Protesters display placards as they march towards Batasang Pambansa, where president Benigno Aquino addressed the joint session of Congress delivering his last State of the Nation address, in Quezon city, Metro Manila. Right: Protesters attack police.
Reuters/Manila
Philippine President Benigno Aquino yesterday laid the groundwork for next year’s polls, urging Congress to persist with reform efforts that targeted graft and led to a peace deal with Muslim rebels.
Aquino, barred by law from a second term, is likely to announce this week interior minister Manuel Roxas as his party’s candidate for the May 2016 election, even if surveys show he has little support.
“The next election will be a referendum for the ‘Straight Path’,” Aquino said in his final state of the nation address before stepping down next year after a six-year term.
“You decide if the improvement we are now enjoying will become permanent, or will be considered just luck and a momentary recovery from a long history of failure,” he said.
On Aquino’s watch, the economy grew an average of 6.3%, the best 5-year record in four decades. But growth slowed to 6.1% last year, and could be further dampened by worries over the changing of the guard in 2016. Critics also say few jobs were created.
The Philippines raised revenues to record levels by fixing tax leakages and cutting red tape, leading credit rating agencies to raise its debt to investment grade status.
Now Aquino, the son of two Philippine democracy heroes, including former president Corazon Aquino, wants to ensure his policies endure.
He stopped short of endorsing Roxas, the interior and local government secretary, as presidential candidate, but said critics sought to put him down because he was competent.
“In their continued efforts to discredit you, your critics have proven that they are afraid of your integrity, skill, preparedness for the job,” Aquino said in a speech lasting more than two hours.
The polls will pit Roxas, who faced criticism over government mishandling of relief efforts after supertyphoon Haiyan left nearly 7,000 dead or missing in 2013, against vice president Jejomar Binay, who is battling graft charges.
Roxas ran for vice president in 2010 but lost to Binay, who topped surveys for presidential candidates until recently.
Aquino asked Congress to pass an autonomy law on governance rules for the country’s south after a peace deal signed last year with the largest Muslim rebel group.
Other bills concerned fiscal incentives for new investors and reforming the pensions of military and security personnel.
But Aquino has his critics. “Burden to workers” read a banner unfurled by three left-wing congressmen after his speech, while outside Congress, police used water cannons to disperse about 4,000 people protesting against his labour policies.
Thousands of protesters clashed with police yesterday in the Philippine capital as president Benigno Aquino delivered his last speech to Congress before he steps down in 2016.
Demonstrators threw rocks and hit police officers with wooden poles as they attempted to break through a barricade about a kilometre away from the Congress compound in Quezon City in metro Manila.
Police hosed down protesters to push them back, hitting some with truncheons.
Protest organisers said 34 demonstrators were injured in the clashes.
Police said four officers were also injured.
In his annual state of the nation address before Congress, Aquino said his government had layed the ground work to make the Philippines a developed country, eradicate poverty and bring peace to the conflict-wracked southern region of Mindanao.
Aquino, who was elected in 2010 on a platform of good governance, stressed that political changes needed to continue after he steps down in 2016, urging Filipinos to vote wisely in next year’s elections.
The 55-year-old president called on Congress to pass an anti-dynasty bill as part of efforts to guarantee that the reforms initiated by his administration would be pursued by the next government.
“We can’t be sure if the intentions of our successor are clean or if they would just want to lord it over the land for the rest of their lives for their own interests,” he said. “It is time to pass the anti-dynasty law.”
Aquino thanked his cabinet secretaries and government officials as well as Congress for supporting his initiatives and pushing for reforms against corruption.
“This is just the start of a society where every Filipino who will work hard and do the right thing will prosper,” he added.
The Catholic Church’s social action arm, Nassa/Caritas, and several other advocacy groups have demanded from president Benigno Aquino 3rd an accounting of the billions of pesos in funds intended for rehabilitation of super Typhoon Yolanda victims.
The groups also expressed disappointment with “sluggish implementation” of Yolanda reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes.
They cited a study entitled ‘Portrait of the Reconstruction Initiatives in the Areas Affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda’, which showed that “the delivery of reconstruction assistance continued to be riddled with infirmities, irregularities and reported misuse of public funds and people’s money…”
The groups also raised concerns about the government’s P126.2bn debt to multilateral institutions in order to meet financial requirements of the rehabilitation.
“This boils down to poor participation and lack of consultation with the people. Poor transparency and lack of accountability–no investigation of abuse and misuse of funds and Yolanda relief assistance,” they said, citing data from a study initiated by the Canadian Catholic Organisation for Development and Peace and Nassa/Caritas Philippines, together with other organizations involved in programs for Yolanda survivors.
The groups pointed out that more than a year and a half after the super typhoon struck, only 2,100 houses were built by the end of 2014, way below the needed 205,128 shelters.
They expressed alarm over long delays in fund releases.
Also citing reports, the groups said only P2.4bn of the targeted P26bn for social services was funded in 2014.
The amount, they added, was apart from the P13.6bn released for resettlement of the required P75bn, P2.4bn of the P26bn for target social services, P9.8bn of the P33bn funds for livelihood and P21.5bn of the P35bn budget for infrastructure.
“No less than the office of the presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery itself admitted [that] the delays in the implementation of target rehabilitation projects were a cause for concern,” the groups said in their report.
They disclosed the government’s alleged misuse and misappropriation of Yolanda funds, citing as examples the sub-standard temporary shelters in Tacloban City, Leyte, and the mangrove reforestation in Samar and Leyte.
President presided over solid growth
The only son of a previous president and a senator, Benigno Aquino became the Philippines’ 15th president in 2010 on a platform of good governance and a promise to end corruption.
Although his leadership has faced serious criticism during his time in power, Aquino has been credited with consolidating a revival in the country’s economy, which posted annual growth of 7.1% in 2013. It slowed to 6.1% last year.
“My hope is that when I leave office, everyone can say that we have travelled far on the right path,” he said in his official biography.
Aquino, or Noynoy as he is often known, is the son of the late senator Benigno Aquino Junior and the late president Corazon Aquino, two democratic icons in a country which has been plagued by corruption and dictatorial rule.
Born in Manila in February 1960, Aquino studied in the capital and afterwards joined his family in the United States, who were forced into exile under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
He returned to the Philippines in 1983 shortly after the assassination of his father.
After a spell in the private sector, he served as congressman and senator before becoming president.
The 55-year-old president is unmarried. He has four sisters.
He has been taken to task for failing to make progress in getting justice for victims of past human rights abuses and high-profile crimes.
He has also been criticized for not being able to deliver key development projects on time, for protecting friends in government, and for not being able to show empathy with the public at crucial times.
Aquino came to power on a promise to bring to justice his predecessor, Gloria Arroyo, who is in detention facing graft allegations.
He is also credited for forging a peace deal with the largest Muslim separatist rebel group in the southern Philippines after 17 years of negotiations.
He has vowed to make sure that the deal is implemented before his term ends in 2016.
