HOWEVER his State of the Nation Address (Sona) will be perceived, history will judge whether or not he was a good or bad president.
Some quarters will belittle the achievements highlighted in President Noynoy Aquino’s Sona. Even if almost half a million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have returned to find jobs here in good ol’ Pinas.
Even if tax collection of one trillion pesos is an all-time high. Even if unemployment has markedly decreased.
Even if such “untouchables” as former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona, and senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla now face charges.
Even if world and foreign investors’ confidence have greatly risen, earning for the Philippines such tags as “Asia’s rising star,” and “Asia’s next tiger.”
True, graft and corruption has not been reduced to zero percent. Over at the Register of Deeds in a certain municipality, the section chief will give you an outright “Give me P5,000 and I’ll release your transfer of title certificate tomorrow.”
It will take more than PNoy to obliterate systemic corruption. The fifth president Manuel Roxas had to fight surplus of war property, Chinese immigration quota scandal, and school supplies scandal.
Elpidio Quirino had to contend with the Tambobong-Buenavista scandal, import control anomalies, textbook racket, and extravagant junkets abroad despite lack of funds.
Goodie-goodie presidents Ramon Magsaysay and Carlos Garcia also had to fight graft and corruption. So did Diosdado Macapagal and Corazon Aquino, despite widespread mass poverty, unemployment and rising prices.
Daughter Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not yet lived down the “Hello Garci” tape, and the NBN-ZTE deal. Fidel Ramos’s issues included the Clark Centennial Expo scandal, and the PEA-Amari scandal.
Joseph Estrada was convicted for plunder and got impeached, while Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was notorious for rampant corruption, nepotism and looting by the billions of pesos. His trials to get back ill-gotten wealth continue.
Which is why I do not agree to an informal poll in the Net ranking Marcos as the greatest Filipino president.
By machination, he installed himself president for life, deprived us of our civil liberties, amassed billions and billions of pesos while poverty plunged deeper, and caused political opponents to disappear permanently or temporarily. Terribly dark days under this dark man.
I wish there was a recognized Philippine association or authority ranking the Philippine presidents in terms of their legacy and/or accomplishments. One using quantifiable factors, and not affiliated with any political party.
Last year in the US, for instance, members of the American Political Science Association rated the American presidents in six quantifiable factors throughout their terms:
Average approval rating, average margin of victory by popular vote, change in unemployment rate, change in deficit as a percentage of GDP, change in federal debt as a percentage of GDP, and congressional seats won by the president’s party.
The association’s members voted as their top ten Abraham Lincoln (#1), and then George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson.
(lelani.echaves@gmail.com)