‘It’s time to change how we run things. It’s time to focus on continuity. And it’s time to demand of the next set of leaders to recognize the achievements of every administration before it…’
FIRST off: Happy birthday to my sister-in-law, Diana Estuart-Baylon; to Bgy. So. Cembo (Makati) kagawad Ferdinand “Bong” Sacro, and to former First Lady Imelda Romauldez Marcos.
The death of PNoy reignited a long-standing debate about the current administration: how much has it accomplished in the last 60 months and in comparison to administrations before it?
The DDS was quick to highlight PNoy’s major stumbles, especially the Mamasapano disaster of January 2015 that saw 44 members of the PNP Special Action Force massacred by the men of the BIFF and the MILF, following the killing of most wanted terrorist Zulkifli Abdhir who had a US$7 million price tag on his head.
Other controversies that weighed down the PNoy administration that the DDS were quick to resurrect were the issue about the Disbursement Acceleration Program or DAP — which the Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional; and, of course, the issue about the Yolanda typhoon disaster response.
Indeed, these three served to color, and overshadow, much of the accomplishments of PNoy’s six years, from balancing the budget to standing up to China.
Comparisons between and debates about the accomplishments of one administration against another is normal, but it has been more acute lately, thanks to the “animosity” between the most rabid supporters of Duterte and the section of society they have labeled “Dilawan.”
It may be a matter of idealism — or naí¯veté — but I still want to ask: why does it have to be this way?
The economic progress experienced by the Philippines in the early part of the Duterte administration was a result of the policies put in place by Aquino. Aquino, in turn, benefited from the policies put in place by GMA, who inherited a number of key economic policy changes that Fidel Ramos instituted, including the opening up of the telecoms industry and the airline industry to competition.
Meaning, it’s all a matter of continuity to an extent greater or lesser depending on how much the incumbent wishes to credit his predecessor for. And it’s true — a lot of the infra projects implemented by Cory and her successors were planned during the Marcos years.
But, of course, acknowledging that would have been the last thing we would have expected from the first Aquino administration.
Were I to take my oath as the 17th Philippine President next year I will be having to inaugurate, for example, a number of infrastructure projects that would greatly change the trajectory of local economies as well as the national one. A traditional administration would claim exclusive credit for the new highways; I would do otherwise and invite everyone who’s served before me and who in some way or another would have been co-responsible for the project. Wouldn’t that be fair? Wouldn’t that be statesmanlike? And wouldn’t that inspire national planners to think longer term and discourage the practice of dismissing whatever a previous administration had started launching a new program instead?
It’s time to change how we run things. It’s time to focus on continuity. And it’s time to demand of the next set of leaders to recognize the achievements of every administration before it, achievements that are figuratively the shoulders on which it stands.
