Probably not. For the essential and even critical problems that have beset the Philippines for decades, there was hardly any change that came out over the last six years under his watch. Why? The answer is quite simple:
President BS Aquino did not try hard enough.
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Consider the manner with which BS Aquino’s fans lauded him when he did what was regarded as an impossibility back in 2012: impeach a currently-seated Supreme Court Chief Justice. The fact that he did the “impossible” in that instance proves that where there is political will, there is a way. Indeed, President BS Aquino moved heaven and earth — including lots of the nation’s “unspent budget” — to get the job done. He made like a bulldozer to flatten Constitutional impediments to this will and put rockets up congressmen’s arses to ensure they voted “favourably” for his pet “impeachment complaint” against then Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Using that astounding display of political will as the benchmark for outstanding achievement, it is easy to see now that the stuff where BS Aquino fails lies squarely within the domains where his care factor is zero. He did not have the political will to resolve the murder of his own father. Did not have the political will to fix up the police even after their incompetence cost the lives of nine Hong Kong tourists back in 2010. Did not have the political will to fix the public transport mess. Did not have the political will to sufficiently prepare for deadly typhoons.
What he did have political will for was to sell off a chunk of Mindanao to terrorists and a belligerent ASEAN “ally” even at the needless cost of 44 Special Action Force troopers’ lives. He had the political will to insulate his feudal clan’s family jewels at the Hacienda Luisita from agrarian reform. Had the political will to protect his buddies in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Transport and Communications (DOTC), and the Chief of the Philippine National Police from accountability for their idiocies. True enough, today, because of his familial and friendly ties with the line of accountability traceable to all the crooked activities going on at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), it is also likely that the bullet-planting scandal that is gripping the nation will go unresolved as well.
President BS Aquino, quite simply, over-promised and under-delivered.
BS Aquino promised Daang Matuwid and, instead, Filipinos got Daang MatuwAd. Thanks to this reversal of slogans, the Philippines did, indeed, get it repeatedly from behind over the last 6 years — from Mother Nature, from Islamic Terrorists, from Kuala Lumpur, and from Beijing among many others queued up for a shot to get so far up da Pinas’s behind, they could see the sunshine coming through the gaping nganga of its no-results president.
Perhaps it is fitting that Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III served the full six-year term of his presidency and was not impeached for his crimes nor driven to resign on account of his personal lack of tolerance for criticism. That way, he will serve as a lesson to generations of Filipinos to come — that when you opt to elect the most incompetent and most reluctant amongst a line-up of highly-qualified candidates, you reap what you sow.
Then again I wouldn’t be too hopeful. Filipinos simply lack an ability to learn. The evidence is all over the Philippines. The country is a vast 7107-island monument to a people who like doing the same things over and over again while praying for different results year in and year out.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Like George Bush, Noy Aquino will go down in history as one of the country’s WORST presidents.
Another whine trying to snipe at our lordship.
Fortunately, the media has a more realistic and factual take:
Source: Barrons
http://www.barrons.com/articles/indonesias-obama-gets-audacious-1445992115
Aquinonomics: Politicians claim every election is the most momentous in decades. But for the Philippines, 2016 is that and more. Even when the geopolitically vital nation of 100 million is on a roll, it’s often just one bad leader away from fresh chaos. Think Fidel Ramos being succeeded in 1998 by the later imprisoned Joseph Estrada, and you get the picture. As well as Aquino has done to morph the “Sick Man of Asia” into investment-grade growth star, risks abound.
Benigno Aquino, the Philippines’ president, proves what a determined and focused reformer can achieve. Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg
But credit where it’s due. In June 2010, Aquino promised to transform the Manila establishment “from one that is self-serving to one that works for the welfare of the nation.” As he and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima attacked graft, put government services online, made ministries more accountable, boosted tax receipts and invested in infrastructure and education, investors realized it wasn’t just a slogan. By 2014, the Philippines was raking in $6.2 billion in foreign direct investment, the most ever. As emerging markets cratered in recent months, the Philippines stood its ground. Unlike his peers, central bank Governor Amando Tetangco has been able to avoid cutting rates so far this year.
There’s still lots to be done, including creating more jobs and cleaning up the notoriously corrupt customs bureau. But Aquino proves what a determined and focused reformer can achieve. For that, Aquinomics earns an A- and a well-deserve place in the investment worlds’ esteem. Let’s just hope the good times outlast his presidency.
This one is from the Financial Times, from the Asia editor himself no less:
@Reality
Come on, iho. Go out of your air conditioned enclave even for just one hour and smell the estero and basura.
Tell manong magtataho about your economic BS, and he will answer you, nakakain ba yun?
My point being, you can harp endlessly about that so called economic achievement but can the lowest strata of society feel it’s effects? Crime rate is at an all time high because poverty has increased. Poverty has swept the nation because of unemployment/underemployment, in other words, failure to create good jobs. OFWs have increased in numbers whereas it should be going down.
At the end of the day, what you are saying is just on paper and all plain BS. Might as well feed that paper to the hungry pinoys in replacement for their pagpag.
RE: “unspent budgets”
I liken this presidency to a homeless street kid who happened to pick up a lotto ticket that won him the 100M PHP jackpot prize. After much jubilation with family and friends, the kid goes back to scavenging for junk food in the dumps.
When you ask him why he’s not spending the money, he says “Well I’m too lazy to withdraw from the bank”. DUH!
Another 6 wasted years of hibernation. Just look at the constant news about all these funds laying around unused. Yet again, on today’s paper:
COA finds P923M in idle disaster funds
“The COA said that out of P466 million in foreign and local donations received by the NDRRMC for various disasters since 2008, only P81 million, or 17 percent, had been disbursed as of last year.”
PDI 2015-11-02
I can only imagine what they have in mind for these mountains of SAVINGS. I think we need to invite a green guy from Marvel to teach the guy a lesson.
Forbes vs GRP – sorry but people read and trust Forbes x1000+
Steve Forbes to Aquino: ‘We need you in the US’
Source: http://www.rappler.com/business/economy-watch/109305-fgceo2015-aquino-steve-forbes-meeting
MANILA, Philippines – The chairman of the global business magazine Forbes told President Benigno Aquino III that he is needed in the United States, following the high economic growth in the country during his term.
Steve Forbes, also the editor-in-chief of the magazine, could not stop praising Aquino during their 40-minute conversation on Wednesday, October 14, at Solaire Resort in Parañaque City.
Forbes told Aquino thrice that he should go to Washington, DC, and teach them how he led the economic growth of the Philippines.
Aside from the 6% economic growth posted during the Aquino administration, Forbes praised the stability of the Philippine peso, as he said it was not affected by the global crisis.
“That’s why we need you in Washington … the amazing thing is, by the way, that the debt of the Philippines, has a proportionate GDP (gross domestic product) that has gone down quite dramatically in recent years,” Forbes said.
He then added: “That’s something the rest of the world needs, that’s why we hope after you leave office, you come to the US and give us some of this belief in the future.”
The Philippine economy gets talked up because of the supposed performance of its GDP. What these foreign “experts” fail to consider is the composition of this “growth”. It is fuelled not by actual capital expansion and productivity gains. It is propped up more by OFW remittances and the consumerism it promotes. Of course businessmen overseas will be happy about this “growth” by the numbers — because most of them are in the business of dumping consumer products into the Philippine market.
We’ve observed this predisposition to talk up the market for the longest time as evident in our report on the “journalistic” practices of BusinessWeek for example…
Furthermore…
The only people laughing all the way to the bank in the Philippines are wholesale consumer goods importers and the oligarchs who put up all those flashy malls through which all those imported trinkets get sold to OFW kin. So much for all that hard-earned OFW dollars being remitted to the Philippines — all spent on celphone load and fake branded goods.
The Philippine Government hands out broken compasses.
The truth about the economy will come out sooner or later and when we will all find out that “the fix has been in and that the figures and data have been manipulated” (like the crime rate) it will be too late and the powers that run this poor country will be a few billion richer and the fools who believed the hype will have lost billions.
I read stupid stuff all the time. I sometimes wonder where even reputable magazines and publications get their info and if the writers of such articles have ever even visited this country. The truth is that the Philippine government releases data and no one fact checks it. It is all taken at face value, even though there are plenty of people out there who know the truth, they just stay quiet, because they depend on their jobs. If data in reports does not look positive it is sent back and the people who made the report are being told it is to be adjusted until it looks good. Then it is passed on. The guilty parties are also the department heads who want to please people above them.
Jim DiGriz,
The truth about the Philippine economy is it all looks good on the outside, but are pervasively ugly on the inside.
Aeta
“Steve Forbes, who praised Mr. Aquino to high heavens, is a policy crackpot” October 31, 2015 10:25 pm
by MARLEN V. RONQUILLO >>> http://goo.gl/DoDLXP
I think only the blind and insensitive will defend this President.
1. Claims FDI increased, but relative to ASEAN, it remains lowest.
2. Macro economic numbers are bullish and improved credit ratings. All do not have any meaning because PHL is only the country that has not met MDG targets re poverty
3. Smuggling is at its peak.
4. Illegal gambling is soaring.
5. Of 14 PPP infrastructure approved, only four are under construction and on a much delayed basis
6. Destroyed every institution with his selective policies..
7. Etc etc. What can you expect from a non performing legislator who became a president? A non-performing, credit grabbing President, of course.
This administration improved our economy? Where have you been? Its a miracle the economy didnt nosedive. At the end of the previous admin, the Philippine economy was “poised” to make a comeback. Think of all the good that could have been achieved if those public funds weren’t used to bribe congressmen for his pet projects. Lowest common denominator “reluctant” will “sacrifice” for my people my arse!
A priest sermoned to us just before the elections that he will vote for BS because he “wouldn’t put his mother to shame”… He didn’t, he makes her look like a competent technocrat by comparison.
The real disaster is that our lordship is not amending the constitution so we can vote him again eternally to be our president.
His humility prevents him from doing so, we can only pray that God intervenes somehow so his Chosen can continue to guide our people through these dark times.
Humility??? His narcissism is so palpable and so repulsive, he is now a disgrace to his parents and clan. Even the Singapore’s PM does like his company. It repulses, he says. I just changed my TV because my grandma has thrown her slippers at it so many times already each time she sees the face of this most stupid President — PNOY, THE WORST PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES.
Correction:
SHUD READ Even the Singapore’s PM does NOT like his company.
@Reality is VERY, VERY FAR FROM reality.
He’s living in his OWN reality
Sa tagalog, “May sariling mundo”
That phrase best describes noytards that refuse to wake up from the yellow induced coma this country currently trapped in.
Lordship????
Ano ‘to, medieval times?
I suspect it is something far more sinister…
Reality is probably Noynoy’s personal kirin, and is currently in a severe case of shitsoudou, but cannot leave his master’s side. (12 Kingdoms reference)
Good one MMS…
However, here’s a Biblical reference:
“Lordship” is also a title used by the demon/false god Baal…
Lordship???
Nicolas II, Charles II and Louis XVIII were lorships/highness/chosen, and you what happened? They were executed.
Correction: Louis XVI not Louis XVIII was executed.
Another correction: Charles I was executed not Charles II.
By your definition of humility you mean letting all innocent Filipinos die while incompetent scumbags like you and your “lord” are enjoying your so-called “progress”. Your named mustn’t be called reality. You should be called fantasy instead because all you did is nothing but always wearing the Pyro Vision Goggles.
Oh my Worship! Don’t expect anyone to take you seriously after that outburst. Change your nick Fishball.
@Reality
Fuck off, we know it’s you Noynoy!
Ehm… I think this Reality guy’s a troll.
A troll yes, he’s but not a very smart one.
Lordship? Eternally be our president? Chosen?
You stirred up a good argument between you and benign0 but I am starting to think that your just pulling our pants.
Yes, he enjoys angry and violent butt-fucking…
PNoy is the president of the Top One Percent, definitely NOT, repeat NOT, of the Philippines.
If you still have any love for the country, bury, entomb, cremate, stay away from, or fear, this retarded theme called Daang Tuwid
The fact that Noynoy when interviewed, will sometimes show some sort of smile whenever there is a disaster infuriates me. It’s as if he thinks that everything is just fun and games.
Yes, P’Noy will be remembered as a good president.
A good for nothing President.
Yung nanay nga niya walang nagawa, siya pa kaya?
He won’t go down as a good president. he’ll just been seen as another mediocre, so-so one, just like his recent predecessors.
When you see the Philippine Peso devalued in such a low exchange rate. When you see the Philippine currency , not buying enough, for what is used to be. When you see the squatters (slum dwellers) , multiplying and sprouting up like bunches of mushrooms, everywhere.
No amount of claims of economic indicators/claims, can show , we are progressing. Poverty has grown in such a dismal rate.
Aquino simply is not working. He let these things solve themselves. Aquino is the laziest President; the most incompetent President , we ever have. His administration will go down in History as worst administration, we will ever have.
He will go down as a piece of shit*t.
ABSOLUTELY !!! Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino Jr III will go down in history as the best President the Philippines has ever had considering ….
…considering, Noynoy Aquino is a good for nothing President…
benigno that’s a bullshit kind of question and you know it. 🙂
pnoy’s presidency is all about hacienda luisita to save it from distribution to the real owners the farmers. will he ever reverse the supreme court’s decision? it’s it that started all the mess since the government bought it for the farmers way back 1957 with agreement to be distributed to the farmers after 10 years. that’s why they want to grab power by all means to maneuver the agreement.
Reality is just a troll. Stop falling for it guys.
Most people will say if you don’t vote, you get the government you deserve, and if you do, you never get the results you expected. That’s a bitter pill reality in the Failippines.
(Please correct me if I’m wrong)
From what I remembered in Econ class, GDP is Consumption, Investment, Gov’t Spending and Net Exports.
By actually looking around, we can see that Filipinos spend a lot which accounts for consumption. As for investment, I can’t really see businesses/people investing in infrastructure, equipment, etc. As for Gov’t spending, well we know where that goes. On Net Exports, what do we export?
That is why GDP growth is misleading. It could simply mean that more people are spending, some even beyond their means. Also GDP on its own does not take into account the inequality of distribution of wealth. For example, more children were born which leads to more mouths being fed, what does this tell us? That there was an increase in overall consumption. And if there is more spending by the Gov’t, it follows that GDP increases
For Yellow supporters, before praising Aquino for the GDP growth, who knows it could because he increased the salary of his appointees, or simply because consumption increased (more people = more consumption). Increase in GDP does not necessarily mean increase in Investment.
From what I see, there is noticeable lack of investment, and in my opinion this is the component of GDP that matters the most. So before praising Aquino for GDP growth, remember that overall GDP growth does NOT necessarily mean a better life for an ordinary person.
Oh and before saying that SCTEX and TPLEX was an Aquino project, SCTEX was being constructed during the term of the previous administration, while TPLEX was being planned during the Arroyo administration.
@MMS…you and I know that, but try explaining that to a citizen of The Republic of the Yellow Ribbon…i don’t call aquino, president of The Republic of the Philippines as he never acknowledges the fact…never wearing our colors on his lapel..as if he is ashamed of our flag..
So sad to know the fact that our countrymen are too distracted and too apathetic to the issues plaguing our nation today. It lets corrupt people like our president and the rest of his “club members” get away from all their atrocities to the people. A lot of actions our president did to supposedly solve the crisis down south and our issues with our “sigang kapitbahays” can be qualified as treason and betrayal of our countrymen’s trust. Pinoys are setting a stage of impunity and dishonesty for future politicians of our country! -sigh- Just like what I read in this blog few years ago “Filipinos get the kind of government they deserve” Indeed! But I still hang on to the almost impossible notion that this will all come to pass and a person would stand up from the crowd and yell “this has to stop!” and lead the Filipino people out of this rut that they themselves created. But what can you expect from our people, they are the kind that will shun a person pointing out their flaws and weaknesses as a people. It is a sad sad way of life, tsk tsk. nice article though. 😀
it doesn’t matter what the President of the Philippines,a back ward 3rd world shit-hole, is remembered for….it just doesn’t. Most people,globally, do not even know who the guy is.
MADPnoy will go down in history of the Philippines as the Creator of the third world country of Bribery and Corruption of the chief justice Crown of Senatongs and tongressman that halted the progress of Agrarian reform of the Masagana99 Apo lakay Marcos legacy of converting a quarter of a million peasants to landowner farmers, the opposite kulangkulang99 MadPnoy yellow deception.