PNoy’s hits and misses

Ruffy Magbanua

“There never is a good time for tough decisions. There will always be an opposition or something else. You have to pick courage and do it. Governance is about taking tough, even unpopular, decisions.”-Jairam Ramesh

 WITH just a few winks left, the final curtain would fall on PNoy. Now the big question: Has he walked his talk?

With Daang Matuwid as his battle cry, PNoy, at the very start of his six year-term, pledged for good governance, transparency, and accountability in public service.

On June 30, he will end his term with a sad note: unfinished business for the incoming administration of President-elect Rody Duterte.

Widely observed was PNoy’s failure to end corruption in government, reduce crime index, suppress criminality, and put an end to the proliferation of illegal drugs.

The smoke of corruption has hung heavily on several departments like  DPWH, Deped, Customs, BIR, DENR, and many others.

For instance, the Department of Agriculture has been linked to Janet Napoles and other scams like the garlic cartel.

But Agriculture Secretary Prospero Alcala is a good buddy of PNoy.  Nothing really is exciting about Alcala except that he’s still in his post.

PNoy’s clarion call for Daang Matuwid to all public officials, whether they were political opponents or friends, partymates, family or allies had landed on deaf ears nor did it work effectively as it were.

For instance, the Mamasapano incident would probably have not happened had PNoy applied the Daang Matuwid to his own men, even the closest of friends like former National Police chief Alan Purisima.

On the contrary, PNoy defended Purisima, though his shield had failed to save his long-time loyal friend. Purisima is now heading toward his final exit from his checkered career.

PNoy’s brand of governance has gained upside progress though, like  paving the way toward a stronger and more competitive Philippine economy.  The agenda of his administration were cash assistance, knowledge, skills training and health.

Strides were evident on the sustained growth of  the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), finances, competitiveness, investments,  labor force and social services.

The country has recorded an average GDP growth of 6.2 percent,the fastest average growth period in 40 years.

Among the government’s mechanisms is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps which has now over 4.4 million beneficiaries.

The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL)  could be PNoy’s biggest political achievement yet nothing of sorts had come out positively. BBL was practically put inside a closet, padlocked for now. Its revival could only be up to the incoming administration.

In fairness, PNoy scored some points in his crusade against corruption but his good was not enough for an applaud. In fact, PNoy’s governance was not good enough, not even in solving Metro Manila’s horrendous traffic.

Likewise, PNoy got low marks for not pushing hard the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI). It was supposed to be a landmark bill aimed at providing greater public access to government records and transactions.

PNoy reportedly refused to certify the measure urgent, although he denied killing the bill. The measure is pending at the House of Representatives.

Because of disagreements on the release of political prisoners,  negotiations between the government and the Communist Party of the Philippine-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) never gained impetus to the dismay of the communist leadership exiled in The Netherlands.

Today, our good friend Secretary Jess Dureza and Co. are getting their hands dirty again in trying to tie a lasting knot of peace between the government and the left.

So what lies ahead of us? This early, expectations run high for the incoming administration of Rody Duterte.

In fact, some police actions–curtailing  criminality, putting a stop on illegal drugs, order in the streets–are  now happening elsewhere ahead of Duterte’s inauguration in Malacanang at high noon on June 30.

We are in for drastic changes in governance. Change is coming indeed. My take? With proper governance, life will improve for all.

 E-mail: ruffy44_ph2000@yahoo.com