'NOYNOYING'
MANILA, MARCH 29, 2012 (OPINION BLOGGER) FROM 'FILIPINO TIMES' ANALYSIS ON DISTANT
SHORE: By Val Abelgas (photo) - Something's eerily familiar in what's
happening to the Philippines in the last two years and in the political events
of almost three decades ago. Looking back, you get a feeling of déjà vu.
Only a year after being thrust into the presidency by the EDSA People Power
Revolt in 1986, President Corazon Aquino was beginning to lose popular support
because of numerous policies that tended to show her rapid shift from being
pro-people to one that was pro-Establishment.
With Cory still enjoying a plus 72 approval rating in October 1986, about
eight months into her presidency, workers and students were soon back to the
streets to stage protests over her labor, agrarian and economic policies that
were deemed as mere continuation of those of the deposed President Ferdinand
Marcos.
In February 1987, just a year into office, Cory completely lost the support
of these sectors when troops guarding Malacanang opened fire on hundreds of
farmers, many of them coming from the Cojuangco-Aquino family-owned Hacienda
Luisita, who were protesting her failure to implement genuine land reform.
The incident, infamously known as the "Mendiola Massacre," resulted in the
death of 12 farmers and injury to 19 other marchers.
To quell protests, Cory signed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law that
failed to solve the country's agrarian problem because it gave a stock option
that landowners used to avoid distributing their land up to this day.
Cory Aquino also refused to repudiate the country's huge
foreign debts despite popular clamor, and instead of reducing the country's
debts, borrowed $9 billion more during her term, thus increasing the debt burden
by $5 billion at the end of her six years in office.
Cory Aquino mothballed the ready-to-operate Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, but
failed to launch power-generation programs that would replace the expected
energy yield from the BNPP.
Her inaction in solving the country's power needs resulted in 12-hour
blackouts, especially in Mindanao, that stymied business. It also resulted in
astronomical increases in the cost of power, discouraging foreign investors from
putting up business in the country.
Cory Aquino also initiated the infamous "low intensity conflict" policy,
which was dictated by the United States, that created thousands of militias
throughout the country that were believed responsible for numerous deaths and
torture of militants, and various other human rights abuses.
At the end of her term, inflation was up to an astronomical 17% and
unemployment was more than 10%, far worse than those under the Marcos regime.
Except for opening up democratic space for which Cory remains revered until this
day, the removal of the dictatorial regime failed to uplift the people.
From a high net approval rating of plus 72 in October 1986, Cory's net
approval rating was down to just plus 7% by the end of her term.
Comes now her son, President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, who, like her
mother, was obviously not ready to become president when he was thrust into the
presidential campaign following the latter's death.
Everybody, including this writer, had hoped that honesty was enough to lead
the country out of the rut it was in. I cheered Cory during her ascendancy, but
later became one of her earliest critics while writing a regular column in the
sequestered Philippine Daily Express, where I was also the managing editor
during the first year of her presidency.
I supported her son Noynoy during the campaign, but have again
become one of his earliest critics because of the early realization that the
younger Aquino, just like her mother, was not ready to lead an impoverished
country.
While it is true that the Philippine economy has remained above water, so to
speak, as boasted by Aquino in reaction to protests that he has not done
anything to solve the country's problems, many economists are wary that at the
rate things are going, it won't be long before the economy finally implodes.
For one, because of his obvious paranoia on corruption, he virtually put
infrastructure development into a standstill in his first year in office by
canceling all public works contracts entered into by the previous
administration.
This has resulted in economic stagnation, rising unemployment, and alarm to
foreign investors who have become fearful of entering into business deals with
the government.
Aquino has also been accused of inaction in the lingering power shortage
problem. For two years now, the people of Mindanao have been suffering from
intermittent brownouts that have now blown into regular 8-hour daily brownouts.
He has obviously not learned from his mother's own failure in this area.
Aquino's inaction has also been noted in the agrarian problem in Hacienda
Luisita and other big tracts of land, in solving the nagging population problem
because of his indecisiveness in the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill, in
the continued extrajudicial killings of journalists and activists, in his
refusal to reduce or suspend the Value Added Tax (VAT) on oil, in the betrayal
of his promise to not impose new taxes, and in his failure to push the Freedom
of Information Act that would promote transparency in government, among others.
After two years, he has nothing to show for his much-ballyhooed fight against
corruption and abuses.
The trials of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, her husband Mike and other key
officials of the previous administration for various corruption charges have not
even started.
The Ampatuans, while jailed, have not been convicted.
Nobody seems to be looking for retired Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. who has been
charged with various human rights abuses.
He has not lifted a finger against perceived friends who have been accused of
wrongdoings, whom he has even defended publicly.
Does it, therefore, surprise anyone that activists have resorted to
"noynoying" in protest of his perceived inaction and inability to govern
efficiently?
The concept of "noynoying" – where activists simply sit around staring into
space, much like what Aquino supposedly does instead of running the country –
has become so popular that it has garnered more than 100,000 fans in Facebook.
While Aquino and his Malacanang advisers may remain unfazed because the
latest Pulse Asian survey showed that Aquino continues to enjoy a 70% approval
rating with a 9% disapproval rating (a net approval rating of plus 61), he must
not lose sight of the fact that his approval rating has been continuously on the
downslide since his first rating of 88% in July 2010, his first month in office.
Aquino must also remember that her mother's net approval rating was still
plus 69 after one year, compared to his own plus 61 after 18 months, but plunged
to just plus 7 by the end of her term.
But the younger Aquino has reacted differently than her mother to the rating
drop.
While Cory ignored them, Noynoy seems stung by them. He lambasted those
responsible for the "noynoying" term and has, in fact, launched an obvious
public relations campaign with Malacanang-released photos and press releases in
an apparent attempt to picture him as a working president.
We all know, of course, that such PR drive is just a knee-jerk and skin-deep
reaction to more serious problems that afflict the country.
He has to do far more than being photographed carrying folders of documents
and appearing at Cabinet meetings to solve the various problems affecting the
country.
He can pose for positive public perception for as long as he likes, but as
long as blackouts, a stagnant economy, unemployment, rising prices of oil and
basic commodities, high transport fares, media killings, human rights abuses,
and corruption remain, he will continue to be perceived as merely "noynoying."
Aquino must now get up and move. He must now realize that he has to get the
guava himself. It will not fall into his mouth, as the presidency did or as the
original "noynoyer" Juan Tamad thought many years ago.
(valabelgas@aol.com)
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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