”
Actually, PNoy’s PR machine have something to do with it. And everything bad about past presidents like Marcos and even Arroyo are not even conspiracy, huh? Most of the media outlets here are powerful and very supportive of the Aquinos and their allies. Your point?
“and did i say i’d read first about the good news here? i usually start my day watching news on tv, and reading reports from newspapers before going online. so go figure and stop hallucinating.”
Right, and ABS-CBN and Inquirer are very credible yet these media outlets are allies with the Aquinos so they only feature every ‘good news’ and not look critically on their mistakes. So yeah, that works.
If your source is ABS-CBN and Inquirer, then I’m sorry for you. You’re the one who is hallucinating because you’re one of the idiots who worship the Aquinos as demigods just like the rest of their cronies did. Ilda brought up good points so those people who sees this as a ‘negative’ article are nothing but pathetic EMO people. What’s so negative about stating facts?
I repeat: it was YOU who should stop hallucinating and see the bigger picture.
@johndoe
What makes you say that the article is “highly negatively charged”? Please cite specific examples of entries you deem negative and explain why. 😉
Did I say that previous Presidents did not have any PR machine? Fortunately for the President, media organizations owned and operated by his family and friends are more than willing to work on his image as well. They quite often put good news about him on their front pages. Last week Inquirer even committed a blunder when in their haste, they published a fake photo of him on the cover of TIME. It seems they were in such a hurry to glorify him and didn’t bother to check if the photo was real.
Please read the article again because you are very confused. I didn’t say BS Aquino is not influential. Of course he is. He is influential to a lot of Filipinos who don’t use their critical analysis or those who can be easily bullied.
PS.
If you had a hard time going back and forth between my article and the TIME article, that’s not my problem. I cannot believe that you had to keep going back to a very short two-paragraph article from TIME anyway. That actually says a lot about your comprehension skills.
Some people will never learn…tsk tsk.
Goodbye, johndoe. Too bad you couldn’t resist posting your useless comments.
Don’t feel sad though, you can stick to commenting at Pro-PNoy sites.
p-noy being buttered up by the americans to establish base here – ? nuclear – then we will all be toast.