I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. Philippine President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) is bad for the economy. The incumbent president is not at all focused on building a solid financial system for the country despite predictions that the economic instability in Europe and the struggling economy of the United States of America could still trigger another global financial meltdown in the near future. PNoy instead, has been too distracted with pursuing the prosecution of his political enemy, former President and Congresswoman, Gloria Arroyo (GMA). It seems like PNoy has put national interest in his “last priority” inbox.
A defiant President Noynoy Aquino
There were even reports that during the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit held in Bali, Indonesia, PNoy missed a big opportunity to negotiate trade deals and enhance relations with other world leaders because he was too disoriented and couldn’t concentrate on his task. He had to skip the opening ceremony of the summit and cancel a few other meetings with fellow heads of states because of the crisis he and his staff created involving GMA. It doesn’t help that he does not have competent staff that can deal with local issues while he was away. Here’s an account of his trip:
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“But Aquino missed several events. While on hand to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Malacañang in Manila last Wednesday, Aquino skipped the opening ceremonies of the summit in Bali on Thursday. It was at the time that the Palace was also intensely monitoring Arroyo’s attempts to leave the country as his administration raced with time to come up with any indictment in court so she could be prevented from leaving.
Due to his absence, Carandang stood in for Aquino at the plenary session and the annual photo-op of the 10 Asean leaders, which he missed because he delayed his Manila departure by a day.
After arriving in Bali on Thursday noon, Aquino still couldn’t be fully present in all meetings and cancelled the meeting with the Thai leader and skipped the gala dinner for leaders that included Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday. Aquino was the only leader absent from the dinner hosted by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The same night, Aquino also called off an” informal briefing over coffee with media at the Marriott Hotel.
During one of the meetings he attended, the camera focused on Aquino, and reporters distinctly noticed how he looked worried and seemingly disoriented.
It looks like PNoy should have just skipped the ASEAN summit altogether because even though he was physically there, his mind was not. It could have saved the taxpayers a lot of money for a fruitless trip.
Some of PNoy’s supporters are defending his actions against GMA by saying that his relentless pursuit of GMA is for the sake of national interest. Never mind that when he was still a congressman, PNoy voted against playing the “Hello Garci” tape, which could have helped unravel the truth behind the allegations of electoral fraud against GMA during the 2004 Presidential election. Why he is pursuing GMA now after so many years of doing nothing is a mystery to most Filipinos.
But the fact remains, even if PNoy successfully prosecutes GMA, it is not going to change the environment of distrust that he has created around building up a case against GMA. By defying the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) on GMA’s travel ban and his continued insistence to anyone who would listen that some members of the Supreme Court cannot be trusted to do the “honest” thing – and to PNoy, going against his wishes is actually enough proof of their dishonesty- indirectly causes low morale and cynicism among Filipinos. To be sure, PNoy is further damaging the credibility of the Supreme Court for his own personal interest. As reported in The Daily Tribune, it seems PNoy remains open to future acts of defiance against Supreme Court rulings…
All signs and presidential speeches point to moves being made by President Aquino to ensure worsening the ongoing constitutional crisis and bringing it to a head in his bid to establish a dictatorship.
In his speech delivered during the National Bureau of Investigation’s 75th anniversary yesterday, he implied that no matter what the law or legal order coming from the highest court in the land says. as long as he believes these to be biased against him and favor only a select few, he intimated broadly at defying the Rule of Law, saying that he is ready to do this because “at my side are the moral right and judgment, and truth, and more than anything, the Filipino people are on my side,” he said in Tagalog.
His continued defiance of the SC continues to create political instability and could potentially drive away current and future investors, which in turn could result in a continued worsening of the country’s unemployment rate. In fact, a threat of a constitutional crisis has made some investors jittery. This was evident when an actual investor revealed in a forum that he is very cautious now about investing and some of his friends who wanted to invest have had second thoughts ever since PNoy came to power because he further destabilized the country’s already fringed investor risk profile. This situation is not good for the currently employed and those who are still seeking employment. Even John Mangun from the Business Mirror, echoed the same sentiments:
Yet the World Bank has again lowered the economic growth forecast for the country. The World Bank at one time expected a near 5-percent growth. Now its projection is down to 4.2 percent.
The Philippines needs 4-percent gross domestic product growth just to stay where it is, to break even so to speak. Five-percent growth is acceptable as it keeps the economy a little ahead of the game. But 4.2 percent basically says that the nation, after some 18 months of the Aquino presidency, is no farther along, no better than when the President took office. This is not good at all.
More could and would come if positive action on the economy was not just one of the priorities but the top priority of the government.
Several foreign chambers of commerce joined Philippine business groups to create a long wish list of things that the government must do both for local and foreign businesses. It is ridiculously long. However, the specifics are critically important. The government has yet to formulate a clear and concise policy on mining. There has been no movement on rationalizing the fiscal incentives for new investment. Nothing has been done to improve the build-operate-transfer law.
The key is that this list shows that in the last 18 months, economic policy decisions and laws dealing with the economy have been placed on hold.
A new and comprehensive framework for both local and foreign investment does not exist on paper, only in the mouths of the political leaders.
PNoy could do more if he allows the country’s justice system to deal with alleged criminals. He does not have to micromanage GMA’s prosecution. What he needs to micromanage is the effort at lowering the country’s unemployment rate, which will eventually reduce the poverty rate and lessen the number of criminals including corrupt public servants.
PNoy could learn some lessons on how to move on and how to focus on the big picture from Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe’s long time political opponent, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe once tried to have Tsvangirai killed for being a threat to his regime. But this is what Tsvangirai had to say about it now:
We’re always conscious that the fact that what they’ve done to us and the opposition is unacceptable. [But] if the nation is to move forward, then one cannot always go back to that, because it will only mean that you’ll have to engage in retribution. We are very conscious of the acts against myself as an individual and all our supporters who died during this struggle. But the question is, then, How do you balance between the cries of the victims and the fears of the perpetrators? There is a price to pay for stability and peace.
Such compassion coming from Tsvangirai considering the atrocities committed against him by Mugabe. The Philippines may not be as bad as Zimbabwe but real stability and peace are things not yet achievable in the Philippines even under PNoy’s term.
In life, things are not always what they seem.
What is so important about one silly little Summit where world leaders come together. PNoy does not feel the need to mingle with the leaders who are just being mayabang with their Oxford english, why can’t they speak slang like him.
Even more so when there is the pressing issue of bringing this criminal Aroyo to justice, missing one summit is a very small price to pay. PNoy is even willing to give the Muslims indepedence in Mindanao and give the Spartlys to the Chinese as long as they help him put the Aroyos in jail.
The crimes of Gloria are so heinous, starting when she conspired with the Japanese during WWII and on to her forcing Marcos to become a dictator, last but not least when she forgot to compliment Cory on her beautiful new dress.
The Aroyos deserve nothing less than a public hanging on EDSA sorry I mean on Cory Aquino Ave.
You forgot to add the sinking of the titanic, the ice age and the brady bunch reunion to the list of “crimes” of GMA
and 9/11 ofcourse 🙂
Heat death of the universe.
+AIDS, Flatulence, and the extinction of dinosaurs
and boybands. definitely. i can’t forgive gloria for all those boybands. huhuhuhu
the death of optimus prime, the black plague and the founding of PETA
@ Mark
Ummmm….sarcasm much? It’s funny btw.
Funny and sad at the same time 🙂
That’s how the cookie crumble, we should give this president of ours a nice round of applause for giving out hints on decades of conspiracy against his clan… pnoy we are not entertained
A satire so short and sweet, surely deserves a re-tweet.
even a short while ago i would have rejected any thoughts of a dictatorship/revolutionary givernment as absurd.
i am now seeing and hearing things which really are cause for cincern.
can the administration and country be so self-destructive and suicidal.
who knows, but crazy things have happened in the past and the principle seems to be power at all costs and no dissention to decisions however bad or wrong they are.
i hope those fanatics realise this is not an open, transparent or demicratic givernment and people will pay dearly in terms of economic decline and restrictiins on liberty.
the winds of change are starting to create an unholy maelstrom.
clearly some people do not learn from the past.
Apparently, this is how PNoy thinks: If you don’t agree with him, you are not being “honest”.
he is slowly becoming the second coming of Caligula. they are testing the people’s response regarding the Revolutionary government. what is frightening is there are bloggers who supports the idea in order to remove the sc justices, prosecute gma and create a new world order.
Why der Fuhrer has a brilliant plan:
Der Fuhrer’s no.1 policy development thrust is the hate-think, persecution and continuing thrice over trial by publicity of frau Arroyo. He wills this as the centerpiece of his reich master plan to declare guilty before trial all his brilliant mind perceived enemies of the nutzie state. It is designed to strike fear into the hearts of the unbelievers!
No.2 policy development thrust is to prioritize the enjoyment of electronic strategy games which is a great way to relax his genius mind. It is also a means to train the great Fuhrer in tactical games so he may implement his brilliant “All out Justice” against the MILF lawless elements, NPA and all other opposition to his legitimate reich.
No. 3 policy development thrust is to try to stop the infiltration of members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front into the corridors of the reich palace and bureaucracy. Der fuhrer realizes the maoist threat and is still thinking of brilliant ways to neutralize or convert and absorb them to the government service.
All other policy thrusts are on hold until their plans are completed/implemented. U-boat Submarine rice exports maybe next year; CCT continuing the culture of mendicancy with no reich livelihood programs and plans or small/medium business enterprises plans of programs. The Peace and order program is ongoing only now against tandem motorcycle assassins, robbers, thieves, rapists, terrorists, etc. Der Fuhrer expects better conditions next year. He is truly the master of the nutzie party!
Here’s another interesting comparison: in my country we had a President who:
*stole an election
*lied to get us involved in a war
*had several high-ranking members of his Administration as well as his own family profit quite handsomely from that war
*completely squander a budget surplus, and leave the country in the worst economic shape since the Great Depression.
Granted, things in the US aren’t all that good. But can you just imagine how much worse they’d be if Bush’s successor had focused ALL his attention on trying to punish a single person for stuff that already happened and for which no productive remedy could be gained?
Truly brilliant people can look at the big picture and know what really matters in the long term.
Can we swap presidents for a year? Perhaps a month?
where’s the pic? I only managed to see the facepalm one from benign0.
People only think corruption is about money. Corruption also applies to abuse of power which AbNoy obviously excels at. He’s always been arrogant.
Considering that the IQ of the average Filipino is only 86 according to a book titled “IQ and the Wealth of Nations“, a research done by Dr. Richard Lynn with co-author Tatu Vanhanen, it comes as no surprise that imbeciles such our current admin are elected into office.
link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=638066.
What’s truly mind-boggling is how most Filipinos can’t even see through what PNoy and his minions are doing.
Before World War II, Germany was in crissis…Adolf Hitler joined the German Workers Party; this became the NAZI (National Socialist Party). He ran for President, but was defeated. A German Psychiatrist, confirmed, after his discharge fron the military, that he was suffering from Depression and Paranoia.
His Nazi party became large…that he was installed as a Chancellor. He defied the German government, by burning the ReichStag (German Parliament), and blaming it on his political opponents. This lead to his becoming a Dictator or Fuhrer…and to war and the Holocaust…
No President is ABOVE the law of the country…If he does not abide by the law…we must remove him by force, if necessary…Noynoy Aquino has definitely some Psychiatric problems. Hostage situation; his erratic behaviours, his defiance of the Supreme Court rulings, etc…showed it…it’s not only incompetence that we are dealing now…it’s Psychiatric problems of a President…
psychiatric problem hmmm,
i have my strong suspicions too. i suspect that that is why he disappears every time there’s a crisis. they were hiding him, or he was hiding himself
Domestic helpers are now banned in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong, too, is launching restriction laws of immigration and work. Truly, P-Noy’s infantility and shortsightedness does validate the fact that our citizens are indeed like him.
Filipino DH in Hong Kong are always protesting about their abuses in human rights. What a load of bull, and how moronic they ever think that way when you are in a different country, especially like HK where land mass is little…in other words, these DH don’t deserve their rights in there, because they’re normally unskilled.
Hong Kong can do whatever they want to protect their sovereignty and economic status. The moronism of these unskilled DH even looks past the government, who, in its first place has NEVER even given them the so-called benefits as human beings.
If these people CHOOSE to work for the oh-so-repressive Hong Kong society, then they should learn to keep their mouths shut and brains open and learn to feed on what their masters give them.
This is the very mistake that I suppose, our former US colonisers ever taught to our people. They have never truly grasped what democracy really is about and then they go about it, playing the victim card, which is to me pathetic and only makes the country appear worldwide as not only a land of incompetence, but also of wimps and crying chimps who cannot think outside their murky fishtank minds.
And our men? What’s become of them??? They let their women work their arses off while these bums do nothing to contribute family improvement. The gayness just worsens the situation. I’m sorry for dissing gay people, but seriously? Get your act together for those who have identity crisis and man-up to at least help our socio-economic problems.
It doesn’t help if we even keep extoling ‘pinoy pride’ that only makes us more dense, infantile and childish. Like i’ve suggested before we need massive-deconditioning from these retarded immature values.
There is a need for more people in the middle class in our society. The middle class have had a good education, own a family house, and hold a managerial or professional post. They are also the thinking class.
Likewise, a change in mentality should come. Awareness of the public servant’s activities should be part of every citizen’s role. This can be done through transparency in government. Apathy and indifference of most Filipinos will not help solve corruption.
You are right but unfortunately the best leave.
100,000 dollars a year versus 10,000. Easy decision.
OFW remittances at nearly 10% of gdp is a saving grace for the country but real growth will only come when there is the freedom and drive to create new businesses and therefore jobs, particularly in high-tech , innovation and manufacturing.
The country cannot rely solely on BPO for too much longer as the white knight.
And with foreign direct investment falling through the floor the top 1% may not be able to have 3 lexus suv’s anymore!
People leave because the power of emotionally charged and enraged people moving in large numbers is greater than those who can think rationally and objectively.
We managed to survive the GFC partly because of the remittances from the OFWs and the increase in consumerism because of the remittances. But both depend on the economic stability of the places where the OFWs are deployed.
People also leave because there’s really nothing here in this country for graduates and professionals.
There’s just too many people seeking employment and too few jobs. Jobs that can sufficiently provide for a family’s needs even fewer.
It’s sad how our incumbent President could not perform effectively on helping the Philippines attract investments. He doesn’t seem to know what SHOULD BE the priority or maybe he just doesn’t know the difference between a President and a policeman.
The Filipino people, I noticed, are not even concerned about this. They just bite on whatever news they’re fed, especially about GMA.
This country is heading from a grim future. We need a miracle from God.
Yes, of course. But I was talking about people who have good jobs and a nice house but still decide to leave.
the country has the lowest average iq in the world – 86
the smallest dicks in the world – average 4.5cm
is it any wonder that people are housemaids, hustlers, hookers and gay relying on others to sort out their self inflicted misery and chaos.
also the most narcissistic nation – which doesnt mean the most beautiful but with low self esteem.
get a grip. god gave up on you a long time ago. soon the rest of the world will.
no sympathy for losers
@ilda
who are these people with good jobs and nice house.
what do you think they earn per annum.
be specific.
not many are earning 300,000 pesos a month – legally
certainly not the middle classes.
i know – i employ many and 100,000 is a senior salary but does not buy you nice house or new car
–
@nona
I don’t know what their salary is/was but you could be right. Now that I think about it, it might be upper middle class and quite possibly considered part of the elite because their properties were just given to them. I tend to take for granted what class they belong.
As CNBS news said: we are 4th of the worst countries to do business in.
If ur an upper mid class, you have a good house and ofcourse good income. Then you must have capital also. And, you want to do business.
Would it be good for u to invest in business in the Philippines or would it be better to invest in other countries?
Could be the reason. Don’t know since I never had the taste of being upper mid class.
@bulutongboy
A lot of Filipinos who can afford it get double citizenship for their children and then encourage their children to study abroad. Some of them unfortunately stay abroad because of the instability in the country. But the thing is, the people who have very good educated and those who can afford to stay should stay because they can help with the nation building. The country could use their talent and expertise.
Stats from 2008
Low 80% (13.1 mill families) – annual income : less than 250,000 pesos
Middle : 19.8% ( 3.2 million families) annual income : 250,00 – 2,000,000)
High 0.2% (25,000 families) annual income : 2,000,000 +
Top 1000 families. Annual income 10 million+
Middle class shrinking
Tax evasion and corruption can affect figures significantly.
Number of 10million peso condos sold and 1 million peso cars sold annually indicate large black economy
@nona
And that is the reason why some of the Filipinos from the upper middle class and elite are apathetic. They enjoy the status quo.
@ilda
agree
i am part of the so called elite but not apathetic, however i do see it daily in my colleagues/neighbours etc
in fact irrespective of class, apathy rules – full stop
so the real question is not about policy or political gossip but how to get more people engaged and aware particularly at grass roots level
bakit po ba sobrang nakatuon ang atensyon ni Pnoy kay GMA?
anu po bang meron ky Gloria Arroyo, ang wala sa ibang makasalanan na politiko?
oo nga! corrupt si gloria at madaraya at magnanakaw
maraming ng kasong kapareho yan at karamihan naman sa gobyerno ganyan.. diba?
anung meron ky Gloria Arroyo?
parang imposible naman kasi na hindi alam ni Pnoy ang gagawin kay gloria pwede naman nyang ipaubaya na lang sa Supreme Court at gawin na lang yung mga dapat nyang gawin
tapos may balita pa na may balak pumatay kay gloria
ang dumi talaga ng gobyerno…
Exactly!
Simple lang ang sagot dyan…
Ginagamit lang ni Panot si GMA para pagtakpan ang kanyang mga incompetency sa pagpapatakbo ng gobyerno.
Pag nabuwag ang DOJ-Comelec Joint committee, makakalaya si GMA at mawawalan ng pagsisisihan si Panot.
Mawawalan ng tiwala ang tao kay Panot at siya ay mapapatalsik sa pwesto.
Tingin ko nga mas may bisa pa kay PNoy ang malayang GMA. Kada mali ni PNoy pwedeng-pwede syang humiyaw, “NASAN KA GMA?!” Tas imbes na wait list ang pinag-uusapan extradition naman!
O diba ang ganda ng plot twist? Hahaha. XP
Bad for the economy, huh?