STUDENT!
MANILA, JANUARY
15,
2012 (TRIBUNE) By Mario F. Fetalino Jr. and
Fernan Angeles - GLORIA CALLS NOY 'LAZY, VISIONLESS, OBSESSED WITH POLITICAL
WARFARE'
Former President Gloria Arroyo didn't say "It's the economy, Stupid in her
article read by a US-trained economist, but it had the same ring as the slogan
used by then US presidential candidate, Bill Clinton, who ended up winning the
presidency twice.
The country has a "lazy" president who has no "plans and visions" which were
the reason for the local economy to slow down late last year and that may
continue to weaken this year, a US-trained Filipino economist said yesterday.
Unless President Aquino puts an end to "politicking" and starts doing some
serious work on the economy, Dr. Gonzalo Jurado said the country would be
heading nowhere and millions of Filipinos would remain in utter poverty.
Jurado, who earned his masteral degree in economics from the University of
the Philippines and the University of Wisconsin, made the strong pronouncements
at the Manila Hotel where he was tasked to read an article written by the former
president, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo, while being detained at the Veterans
Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.
Entitled "It's the Economy, Student!" the article expresses Arroyo's take on
the present economy and how Aquino, who was her student in an economics class in
Ateneo before, is losing the gains reaped by the previous government. Dr. Gonzalo Jurado presents former President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo's paper. 'It's the Economy, Student,' in which she takes her
former student, President Benigno Aquino III, to task for failing to sustain the
economy growth she said was achieved during her watch. (photo by Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com)
In her piece, Arroyo said she was able to turn over to Aquino in 2010 "a new
Philippines with a 7.9 percent growth rate which capped 38 quarters of
uninterrupted economic growth despite escalating global oil and food prices, two
world recessions, Central and West Asian wars, mega-storms and virulent global
epidemics.
Arroyo lamented that the country's growth in the third quarter of 2011 was
ony 3.2 percent which is well below all the forecasts that had already been
successively downgraded.
The former president noted the increasing vacuum of leadership, vision,
energy and execution in managing the country's economic affairs.
"The gains achieved by previous administration—mine included—are being
squandered in an obsessive pursuit of political warfare meant to blacken the
past and conceal the dark corners of the present administration," Arroyo said.
Nevertheless, she said no amount of black propaganda can erase the tangible
improvements enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of families liberated from want
during her decade at the helm of the nation.
As if still teaching Aquino, Arroyo said the government must pursue the
economic growth of the country as the permanent solution to the age-old problems
of poverty and even corruption.
"Only by enlarging the economic pie can the be more bigger slices for
everyone to enjoy," she said.
She also assailed Aquino for "stealing other's achievements and
taking credit for something that was already in place when he assumed office.
"Indeed, it's so easy to claim achievements that have already been accomplished
by others, and take credit for what is there when the one who did the work has
gone. Just make sure she is forgotten, or, if remembered, vilified," said
Arroyo.
The "economic paper" read by University of the Philippines economics
professor Gonzalo Jurado, accused the Aquino administration of trying to erase
her legacy by character assassination.
"Neither the President nor anyone else can truly expect to govern the next
five years with nothing but a sorry mix of vilification, periodically recycled
promises of action followed by lethargy, backed up by few if any results, and
presumptuously encouraging gossip about one's love life in which no one can
possibly be interested," said Arroyo.
The detained Arroyo added that her former student doesn't have the "will and
the skill to properly navigate such uncertain waters," apparently referring to
the problems that hounded the country since she stepped down." Specifically,
Arroyo cited the bungled Luneta hostage situation in 2010, failure to rescue
Filipinos from death row in China, failure to promptly evacuate Filipinos during
the Japan earthquake, and inability to secure the safety of overseas workers
from the political unrest in Libya .
Moreover, Aquino gets all the blame for what she said is the continued high
poverty incidence in the country, and inability to shield the country from the
global economic crisis by uncertain economic policies.
But Jurado is no mood to teach Aquino. "I am not about to educate the
president. Let him do his job," Jurado said.
After reading Arroyo's paper before mediamen, former government officials and
representatives from urban poor organizations, Jurado criticized Aquino whom he
blamed for the continued deterioration of the peoples' economic plight.
"Except for vilifying people, he (Aquino) clearly has no vision and execution
as to where the country should go. What kind of a government do we have now,"
Jurado said during the question and answer portion of the colloquium.
"He should contribute enlightenment to the issues like those concerning the
economy but he's all child's play. He can't level with serious minded people,"
the economist said.
A former professor of Arroyo in UP, Jurado challenged Aquino to act like a
president because the latter owes it to the people. "Be a president! Rally us in
moving the country forward!," he called on Aquino.
Jurado could not hide his utter dismay over Aquino's failure to properly
handle the country's economic affairs and said he would not even give the
president a passing grade if the latter's performance is to be rated in his
class.
"He would not even get a mark of 5. Not even 10 if there is such," Jurado
remarked.
Questions were raised as to how Arroyo graded Aquino in her economic class
but Jurado and other personalities running the event including former palace
official Gary Olivar refused to answer the querie saying such is a personal
matter.
Nevertheless, Elena Bautista Horn,(photo) Arroyo's
spokesperson, revealed that Aquino got a "passing grade" from his former
teacher. "This is precisely why she is very much disappointed with President
Aquino's showing," Horn said.
According to Horn, Arroyo started writing her piece in October 2011 and
finished it on December on the same year. She said the former president made the
article despite her medical condition to show the public how active her mind is
and how close economics is to the former president.
But Jurado believes that Arroyo's article is aimed to remind Aquino that
there are other important matters the president has to attend to aside from
going after former government officials suspected of commiting graft and
corruption.
"I do believe that what she's saying is that the president can go ahead
vilifying people but he should not forget the other needs of the people," he
said.
For his part, Olivar said the present administration is neglecting relevant
functions of the government such as generating jobs, price control and providing
the people the basic services in health, education, and food.
"The President should also give attention to the basic needs of the people.
That's his job. But he is not doing his job," Olivar said.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda (photo) however called the
"economic study" of Arroyo a political manifesto designed to paint a grim
picture of the Philippine economy under the Aquino administration.
Lacierda said that the Arroyo's claim is apparently designed to cover up the
blunders under her administration. He added that the former president must have
forgotten to consider the global economic factors that adversely affected most
countries in the world. "Let's not try to isolate factors here. Overall the
global economy went down".
Lacierda added that Arroyo is not in a position to talk of economic growth
even if she's an economics professor — "What's the point? Do you want someone
who was an economics professor who ran this country, who damaged the
institutions? Do you prefer an economics professor who instead of strengthening
the institutions has caused severe damages to the institution and whose
credibility has sunk lower than President Marcos?"
He went on to say that it was under the Aquino administration that the
country posted inclusive growth, give justice where it is due, transparency and
accountability among many other things.
"We have hastened the pace of justice, we have not come up with new ways of
corruption that is why we are driving away, we are curbing corruption, we are
finding ways improving the justice system here in the country".
Lacierda also urged the former President to drop the idea of trying to escape
— "We would like to request the former president no longer to run away from the
country, face the justice system here in this country".
Arroyo's spokesman Horn sent a text message to this reporter which reads:
"Lacierda is a lawyer-mouthpiece, not an economist. Even his legal views are now
in question among his peers and other constitutionalists. His politically
pre-occupied mind deserves no reaction. He should review all the anemic data
available coming from the IMF, the World Bank, ADB, NSO, BSP, NSCB and the
recent Pulse Asia survey. Until then, he won't get a response from us. IT'S THE
ECONOMY, LACIERDA."
FROM www.InterAksyon.com
GMA writes paper on challenges facing Philippine
economy 10-Jan-12, 1:13 PM | Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com
MANILA, Philippines -- Even under hospital detention, former
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has kept track of the economy and will have
her say on it.
Arroyo, now a Pampanga lawmaker, has written a paper on the economic
challenges facing the country today and will present it to the public this week.
On Tuesday, her office issued invitation to the media for a forum on the
topic to be held on Thursday, Jan. 12, at the LTA Building in Makati City.
Elena Bautista-Horn, her spokesperson, said the paper will be presented by
Dr. Gonzalo Jurado, Arroyo's economic professor at the University of the
Philippines.
In a text message, she said Arroyo wrote the paper while she was recuperating
at home and in the hospital.
Arroyo was confined at St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig City from July to
November, where she underwent three surgeries to treat her weakened spine.
In December, she was transferred to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in
Quezon City under hospital detention after a warrant for her arrest was issued
on electoral sabotage charges.
Jurado, along with Gary Olivar, former spokesperson during her
administration, authored the book Beat the Odds, which was launched in June
2010, few weeks before Arroyo's nine-year reign ended.
In June, in an interview with reporters in her hometown in Lubao, Pampanga,
Arroyo criticized President Benigno Aquino III over his lack of leadership and
economic policies, which she said could reverse the growth she spurred during
her nine-year stint as chief executive.
She said that the economy was stable when she handed over the government to
Aquino but she doubted that his administration could sustain the momentum.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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