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Assignment 1

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Ysabel Juachon
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21 views

Assignment 1

Uploaded by

Ysabel Juachon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Juachon, Ma. Ysabel Jeremiah P.

Bidding farewell to P-noy’s term

While there would be people who could say that President Benigno Aquino III’s
administration is one of the best that this country had, I would say that his administration is not
oh so great. It could be remembered that the President blamed former President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo for the problems he faced because of the derailment of the Metro Rail Transit
(MRT) 3.

Last August 2014, MRT-3 derailed and injured several passengers in Pasay City. Instead
of admitting the mishap was partly the fault of some of his subordinates, or maybe partly his,
Aquino slammed his predecessor and said that he merely inherited the problem she caused.
While he blamed Arroyo for neglecting MRT-3, it should be considered that during the accident,
he was already seated for four years on his post.

Being the president of the country, he should have been keen on reminding himself that
admitting to his mistakes and actually taking steps to improve his leadership are very important
feats. Again, he resorted to finger-pointing during the course of the Mamasapano incident
wherein 44 Special Action Forces (SAF) personnel died.

Aquino said that he was fooled by the people “who knew most what was happening.” He
blamed sacked SAF chief Getulio Napenas Jr. for not following his orders regarding the
operation. Aquino, the Commander in Chief, could have used his position to send back-up who
are familiar with the territory.

Also, it is irking to hear that the President himself would allow himself to be fooled.
Terrorists were being dealt with during the operation. Excuses he made are infuriating
considering that lives were at stake then.

On the other hand, monstrous traffic jams have been plaguing the daily lives of
commuters. According to media reports in October, Aquino said that he himself had a firsthand
experience of the severity of traffic when he passed through Epifanio de los Santos Avenue
(EDSA).

People on social media were angered that allegedly, Aquino then just realized how
severe heavy traffic is in the country. Some even said that one of the greatest problems the
common Filipino face everyday had just been understood by Aquino when his term almost
finished.

He had also been flooding Juans and Juanas dela Cruz with promises that will help the
development of the nation ever since he has been in office. Among the promises that he made
were promises that will improve the economy so that the poor would feel that there is progress
in the country.

In terms of statistical data, the Aquino government did prove that the economy flourished
because from 2010 to 2014, an indicator of a country’s performance, the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of the Philippines, grew by 6.3 percent.

However, those numbers seem to stay as mere numbers to the poor. The data that
showed that there is economic progress were not felt by the masses. If indeed, Aquino did bring
inclusivity to the growth of the economy, there would no longer be a lot of Pinoys occupying
pathways and other public spaces to use as their “home.”

Thus, inclusive growth does not merely mean having excellent numbers on papers or
statistics to show to the people, it means that those numbers do mean something and are
palpable to everybody, not just a select few.

With all the price hikes of basic commodities without the significant increase of salary,
life for Juan dela Cruz proved to had become more difficult, and Conditional Cash Transfers
(CCT) are not helping.

Giving CCTs to the marginalized sector of the society is just a temporary solution to the
chronic poverty that could have been solved if more stable jobs were offered and increases in
salary given. Another reason why CCT is a bad thing is that it does not teach the poor to get
jobs- like spoilt children, some would just continue to depend on the cash transfers that they get
from the pockets of the taxpayers’.

Congestion in the country’s airports and seaports also continues to impede the
development of the business sector. Also, the lagla-bala (planting of bullets) scam further
terrified people of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which, by the way, has not really
received significant positive remarks. Even the Overseas Filipino Workers have become victims
of this humiliating scheme.

While there have been positive comments and surveys that praised the current
administration, the fact that there are a lot of shortcomings by Aquino can not be hidden. With
his regime coming to an end, can it be said that he is better than his predecessor that he keeps
on blaming for the sorry state of the country? Only a few more months shall pass by and his
term will come to an end, however, it seems that even with all of the boasts he did during his
State of the Nation Addresses, the Philippines is still in a sorry state.

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