EPCC NEWS

February 22, 2010

Editorial

Cory Aquino and GMA; Similar scorecards

Los Angeles- (The EPCC NEWS decided to reprint the editorial of the Inquirer in Manila to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the EDSA People's Uprising)

On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution, it might be useful to review the records of the two beneficiaries of Edsa 1 and Edsa 2: the late President Corazon C. Aquino and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We will then see if the nation has attained some progress in the past 24 years.

One of the major issues in Edsa 1 was corruption; it was also the issue in Edsa 2. While President Aquino was herself considered incorruptible, critics accused her of turning a blind eye to Kamaganak Inc.—some relatives and friends, who allegedly enriched themselves at the expense of the public. A frequent target of corruption reports was then Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., President Aquino’s brother.

Ms Arroyo’s administration has been honeycombed with corruption cases up to now from Day 1, when Justice Secretary Hernando Perez was accused of receiving a $2-million bribe in the IMPSA scandal. Among the corruption cases brought up against Ms Arroyo were: the $329-million NBN-ZTE deal which was said to have been overpriced by $130 million; First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo purportedly amassing P200 million from campaign contributions and putting the money in a secret “Jose Pidal” bank account; the P728-million fertilizer scam; and the $503-million NorthRail project, which has been called “the greatest train robbery in history.”

Other scandals that rocked the Arroyo administration were the “Hello, Garci” call purportedly featuring Ms Arroyo talking to Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano about rigging the 2004 presidential election and the distribution in late 2007, after a breakfast in Malacañang, to about 100 congressmen and 200 local officials of paper bags containing between P200,000 and P500,000 in a move to kill an impeachment complaint against Ms Arroyo.

President Aquino restored democratic institutions but her administration was beholden to the military. This resulted in human rights abuses, including the massacre of 13 farmers on Mendiola on Jan. 22, 1987 and the massacre of 17 civilians in Lupao, Nueva Ecija. One major human rights violation was the failure of Aquino’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program which exempted her own hacienda and violated the rights of tens of thousands of farmers.

During the Arroyo administration there have been many anti-democratic orders and moves. One was the enforcement of the calibrated pre-emptive response which stifled the people’s freedom of expression and their right to peaceably assemble to seek redress of their grievances. Others were Proclamation 1017 which placed the country under a state of emergency in February 1006, Executive Order 464 which bars executive officials from appearing in congressional investigations without the President’s consent, and the filing of scores of libel cases against journalists to harass them and pressure them to keep silent about the abuses of the administration.

While the Aquino administration restored democratic institutions, it failed to dismantle the vestiges of the Marcos dictatorship. In its six years, Task Force Detainees recorded 135 cases of massacres, 1,064 victims of summary executions and 816 desaparecidos (disappeared). In eight years of the Arroyo administration (up to 2008), Karapatan recorded 1,118 extrajudicial killings and 204 enforced disappearances.

Some economists estimate that the 1989 coup attempt, the biggest military uprising against the Aquino administration, caused foregone foreign investments of about $15 billion and stopped the momentum of a possible economic takeoff. During the Arroyo administration, real GDP growth rate has ranged from a low of 0.9 (2009) to a high of 7.1 (2007).

If recent surveys on self-rated poverty and involuntary hunger are to be believed, there has not been any economic improvement in the lives of the people. The poor remain poor while the rich are getting richer. Opportunities for good jobs are getting scarcer, and that’s why more Filipinos are looking for work abroad: the number of overseas Filipino workers has increased from 378,214 in 1986 to 1,236,013 in 2008.

Have Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 improved the lives of the people? Going by the record, hardly, if at all. When will the nation’s deliverance come?

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