The Aquino III Watch
President Benigno Aquino III, as the 15th president of the country, is unique in many ways. His parents are not merely political icons associated with the anti-Marcos dictatorship struggle, but have been acclaimed--rightly or wrongly--as the country's foremost "icons of democracy."
His father, former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., was considered in the 1970s, until his assassination in 1983, as the main anti-Marcos opposition leader and most likely to succeed Marcos in fair elections. His mother, Corazon Aquino, turned almost overnight from a bereaved widow to the country's first post-Marcos-era President.
Noynoy himself was not considered presidential timber, until he was thrust into the limelight in late 2009 and won the presidential race in May 2010, which was also unique in being the first computerized nationwide elections. A year later, Noynoy continues to enjoy popular ratings in poll surveys (77% satisfaction rating as of August 2011) and wide support among the stalwarts of the Senate and Lower House.
And yet Aquino is also susceptible to a wide range of valid criticisms due to his lackluster performance in his past work as Congressman and Senator, his leadership style as President, his apparent lack of comprehensive social vision beyond his simplistic "Kung walang korap, walang mahirap" and "Daang matuwid," and--most importantly--his elitist upbringing as the scion of big-landed gentry with a weak mass base (and probably weak understanding of issues) among the country's vast millions of poor farmers, workers, urban poor, and ordinary employees. Indeed, he has not even made a modicum of determined effort to uproot the evils of feudalism, not to mention foreign and big-comprador control over the economy.
Bits and pieces of such information continually circulate in the various media, as news and analytical pieces. But extra efforts must be done to turn these scattered bits into a more comprehensive body of material, for a more informed evaluation of the Aquino III era we are in. We hope that this Aquino III watch, which we are structuring into thematic report categories--economic, political, social, and diplomatic, as well as annual summaries--can progressively contribute to such efforts.
