President Noynoy Aquino First 100 Days

It was President Noynoy Aquino's first 100 days last October 5, 2010. He had his speech and "Report to the Boss" at La Consolacion College Auditorium in Manila. After his speech, the program allowed different Filipinos from all over the country, even overseas to ask a question to the President about his plans related and other issues which concerns their provinces and regions.

It was an informative program, with the President mentioning his administration's accomplishments in less than four months and other projects in line for the coming days, months and years. His speech was applauded several times and the viewers can see that the audience was satisfied with his speech. In the middle of the program, during the question and answer part, several UP Manila students stood up, held bond paper sized placards and shouted their criticisms on the present government's plans on limiting the budget allocation for education.

UP students are known for years to be activists and militants of current administrations. Together with Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), these schools are training grounds for students who are passionate about their beliefs in politics. They are introduced to organizations who are headed by activists or members of political groups who usually go to the streets and show to the public their protest actions. The Philippines is a democratic country and the government exercise maximum tolerance to protest actions because they believe it is every Filipino's right to express his opinions and beliefs to issues that directly affect his life and the lives of his fellow Filipinos. Personally, I had a block mate before in UP Diliman who was so passionate about politics that he decided to skip his classes and instead join an organization who are known to have protest actions to any current political issue.

It was both good and bad that the students were able to get the attention of the President and all other public officials involved but I would say this time it was really premature. If you analyze the situation, 100 days is a very short time to make changes which could make a difference to the country's situation economically. In about 3 months, the present government had exposed a lot of anomalies with regards to the use of millions of government funds to give unreasonable salaries to Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs), the president had a trip to the US and got a millions of grants (not loans) to fund projects in the provinces and invited investors to give jobs to Filipinos. It may not be a big accomplishment, but these things can be a start of something good for the country. We may be a democratic country but we must give the present administration a chance to prove themselves and fulfill their promises made during the election period. 100 days is very short time to give criticisms, judge performances or even go to the streets and blame poverty to the present administration. I would say give Noynoy a year or two and see his accomplishments and then make it a point to inform him and his cabinet members issues that are not given priorities.

Actually, asking the President programs and plans for a certain city or province is like barking at the wrong tree. Each province has a governor, each city or town has a mayor and each district has a congressman. These people control millions of pesos in their annual budget and it is their priority to uplift the situation of their constituents and improve the economic value of their city, town or province. Even here in Metro Manila, you could see which cities are performing good and who are the mayors who use public funds to improve their city or just putting them inside their pockets. For example, Quezon City and Makati, both prime locations for residential and commercial establishments. Can you compare the business districts of both cities? How about slum and squatter areas for both cities? Did both previous mayors bragged about their accomplishments or did the progress of their cities came from private investors and not from the local government? How about the provinces? Which mayors and governors did their jobs? Can you compare the province of Davao to Samar? How about the Negros province compared to Mindoro? Palawan and Bicol? Ilocos and Isabela? Were pork barrels of congressmen used for progress or just for mansions and other properties abroad?

The Philippines need time to recover from the economic turmoil the Arroyo and Estrada administration gave us. The Estrada had 2 years and Arroyo 9 years. That is a total of 11 years. How could you fix it in 100 days? It is like asking a farmer to plant rice in hectares of barren land in a span of 24 hours. Or asking a janitor to mop and wax the floor of a basketball court in 3 minutes. We need time and patience. Sadly Filipinos are known to be very impatient. It is our major flaw and it is one of the reasons why until now, we are a third-world country with a very big population.

Hacienda Luisita and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program

It was news two days ago that the infamous Hacienda Luisita dispute has been partially resolved. After 21 years of conflict and death of farmers during the Cory Aquino administration, the owners of the land and the farmers have made a compromise giving farm workers two options - to receive land parcels or retain their Hacienda Luisita Inc. stocks (http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma). Although "only" 1400 hectares will be awarded to the farmers from the total 6453-hectare plantation, i think it is a good compromise, not the best, but a good start.

This issue, which hounds President Noynoy Aquino, even before the start of the campaign period has become a torn to his popularity. Even though Noynoy's share is just a small percentage of the 6453 hectares, his opponents are trying their best to link his name to the death of the farmers who perished during the Hacienda Luisita massacre during his mother's administration. I was too young when the massacre happened and the media nowadays are just highlighting the deaths but not what transpired that led to the bloodshed.

Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, which was enacted by the 8th Congress of the Philippines and signed by President Corazon Aquino on June 10, 1988, and individual cannot own more than 7 hectares of land. If this will happen, the remaining area will be parceled out and will be divided into individual tenants. Such tenant may enjoy a maximum of three hectares of irrigated land, or five hectares of unused land, where the new owners will pay royalty taxes and the computable amount of land to the original landholders for a maximum of fifteen years (http://en.wikipedia.org). This law will make farmers landowners and will prevent them from being just tenants forever by wealthy landowners. It is a good tool for dividing wealth to promote equality among landowners and small farmers.

Hopefully the issue will then be laid to rest and farmers will get a fair share of the land they have been fighting to own for more than 20 years of their lifetime. It is a good sign for Noynoy's administration and a big help to the farmers in Tarlac. The CARP is a good program but farmers should also be aware that there is a limit for lands that will be rewarded to them. CARP may be seen as an unfair law for the wealthy since they can always argue that their parents or grandparents have worked hard to purchase lands as an investment for the children's future which will later be taken away from them by the government and awarded to the farmers who live on these lands. They should also put themselves on the landowners shoes where they will be forced to give up their lands because it is a law passed by government officials and representatives they elected from their communities.

President Noynoy Aquino Inauguration

Today is President-Elect Noynoy Aquino's inauguration. Hopefully everything turns out well. Judging by the images shown at our local tv outfits, the crowd at Luneta grandstand is overwhelming. I don't remember such a big crowd attending an inauguration of a new president except during Gloria Arroyo's time at the EDSA shrine at Ortigas Center, Pasig City, nine years ago when former President Joseph Estrada voluntarily stepped down from the office amid allegations of massive corruption and abuse of power.

I still remember when Gloria Arroyo took her oath and promised the Filipino people to do a good job. Almost everyone wished the nation will be lead by a president who will not follow her predecessor's footsteps and will be a better example for us all. After nine years of her leadership, you can ask any ordinary Filipino citizen how she did her job and almost everyone will say that she definitely failed. In spite of all the reports that the country's economy improved and GNP percentage increased, poverty, graft and corruption is still very much visible everywhere. Is it not possible for a president to turn around a third world country from poverty and corruption to an improving country? Has the Philippines been so deep in troubles that moving forward is such an impossible task? Is there really a genuine hope for change?

The president may have the biggest influence in turning the country around but it is still up to every Filipino or Juan to make a change and move the country forward. Are Filipinos ready and willing to change? Can we leave our bad habits behind and start a new life of hope? Are we ready to rely on ourselves and stop expecting our government to do the job for us? Do we really want change?

The answer is very simple. All we need is responsibility for ourselves. Stop expecting government to provide jobs because it is up to us to look for jobs. Stop expecting the government to give free education and start working hard to afford a good education for our children. Stop expecting government to clean our rivers and canals and start disposing our garbage properly. Stop expecting government to reforest our mountains and plant trees ourselves. Stop expecting government to provide free medications and hospitalization and start working hard to afford good health benefits. Stop buying foreign products and start buying Filipino made. Stop expecting the police and MMDA to fix the traffic and start being a responsible driver. Stop expecting the government to provide free homes and work hard to afford good quality homes. Stop greediness in earning more in businesses and start giving employees good compensation and benefits. Stop living an extravagant lifestyle and start being simple and basic. Are we really ready to change our old ways? Or are we still leaving everything to Noynoy to change and blame him if we do not experience a better future?

Every Filipino is responsible for change. The government can only lead but everyone should be a good follower. Change is constant and change for the better is possible. Bottom line is it is really up to us.